An alternative NGO focused on research enlightening the health issues of war crimes & Human Rights abuses worldwide. We also expose Human Rights abuses conducted against organizations or individuals who have revealed war crimes.
Swedish Professors & Doctors For Human Rights (SWEDHR) is an absolutely independent, non-profit, non-partisan, non-governmental organization engaged in the research and reporting on the effects of war-crimes, torture and human-rights transgressions on civilian populations or on individuals. Additionally, we oppose governmental assaults on the human rights of individuals who have denounced war crimes or exposed serious infringements to the civil liberties of the population. Unlike other established Swedish human-rights organizations, Swedish Doctors For Human Rights is not sponsored neither fully nor partially financed by Swedish governmental institutions.
SWEDHR is formed with the participation of Swedish professors, PhDs, medical doctors and university researchers in the medical sciences and health-related disciplines, devoted to international issues in the human rights front. This participation is purely voluntary and made on a private basis. SWEDHR’s statements represent solely the members of this organization, not all Swedish doctors or any other institution or professional/academic association that the participants in SWEDHR are associated with. SWEDHR follows both the United Nations doctrine on Human Rights and ethical norms according to the World Medical Association’s Ethical Declaration of Helsinki. Swedish Doctors for Human Rights was founded after an initiative of Professor Marcello Ferrada de Noli. Read on SWEDHR aims in the Foundation Manifest.
SWEDHR work for Peace, and consider itself as part of the anti-war global initiative. We oppose war, and we favour instead the solving of geopolitical conflicts through peaceful talks or negotiations with the intervention of neutral mediators. We encourage the respect of decisions taken by International Tribunals. SWEDHR aims to contribute to the international Human Rights movement based on our research and professional experience in the health sciences. Health concerns are an important area in the HR-international mission that has, unfortunately, been neglected as primary focus by most of established HR NGOs. We have chosen to undertake this endeavour from an independent platform, as a new established organization independent from government or partisan-politic interests. We seek no sponsoring from any institution. We are totally independent from government, and we do not and will not receive any financial support from governmental or corporative entities.
Our purpose is also to increase awareness of the atrocities of war on civil populations and corresponding impact of war crimes on a wide range of health issues including the epidemiological spread of disease, the traumatic physical and psychological damage to individuals, families and populations, and the risks and challenges of providing medical aid to victims in dangerous conditions. We are dedicated to RESEARCH and REPORT and we wish that our contribution, however humble, shall help towards restoring Sweden’s honourable place as a leading defender of human rights.
As we wrote in our rebuttal to the Swedish defense minister published by DN (2 Sept 2015), we firmly believe that Sweden could have a stronger voice in the international forum for peace, and human rights for all, if instead deepens the country’s neutrality stance in the geopolitical arena. We also deem Sweden’s neutrality and non-alignment – in the fashion it was under Olof Palme’s times, and accompanied by a strengthen of Sweden’s own defense capability – as the best guarantee for Sweden’s national security.
We consider SWEDHR as an alternative NGO to mainstream organizations such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty Sweden, which in the last decade have clearly demonstrated having a biased pro-NATO perspective in their reports. We disapprove the numerous reports from HRW requesting to the US government the intensification of war actions in Syria, as well as Amnesty Sweden pro-government stance in the Julian Assange case.
SWEDHR is a team formed with the participation of a number of Swedish professors, PhDs, medical doctors and university researchers in the medical sciences and health-related disciplines. This participation is purely voluntary and made on a private basis. SWEDHR statements represent solely the members of this organization, not all Swedish doctors or any other institution or professional/academic association that the participants in SWEDHR are associated with. SWEDHR follows both the United Nations doctrine on Human Rights and ethical norms according to the World Medical Association’s Ethical Declaration of Helsinki. Read on our organization’s aims and rationale for its foundation at Swedhr’s Manifest.
At difference with other organizations of this type in Sweden, SWEDHR a) does not administrate funds of any kind, b) it does not hold neither asks economic sponsoring from any governmental, corporative or private institution; c) it does not collect fees (meddlemsavgift) from its supporters; d) it does not campaign on economic-related issues associated with our HR endeavours. We also believe that abstaining from the aforementioned possibility of external contributions is one way of maintaining absolute independence and credibility regarding unbiased reporting of HR issues.
SWEDHR is open for the altruistic participation of any interested doctor sharing the aforementioned research interests. Membership forms (full member or associate member), which can be public or protected, are described in our Bylaws. For questions, comments, or if you wish to contribute in our publications online, contact:
Note:
The SWEDHR logo was created 15 October 2014 by Swedish Professors and Doctors for Human Rights, organization which, as author, hereby states: SWEDHR, the copyright holder of this work, release this work into the public domain. This applies worldwide. In some countries this may not be legally possible; if so: We grant anyone the right to use this work for any purpose, without any conditions, unless such conditions are required by law”.