As part of our celebration marking 40 years of accomplishments at the Raoul Wallenberg Institute, we would like to share with you a front-page story and an article from the institute’s inaugural opening. Please take a moment to read the English translation below.
Raoul Wallenberg gives name to new institute in Lund!
“It is happening in Lund – again! A newly established institute bearing Raoul Wallenberg’s name will initiate and support research on human rights and humanitarian law. ‘Those of us working on these issues see the need for more research,’ says the judge at the European Court of Human Rights, former Marshal of the Realm Gunnar Lagergren, the new chairman of the Raoul Wallenberg Institute. He also reveals that the number of complaints against Sweden has skyrocketed over the past two years.”
Raoul Wallenberg Institute in Lund is dedicated to human rights.
“Raoul Wallenberg has given name to a new research institute associated with Lund University. A foundation has been formed which, to honour Raoul Wallenberg’s work, has adopted the name Raoul Wallenberg Institute for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law. The institute is tasked with promoting research in these areas. The chairman of the foundation is the judge of the European Court in Strasbourg, former Marshal of the Realm Gunnar Lagergren. Other board members include former Bonn Ambassador Sven Backlund and from Lund University Professor Lennart Pålsson, Associate Professor Göran Melander, and Lecturer Leif Holmström. Associate Professor Göran Melander, one of the initiators of the institute in Lund, explains that after contacting Raoul Wallenberg’s trustee, they received consent from his siblings, namely Nina Lagergren and Professor Guy von Dardel, to name the foundation the Raoul Wallenberg Institute.
Gunnar Lagergren, husband of Nina Lagergren, recently visited Lund to participate in the establishment of the foundation and the new institute. He emphasized the importance of initiating and supporting research on human rights and humanitarian law. The latter area concerns the laws and conventions to be applied during war, which the International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva works with.
The Institute has received 350,000 SEK in initial capital from the Marcus and Amalia Wallenberg Memorial Fund. They will start by establishing an international law library. The foundation has also decided to publish a series of papers. The first volume will be released before Christmas and is authored by Erik Friberg, covering the procedures before the European Commission on Human Rights.
Even though it’s a modest beginning, what we’re dealing with here, if I may express it, are extremely noble and pressing issues,” says Gunnar Lagergren to LUM. “Those of us working with these issues at the European Court of Human Rights see the need for more research. Sweden has almost no research at all in this area. I expect the institute to provide support to doctoral students, among other things.
The institute will also, Gunnar Lagergren continues, collaborate with similar institutes elsewhere. The largest one is in Heidelberg. Similar institutes are being established in Turku and Oslo.
As a Swedish judge and representative at the European Court of Human Rights, Gunnar Lagergren has observed a dramatic increase in the number of complaints against Sweden over the past two years. Now there are about 20 cases per year, compared to 1-2 previously. Last week, Sweden received a conviction for the second time. This time, the ruling concerned the period a suspect can be detained pending trial. Between 4-5 days may be accepted, not 15 as allowed by Swedish legislation. So now Sweden must make a change. “It’s actually quite fantastic that the governments in Europe have agreed to comply with the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights. After all, these are laws that the parliaments in each country have decided upon. That’s why every judgment in the European Court of Human Rights is followed with such great interest and is so incredibly important,” Gunnar Lagergren notes. Recently, for example, England was reprimanded in a case involving telephone surveillance.”