Newsletter No 3/2012

March 27th, 2012   Azerbaijan | Ghana @en | Newsletters | The Baltic States

In Newsletter No 3/2012 you can read

  • a report about Azerbaijan,  including a number of interviews. JHS is launching the report prior to the Eurovision Song Contest that will be held in Baku in late May: “Azerbaijan - in the shadow of a dictatorship.”
  • you can also learn about the presentation of Krister Wahlbäcks new book about the liberation of the Baltic countries.
  • an interview with two young politicians from Ghana is also included. They were part of a group that visited Sweden for a week in March.

 

Read the newsletter

Politicians from Ghana visited Sweden

March 24th, 2012   Education | Ghana @en | News

Mustapha Ussif (left) and Anthony Puowele Karbo.

“We have learned how important the institutions are for democracy to work,” explains Anthony Puowele Karbo, Chairman of the NPP’s youth organization in Ghana. He and Mustapha Ussif was part of a group of young politicians from the Foundation’s sister party in Ghana that visited Sweden for a week in March.
Mustapha Ussif recounts the group’s visit to the Department of Housing and Urban Development in the City of Stockholm. He was impressed by that fact that the department’s work goes on as planned also when the political leadership of the city changes.
“This is not the case in Ghana”, he explains, adding that in this respect Ghana has something to learn from Sweden.
Anthony Puowele Karbo is impressed by the great tolerance that political opponents show each other. (more…)

Hopes for Democratization in the Arab World

February 8th, 2012   North Africa

“Where the future is uncertain, there are greater opportunities and many reasons to influence” writes Gunnar Hökmark on the developments following the Arab spring. He is convinced that when “the United States turns inward, because the country has its own domestic problems and that there is an aversion to involvement in other countries, it is important that the EU steps up and takes responsibility.” (more…)

Top 10 Trends in Global Freedom 2011

January 23rd, 2012   Africa | News | North Africa | We recommend

Freedom House recently released the annual report Freedom in the World – a global survey of political and civil rights. In 2011, the Arab Spring triggered progress in some countries in the Middle East. On the other hand, the uprisings provoked leaders in surrounding countries to suppress real or potential threats to their rule.

In total 12 countries showed overall improvement, while 26 countries registered net decline.

Read a summary of the Top 10 Trends in Global Freedom

Read the report

Long Road to Democracy in Egypt

December 20th, 2011   Articles | News | North Africa

In mid-November a delegation from the Jarl Hjalmarson Foundation visited Cairo and Alexandria. The purpose of the visit was to research possibilities for future cooperations in the region. Thomas Gür, who was part of the delegation, describes the complex political landscape that reveals itself when the Arab Spring turns into fall and winter.

When we visited Egypt the country faced its first round of elections to the parliament’s lower house – an election which was held in approximately a third of the constituencies on 28 November. The second round of elections took place in mid-December and the third will be held early January. Another three rounds of elections will later be held to the parliament’s upper house in March of 2012.

The complexity of the electoral process is a result of an Egyptian election law which states that there must be a judge present at every polling station to ensure that the process is conducted in a right manner. And since there are three times as many polling stations as there are judges in the country, elections to parliament’s two chambers are held in three rounds each.  After the elections a committee of 100 people will be appointed to write Egypt’s new constitution.

This process is tainted with serious weaknesses – not least as the results of each election are made public which influences the following elections. The complexity of it however reflects that these are the first free elections since before the military coup in 1952. (more…)

Politicians from Ghana visited Sweden

September 26th, 2011   Education | Ghana @en

September 19-23, a delegation from the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in Ghana visited Stockholm. The delegation consisted of ten politically active women from the NPP, the Foundation’s cooperation partner in Ghana, who will be running for parliament in the 2012 election.

During the visit the delegation met with a number of Swedish politicians, among them Members of Parliament Cecilia Brinck, Cecilia Widegren and Walburga Habsburg Douglas, who in addition is Chairman of the International Women’s Democrat Union (IWDU) and Board Member of the Jarl Hjalmarson Foundation, Sofia Arkelsten, Secretary General of the Moderate Party, Eva Solberg, Chair of the Stockholm Moderate Women, Kristoffer Tamsons, Chief of Planning at the Prime Minister’s Office, and Gunnar Oom, State Secretary to the Minister for Trade. Hedvig Anderson, head of Communication at the Moderate Party, also met with them to share her experiences from the party’s successful election campaign in 2010. Furthermore, the program included study visits to an elementary school in Solna and to several social work organizations. The New Patriotic Party is the second largest political party in Ghana and is currently in opposition. The NPP holds 107 of 230 seats in Parliament.

JHS at the Book Fair in Gothenburg, day 1

September 22nd, 2011   North Africa | Seminars

The theme for JHS’ activities at the Book Fair in Gothenburg is how new media can be a part of the changing of a society.

At the first day of the fair, a seminar was held on the stage of the International Square. Javeria Rizvi Kabani, project manager at the Swedish Institute and Erik Benngtzboe, chairman of the Young Conservatives, discussed the current situation in the Middle East. (more…)

Presidential Elections in the Seychelles

May 23rd, 2011   Articles | The Seychelles

During the elections last week end President James Michel was re-elected for a second fiveyear term in office. Voter turnout was 85 percent.

Seychelles President James Michel was May 19 to 21 re-elected for a second five-year term in office. Michel, the Lepep Party leader, won 55.46 percent of the vote. Opposition presidential candidates Wavel Ramkalawan of the Seychelles National Party received 41.43 percent of the votes, independent candidate Philippe Boulle received 1.66 percent of the vote and Hjalmarson Foundation cooperation partner New Democratic Party’s candidate Ralph Volcere won 1.45 per cent. Voter turnout was 85 percent, as reported in the web edition of the newspaper <i>Seychelles Nation</i>.

According to Reuters <i>Africa</i> Ramkalawan accused James Michel for letting election officials bribe oppositionals not to vote.

Election Campaign in the Seychelles

March 25th, 2011   Education | The Seychelles

Women and youth from the New Democratic Party met on March 18-20, on Mahe Island, Seychelles, for a conference on campaign. The conference was arranged in cooperation with the Jarl Hjalmarson Foundation

The New Democratic Party’s candidate is running for president in the up-coming election in May. The newly elected women’s and youth’s committees will play an active part in the presidential campaign.

The conference started with a follow-up of the New Democratic Party’s progress since the previous conference in late 2010 and a presentation by party leader Ralph Volcere of the party’s priorities in the presidential election. (more…)

Swedish Aid to Refugees in Libya

March 17th, 2011   Articles | Development Aid | Foreign Policy | North Africa

The Swedish Government has decided to to support the victims in Libya. Sweden will contribute SEK 33 million and flights for humanitarian evacuation.

The Government has decided that Swedish Hercules aircrafts, already in place in Malta as part of a consular evacuation operation, can be used by the UN Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and International Organization for Migration (IOM) to assist with the evacuation of individuals in difficulty at the Tunisian border.

The Foreign Ministry has announced that the development aid agency Sida will contribute a total of SEK 33 million in response to appeals from humanitarian agencies working in the region.

 

“The hope for democracy replaced corruption and abuse of power”

March 13th, 2011   Africa | North Africa

With democratic governments on the Southern coast of the Mediterranean, from Egypt to Morocco, this area constitutes a market of some 200 million people. Thus, the EU has everything to gain from supporting a peaceful, stable and democratic transition in these countries. The strategy of helping dictators in order to uphold stability has been proven wrong yet again, writes Susanna Haby.

Sometimes, the deeds of a single person can get groundbreaking consequences. The citizens of Tunisia received yet another proof of this in mid December last year. From one day to another, daily life changed.
Over the years, I have had the privilege to experience Tunisia through friends and family, from old to young, who have spent their entire lives in Tunisia. While most Tunisians have been able to put food on the table, poverty has been widespread in rural areas. In the Freedom House reports, Tunisia has been classified as un-free.

The Tunisian society is based on strong social ties between family and friends who take care of each other. In 1992, the fund 26/26 was created. Financed both with government money and voluntary contributions, the fund aims at relieving poverty among the poorest. It finances different projects in infrastructure and in the social sector. Recently, the citizens of Tunisia have found out that the expelled President and his family has found several ways to lay their hands on this money! (more…)

Elections in Uganda

February 21st, 2011   Articles | Uganda @en

On February 18, 2011, Ugandans went to the polls to elect their nation’s president and parliament. These elections represent the second time since 1986 that Uganda has elected its leaders under a multi-party political system.

The International Democrat Union The Presidential and Parliamentary Elections of February 2011 were by all standards not free and fair. Gunilla Carlsson, Swedish Minister for International Development Cooperation, explained that the elections were not up to the standard that she had hoped for.

After lengthy periods of dictatorship and insecurity, the National Resistance Movement (NRM) took power after winning a guerrilla war, and instituted a new system of no-party democracy in 1986 under current President Yoweri Museveni. 

A 2005 constitutional referendum restored a multi-party system, and in 2006 the leading opposition candidate won 37 percent of the vote.  Whether opposition parties can improve on the gains they made in the 2006 presidential and parliamentary elections remains an unknown.  Both the conduct and results of the upcoming elections will be an important marker for determining whether Uganda has continued to make progress in institutionalizing multi-party politics.

Read the statement by IDU

Read Gunilla Carlasson’s comments to the elections (in Swedish)

Read about Uganda on IRI’s home page

Rwanda from Another Perspective

April 28th, 2010   Africa | Rwanda @en | Seminars

 

Paul Rusesabagina

“A discussion on the development in Rwanda” was the topic set for a seminar arranged by the Jarl Hjalmarson Foundation on April 28, 2010.  Paul Rusesabagina whose story inspired to the film Hotel Rwanda and Christian Holm, MP, who recently returned from a study trip to Rwanda both participated in the seminar. The seminar turned out to illustrate the difficulties of getting opponents to settle around a negotiation table. 

On one hand, it has been claimed that although Rwanda remains one of the world’s poor nations, the country has, in the last fourteen years, undergone a significant positive development in the economic sphere. The Rwandan government has focused on preventing new conflicts between ethnic groups.

On the other hand, it is claimed that despite international assistance and political reforms, Rwanda still has problems respecting human rights. As late as last week, two oppositional newspapers were closed down and government permission is needed in order to found oppositional parties. (more…)

JHS Seminar on Zimbabwe in Swedish media

October 17th, 2009   In the Media | Zimbabwe @en

Gunilla Carlsson, Minister for International Development Cooperation was the main speaker at a Jarl Hjalmarson Foundation-seminar on the developments in Zimbabwe.  A report about Zimbabwe was alsopresented. Author of the report was by Benjamin Katzeff Silberstein, who during the summer of 2009 worked as a trainee to the Minister of Education in Zimbabwe.

Read the morning daily Gotlands Allehandas reflections on the seminar (in Swedish)

Don’t Forget Africa!

April 13th, 2009   Africa | Articles

The world economy currently faces the most serious financial crises since the bust on Wall Street in 1929. The current situation is a huge contrast to the period of 2002-2007 when we experienced an unbroken expansion paved with record high growth rates. The global production increased by 5 percent annually, and the rate of trade doubled. As the golden years served to tie economies closer together, the turn of the bussiness cycle meant everyone was affected, writes Peter Stein. Nevertheless, he recognizes lights on the African continent, for example Botswana.

We get daily reports on how the crisis, which began in the US financial markets, also affects Europe, Asia and Latin America. Rarely, does the focus fall on Africa, the world’s least economically developed continent. And the explanation might be as simple as that. While Africa holds 14 percent of the world’s population, it only accounts for 3 percent of GDP, 2.5 percent of the global trade and 2.5 percent of incoming FDI (foreign direct investment). The financial flows into Africa mainly consist of foreign aid. (more…)