Church of Sweden
Profile
| Country/Territory | Sweden |
|---|---|
| Website | http://www.svenskakyrkan.se/default.aspx?id=657804 |
| In their own words | Works “to address economic, social and cultural rights, particularly the right to food, livelihood, social welfare, education and health… The work is directed towards the process of building strong and relevant actors in civil society institutions as it is to empowering people to defend their dignity and claim their rights.” |
Funding
- In 2016, total income was SEK 3.4 billion; total expenses were SEK 2.9 billion.
- According to its 2016 annual report, “Fundraising by the Church of Sweden’s international work collected SEK 174 million. In addition, the Church received SEK 172 million, mainly from Sida (the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency), the charitable foundation Radiohjälpen and the EU for its international work.”
- Church of Sweden received $575,374 in 2016, $540,445 in 2015 and $664,587 in 2014 from Sweden (SIDA).
- A 2014 Church of Sweden document lists total project and spending budgets of SEK 10.2 million in the Middle East Region. However, there is no transparency regarding specific projects and cooperation with NGOs. The data that is available is provided by other sources.
- Church of Sweden provided grants to a number of highly biased and politicized NGOs active in the Arab-Israeli conflict, including Who Profits, Lutheran World Federation, Rabbis for Human Rights, and Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan & the Holy Land (see details below).
Activities
- The Church of Sweden is an Evangelical-Lutheran community that organizationally is divided into local (parishes), regional (dioceses), and national levels. In 2016, the Church had 6.1 million members.
Political Advocacy
- Supports the Kairos Palestine document, which calls for boycotts, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) against Israel; denies Jewish historical connections to Israel in theological terms; and rationalizes, justifies, and trivializes terrorism, calling it “legal resistance.”
- Focuses on international advocacy, stating that “advocacy work targets those with economic and political power in Sweden, the EU and the UN.”
- Supports the “World Week of Peace in Palestine Israel,” organized by the World Council of Churches, which calls for “advocacy and action in support of an end to the illegal occupation of Palestine.” The WCC plays a key role in mobilizing churches worldwide to support the international boycotts, divestments and sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel.
- Signatory to a 2015 Association of International Development Agencies (AIDA)” joint agency briefing paper, “Charting a New Course: Overcoming the Stalemate in Gaza,” misrepresenting international law and distorting legal terminology to place primary blame for the 2014 Gaza war on Israel. The paper omits Hamas rocket attacks against Israeli civilians and terror tunnels running beneath the border into Israel. The paper further encourages contact with Hamas, stating, “Restricted contact can undermine humanitarian access and implementation of humanitarian programmes…”
- In 2012, the Church of Sweden “clarified its position on the conflict between Israel and Palestine… After 30 years of negotiations, the Church of Sweden cannot see any improvement in the situation of the Palestinians, and, as a recognised State, future negotiations would take place on a more equal basis.” It urges the Swedish government to “campaign for Palestine being accepted as a full Member State of the UN”; “within the EU, press for legislation to limit the opportunities for supporting — financially or otherwise — the illegal settlements”; “within the EU, campaign against bilateral agreements between the EU and Israel being upgraded or entered into without any provision for compliance with international law”; and “without delay legislate on origin marking of products from Israeli settlements, in accordance with the EU directive.”
- Signatory to the 2009 report, “Failing Gaza: No rebuilding, no recovery, no more excuses,” which advances the unsupported legal claim that Gaza remains occupied and the false allegation of “collective punishment” in order to “prove” the central thesis that “primary responsibility [for the humanitarian crisis in Gaza] lies with Israel.” The report was also signed by Amnesty International UK, Trocaire (Ireland), Diakonia (Sweden), Oxfam International, Christian Aid(UK), Broederlijk Delen (Belgium), Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD) (UK), and others.
BDS Activities
- Church of Sweden promotes settlement goods labeling.
- In August 2016, Church of Sweden sponsored a “Kairos Palestine summer camp” aimed at “ramping up the pressure on Israel by increasing the Church’s support of and participation in the BDS movement.” Anna Karin Hammar, the head of the camp and a Rev. Dr. for Church of Sweden, gave a presentation at the camp where she stated, “BDS may be the only chance to liberate both Palestinians and Israeli Jews from the occupation. We should have nothing to do with the Israeli banking system” and there should be “no military cooperation between Sweden and Israel.”
- Was a signatory to the 2012 report “Trading Away Peace” that repeats the BDS agenda, calling on EU and individual European governments to wage political warfare through various forms of economic sanctions on Israel.
Funding to politicized NGOs
- EAPPI: Together with EED (Germany) and DanChurch Aid (Denmark), sponsored an Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI) mission. From 2013-2016, SIDA granted EAPPI $2.8 million, via the Swedish Council of Churches and the Church of Sweden.
- Founded by the WCC, EAPPI promotes BDS and demonization.
- Who Profits: According to information submitted to the Israeli Registrar of Non-Profits, Church of Sweden provided NIS 212,535 in 2016-2017.
- Who Profits’ initiates and supports international BDS campaigns.
- Church of Sweden granted Rabbis for Human Rights NIS 78,828 in 2014 and NIS 76,452 in 2013.
- RHR is one of the most politically active NGOs relating to the Bedouin in the Negev. Produced a 2013 film, “Fiddler with no Roof,” comparing Israel’s plan to resettle unrecognized Bedouin villages in the Negev to the expulsion of the Jews during the antisemitic Tsarist regime.
- Sponsors and maintains a close relationship with Palestinian Christian NGO Sabeel. Together they coordinate “Morally Responsible Investment” campaigns. In 2012, Friends of Sabeel Scandinavia, in cooperation with Church of Sweden, held a Palestine day with the theme “Can You Hear Us? – A Cry from Palestine.” In its 2015 Annual Report, Sabeel lists the “United Church of Sweden” as a donor.
- Church of Sweden granted SEK 4.1 million (2014-2017) to the Lutheran World Federation.
2014-2017 Funding Granted (amounts in SEK unless otherwise noted)- based on reports from Sida
| NGO | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lutheran World Federation | 1,060,000 | 1,060,000 | 1,000,000 | 1,000,000 |
| ACT Palestine Forum | 113,000 | 100,000 | 102,468 | |
| Department on Service to Palestine Refugees | 1,206,000 | 1,000,000 | 1,000,000 | 3,000,000 |
| Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan & the Holy Land | 3.3 million from 4 grants: 800,000 800,000 625,000 1,105,000 | 3.4 million from 4 grants: 900,000 800,000 625,000 1,105,000 | 3.3 million from 4 grants: 800,000 800,000 625,000 1,105,000 | 2.8 million from 3 grants: 800,000 949,000 1,040,000 |
| Who Profits | NIS 101,807 | NIS 110,728 |
Partners
- Member of the World Council of Churches (WCC), ACT Alliance, Act Alliance EU (formerly APRODEV) and the Lutheran World Federation.
- The ACT Alliance, WCC, and APRODEV all play key roles in mobilizing international BDS campaigns against Israel.
- Member of ACT Palestine Forum, a coalition for “improving the efficiency and effectiveness of ACT responses through enhanced cooperation and coordination.”
- Advocacy goals include contributing “to a global discourse on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that addresses the consequences of occupation, promotes access of individuals to resources, and ultimately brings an end to the occupation” and targeting “Christian communities on the International level…by stressing Christians’ suffering in the Holy Land and seek to preserve Christians presence in Palestine.”
- Urges “various forms of boycott of settlement products,” accusing Israel of denying “Palestinians their fundamental rights of freedom, equality, and self-determination through military occupation.”
- Published a February 2013 Advocacy Paper, “The ‘Permit Regime’ and Israeli Attacks on Palestinian Freedom of Worship,” alleging that “Under Israeli military occupation, repression has become the worst of history compared to that of South Africa. It’s a sophisticated form of social, economic, political and racial discrimination, strangulation, and genocide, incorporating the worst elements of colonialism and apartheid as well as repressive dispossession, displacement and state terrorism to separate Palestinians from their land and heritage, deny them their rightful civil and human rights, and gradually remove or eliminate them altogether. The ID/permit system is one of many elements designed to make greater Israel an ethnically pure Jewish state.”
- Church of Sweden has also partnered Wi’am Palestinian Conflict Resolution and Transformation Center, which actively promotes BDS and demonization.