Contributions to the Palme Center Stopped – Sida makes new interpretation
The Olof Palme Center has previously received money from Sida within the support aimed at civil society. The new message came on June 13, the same day that Sida decided on how the money would be distributed. It is about SEK 68 million that the Palme Center is denied. The decision also means that the Palme Center will not be eligible to apply for any money, even though they participated in the application process for a full year and have been approved in all steps.
The Palme Center’s Secretary -General Oscar Ernerot says the message came as a total surprise, after a long and well -functioning process.
– It affects the Palme Center’s operations and over 100 partner organizations extremely hard, he says.
The reason is to Sida’s Director General Jakob Granit changed the criteria at the last moment. According to the new interpretation, organizations that also receive money for party cooperation may no longer seek this support. Only the Palme Center is affected by the new rules. The Palme Center has previously been told that they can seek support, as they are not a political party and their projects are not aimed at parties in other countries.
The decision to stop the support comes in the wake of previous claims about political control of the aid, and that Jakob Granite changed the interpretation for party -related organizations To the advantage of the Swedish Democrats.
– Given everything else that happens to Sida politically, it is easy to believe that this decision has been influenced by the Minister of Development or State Secretary, says Oscar Ernerot.
The Palme Center is part of the labor movement and has worked on international projects for democracy, human rights and trade union issues. They collaborate with about 100 organizations in different parts of the world. Many of these collaborations now risk being completed as support from SIDA accounts for 40-50 percent of the Palm Center’s budget.
Last fall said Minister of Development Benjamin Dousa (M) openly that the government would stop Olof Palmecent’s ability to seek the side money, something he later had to reverse.
– But now he seems to have got his will through, it seems that we don’t get it because he sees us as a political opponent, says Oscar Ernerot.
According to him, during the application period, they have received an unusually many questions about their activities and he feels that there has been a special interest from the government to review them. He questions why the rules were changed just before the decision was made.
The projects that are affected include support for young people in Palestine, environmental organizations in Colombia, trade unions in Africa and democracy movements in Eastern Europe.
– I think the reinterpretation that the Director General has done is on the wrong grounds. It is extremely strange. I wonder why it comes so late, what is behind the revision and why we have not received information before that we are not eligible to seek the support, says Oscar Ernerot.
The Palme Center has received civil society support all years they have applied for, and now is the first time they have been denied the support by Sida.
DN is looking for Sida’s Director General Jakob Granite and Deputy Minister Benjamin Dousa.
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