Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is an attack on freedom, democracy, and has led to immeasurable human suffering and war crimes. Six million people have fled the country and millions are internally displaced inside Ukraine. We welcome Sweden’s willingness to receive people on the move.
At the same time, the world after the pandemic was already heavily impacted by increased hunger, failing health and social security systems, and inequitable access to vaccines. Extreme poverty and hunger are on the rise. Women’s and girls are especially affected, with girls taken out from schools and lacking access to sexual and reproductive health services. The war in Ukraine impacts strongly on the food security for millions as food, inflation and fuel prices are surging all around the world.
Sweden has long been a champion for high levels and qualitative ODA to civil society. The support given by Act Church of Sweden is crucial for many civil society organisations. Large part of this contribution comes from the Sida support to civil society organisations. Now the Swedish government’s announcement to cut 39% of its aid budget to civil society will lead to cancelled projects and challenging financial situations for many partner organisations, some of which are small and have relied on predictable and long-term support to their work.
We are alarmed by the information that Sweden is going to finance in-country refugee costs by deducting significant amounts (20 percent) from the ODA budget already in 2022. This is happening at the same time as the government has considered that the country could and can afford other, and many times larger exceptional expenses during the pandemic and subsidiaries for current high energy prices without cutting down other budget posts. It is also very serious that the strategy for gender equality is to be cut by 50%. This is clearly tarnishing Sweden’s feminist foreign policy. The short-sightedness of these measures are both shocking and risking the good reputation of Sweden in development aid.
The world is facing unprecedented multiple crises: with a galloping climate, health, socioeconomic and democratic crises. Instead of reducing aid, Sweden could have opted to scale up. Globally, the support to efforts to promote a democratic, just and sustainable development in all parts of the world is more important than ever. We therefore urge Swedish government to revert the decision and to honour its commitment to the ODA budget of 1 percent of GNI and to find other funding modalities for receiving Ukrainian refuges. Sweden should embrace its role as a humanitarian superpower and influence other countries to do the same.
Gloria Mafole
Andrés Pacheco
Co-chairs of Act Church of Sweden’s International Reference Group