On 10 June 2021, following the parliamentary vote approving the new Swedish National Institute for Human Rights (IHR), we organised a webinar entitled The New Swedish NHRI: What it is, What it Does & The Way Forward. This first – in a series intended to support the development of an effective national institution – brought together relevant experts, including the Inquiry Chair appointed to help set up the IHR, to introduce this new authority and discuss key issues in its establishment.
The NHRI webinar series continues this fall with a webinar during which we will address some of the many unanswered questions regarding the interaction with, and division of responsibilities between, the institutions of human rights (IHR) and other authorities with relevant mandates.
While there is a wide range of such authorities at both national and local levels, this event will focus on some of the existing ombudsman institutions, whose work has the potential to complement, overlap with or even contradict that of the new Institute.
How do those who have worked at the top levels of such authorities see them relating to the IHR, as it seeks to holds Sweden to its obligations under international human rights law?
The webinar is further expected to set the stage for a conference that will dig still deeper into these crucial issues, involving also representatives from other relevant authorities ranging from municipalities and criminal justice services to migration and even tax agencies, and which is planned for early 2022 in association with the launch of the new Institute.
When it takes place
Welcome to join this webinar at 15:00 CET on Wednesday 6 October.
Where it happens
This webinar takes place on Zoom.
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Who: The Panel
We are proud to present the following panelists:
Elisabet Fura
Elisabet Fura is a senior lawyer, former Chairperson of the Swedish Bar Association and from 2012 to 2016, Sweden’s Chief Parliamentary Ombudsman. Prior to this she served as a judge at the European Court of Human Rights and since 2016, as Chairperson of the RWI Board of Trustees.
Paul Lappalainen
Paul Lappalainen has worked on discrimination and equality in various capacities for many years, including as Senior Advisor to the Swedish Equality Ombudsman. Amongst other initiatives, he headed the seminal 2005 government inquiry The Blue and Yellow Glass House: Structural Discrimination in Sweden.
Lars Lööw
Lars Lööw is today Deputy Director General of the Public Employment Service. Prior to this he served as, among other things, Director General of the Swedish ESF Council, Disability Ombudsman, Chairman of the Swedish Disability Rights Federation and Development Director and Communications Director for Samhall (the Swedish supported employment agency).