6. Is Sweden violating fundamental human rights?
In this first episode of the Scandinavian Human Rights Podcast we discuss one of our most debated human rights cases where our clients, midwives Ellinor Grimmark and Linda Steen were denied to work within their profession as midwives because of their conscientious objection to abortion. “No employee is allowed to publicly take a stand against abortion”, the employer said. Both of the Christian midwives were,by a leading Swedish government official, compared to jihadists and “extreme religious practitioners”. Sweden has a great reputation regarding democratic values, rule of law, human rights and pluralism but what does the case show about acceptance for opinions that are not politically correct or against the views of the majority? How broad minded should we be in a liberal society? And how come that Sweden takes such a different stand from all other countries in Europe regarding freedom of conscience? On March 12, the European Court of Human Rights denied to hear the case. We discuss the fact that Swedish judge has very strong connections to the opposing party in the domestic proceedings and that the Court avoids the facts and important human rights issues.