IPPF EN welcomes today’s vote by the Swedish Parliament of a new law on legal gender recognition. This replaces a law initially dating from 1972 which, whilst very progressive 50 years ago, was no longer fit for purpose.  The bill adopted today, despite its limitations, contains important measures that will remove some of the obstacles that trans people currently face when they want to change a gender marker in their legal documents to reflect their gender identity. It is positive that the reform will simplify the administrative process and separate it from the process for accessing gender-affirming care. IPPF EN celebrates the adoption of the new law, and pays tribute to the commitment and determination of the trans movement and its allies in securing today’s result. Ulrika Westerlund, Member of Parliament in the Green Party and longstanding champion of trans rights in Sweden, said: “Despite the polarisation and the at times very aggressive and unbalanced debate, the parliament has demonstrated unity between six parties who stand behind this review of the Swedish Legal Gender Recognition law. Today’s vote will not give trans people self-determination of change of legal gender, but the process will be simplified, available to 16-year-olds and not require a diagnosis. We welcome this and look forward to continuing working for additional improvements further on.” “This is a significant step for trans people’s rights in Sweden. But the new legislation remains out of step with that of its Nordic neighbours and the recently-passed German gender recognition law,  fully based on self-determination, which is the gold standard. The fight goes on,” said Micah Grzywnowicz, Regional Director of IPPF EN.   Photo by Ozan Öztaskiran on Unsplash

Gender & The Union is a podcast exploring why policy changes matter to combat gender-based violence in the European Union, and why relationship and sexuality education is key to creating a more equal and safe future for all. In this 4-episode podcast series, we will create a dialogue between policy makers in the EU and the young people looking to advocate for positive change.      In this episode of Gender and the Union we discuss what the European Union and all of us can do to create a society free from sexism and discrimination, with the EU Commissioner for Equality, Helena Dalli and our sexual and reproductive rights youth advocate, Amanda, from Sweden. The podcast is moderated by Catherine Bailey Gluckman, programme advisor for youth work at IPPF EN. The value of gender equality is close to the hearts of European citizens – with 91% of Europeans believing that its promotion is important to ensuring a fair and democratic society. So what steps is the European Commission taking to diminish gender inequalities? Commissioner Dalli tells us about what the EU is doing to tackle intersecting discrimination and reach those whose needs are greatest. Commissioner Dalli affirms that sexual and reproductive health and rights are at the core of gender equality, speaks out in favour of relationship and sexuality education (RSE), and affirms that RSE should be an essential component of the future EU Directive on Gender-Based Violence, as a way to prevent violence. We’ve heard how things are locally and nationally in Sweden including some inspiring best practices in how Amanda works with young people to make sure they feel empowered to take decisions about their lives and challenge harmful stereotypes. Amanda has underlined very clearly that it’s not just about a good legal framework in place to ensure sexuality education is delivered, implementation is crucial. And there needs to be investment in sustainable programmes, training new educators and school teachers continuously and ensuring that curricula for sexuality education are relevant up-to-date and that they reflect enough of a range of important life skills. Finally, we also heard that there is a lot of power to prevent violence, to fight inequalities and to adopt strong relationship & sexuality education programmes within the reach of individual EU countries themselves. This does require states to seize that responsibility and do the work. But it is also empowering to realize it’s achievable. That data is out there, keen and willing educators are out there, a supportive international community of practice exists. It’s entirely within the power of EU states to make the most of these resources and do their duty to ensure the safety of young people. As Helena Dalli said, this is the way to go.   This podcast series was commissioned by the International Planned Parenthood Federation European Network, produced by Positive Stories and funded by the European Union’s Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme (REC 2014-2020), within the framework of the Youth SpectActors project. The content of this podcasts represents only the views of IPPF EN and is its sole responsibility. The European Commission does not accept any responsibility for use that may be made of the information it contains.

Sonja Ghaderi is Project Manager of 'Curious: Sex and Relationships for young newcomers,’ a relationship and sexuality education programme for young migrants in Sweden which is led by IPPF’s Swedish Member Association, RFSU. Could you give me a little background to the work RFSU is doing to provide relationship and sexuality education for young newcomers in Sweden? Sexual and reproductive health is a part of most people's lives. But when you come to a new country you might not get the information you need because issues of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) aren’t talked about or you can’t access the information in a language you understand. Migrants come from a lot of different contexts so it's a very diverse group, but what we have seen is that you cannot wait. You cannot wait for information on sexual and reproductive health. So, in 2011, one of our local entities, RFSU Gothenburg developed materials to be able to conduct sexuality education in basic Swedish. The information that you get is practically the same as sexuality education at school only that some parts are more basic and it was made more accessible with pictures and by using simple language used to raise literacy on body parts and so on. We then have peer educators (aged 20 – 30) who have been trained on how to use the materials – they learn how to express themselves in easier Swedish and to understand needs that are prevalent among migrants, and how experiences of racism can have a negative impact on SRHR. An anti-racist perspective permeates everything we do. How do you incorporate anti-racism into relationship and sexuality education? We build the capacity of our peers that have not had the experience of migrating to Sweden and ask them to reflect on questions like: What is racism? How is it expressed in society today? How are exotification ('exotification' sexualizes and objectifies people according to harmful and stereotyped ideas about race) and sexualisation connected to racism? We also talk about norms on 'whiteness', like how there is a norm that categorizes people according to the colour of our skin and how this informs our daily interactions. Because unfortunately, many of the youth that come to Sweden experience this and it's something they have to struggle with everyday. Are all of your sessions done in Swedish? Up until 2016 we mainly had activities in basic Swedish, but we noticed a need for translated materials for people working in healthcare services. So we gathered reference groups to see what support migrants would need to be able to learn about SRHR and we then made twelve movies in 14 different languages which care providers now use to provide information when sitting with a patient, student or meeting migrants in other contexts. So if your patient lacks basic information on menstruation, pregnancy, lust and pleasure, any theme that these movies have, you can watch them together and stop if the person has questions on a certain subject. How important is it for migrants to be able to get information on sexuality and relationships in their own language? I think you need the knowledge in your own language because – I mean even now I have difficulties expressing myself in English sometimes, even though I consider myself fluent. Imagine then you come to a new country, how many years would it take for you to learn a new language? So yes, you need translated information on SRHR, because in your mother tongue it goes right into your heart. Also, you shouldn’t need to learn Swedish to access important information, otherwise there is a risk that the rights that everyone have are not enjoyed by persons who have recently come to Sweden or have been here without knowing Swedish. Have you noticed whether there are particular questions that young newcomers ask in your sexuality education sessions? Practically everyone is excited and thankful to have the opportunity to talk about issues around sexuality, norms, relationships, as it might be the first time for many of them. One of the things we talk about is masturbation, because many have heard that it is dangerous and that you should not engage in it. So we talk about that. Another common question is ‘how can I find someone to date?’ Or ‘I want to flirt with someone, how do I do it?’. Do you think it’s important to take a sex-positive approach to sexuality education? Yes! Sex can be so many enjoyable things and so many difficult things, so when we talk to youth and adults we try to encompass everything. For us the lust perspective is very important because most people are curious and think of sex as something exciting and thrilling. With that as a starting point, you can also talk about the difficult aspects. One final question – has there been a particular moment in your work when you felt that you were doing something important? Recently, I was training teachers that work with newly arrived youth and we had a session on racism and how exotification and racism affect discussions of sexuality. Afterwards some of them said they were now reflecting on how they interact and that they might change the way they talk a bit. It’s when you notice that there's an 'aha' moment – that they perhaps reflect on their own privilege and what they need to do to make the world more equal.   Interview conducted by Eimear Sparks, IPPF EN

Until Sweden closed its border last year huge numbers of immigrants were arriving from war-torn countries around the world. Between 2015 and 2016 more than 160,000 people sought asylum – over 35,000 of those were unaccompanied minors. Most from countries like Afghanistan, Syria, Eritrea and Iraq. According to a report by Human Rights Watch (HRW), many of them had suffered violence and persecution. HRW said about half were 15 or younger and arrived in their new country with complicated needs – often they had experienced trauma. Many of the young people had limited or no knowledge about sexual health. A recent report by the Swedish Agency for Youth and Civil Society (MUCF) analysed sexual and reproductive health and rights among youth. Young, recently arrived immigrants were identified as particularly at risk. The Swedish Association for Sexuality Education in Sweden (RFSU), a member association of IPPF, has been trying to help fill the gap by providing sexual health lessons to young asylum seekers with great responses. Nineteen-year-old Zilan Karim from Kurdistan and 20-year-old Masume Ahmadi from Afghanistan have benefited from RFSU’s sex education classes at their school in Uppsala in eastern Sweden. Masume said: “In our home countries we’re supposed to have some sex education, but the teachers often tear those pages out of the biology books. The subject of sex is taboo.”  “When RFSU came to my school here in Uppsala I learned about menstruation, how one gets pregnant, and the myth of the hymen, things I didn't know before,” says Masume.  Zilan says: “It was also useful to learn about Swedish rights and rules. For example what to do if someone has sex with you against your will, and that you can have an abortion." Seventeen-year-old, Mahdi Rezaie who came to Sweden alone three years ago, and whose family fled from Afghanistan to Iran when he was 6, said: “I was surprised to learn that two men, or two women, can date each other in Sweden. In Iran homosexuality is punishable by death if discovered.”  Mahdi added: “The best part was to learn about having sex and how to protect oneself against STDs.” Kerstin Isaxon is an expert on comprehensive sexual education at RFSU. She works with educating staff and unaccompanied minors at group homes, as well as at high-school introductory Swedish programmes. In her view there is a great need for education about sex and relationships. She says: “These young people may not have been offered it in school, or their schooling may have been interrupted by war, poverty, persecution, or flight.” The research by MUCF shows that the level of education among professionals in this case staff at schools, SFI (Swedish for Immigrants), adult education and introductory Swedish classes generally ‘miss out’ on the opportunity to offer education on sex and relationships. But professionals agree that sex and relationship education for asylum seekers is essential. The demand is large but the resources to provide it appear scant. The Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions (SKL) says that various initiatives are underway in individual regions to, for example, provide education at group homes and free clinics, but it is hard to know who is in charge of the issue since nobody has stated a clear mission.  So what is the Swedish government doing?  In June 2016 the Minister for Children and the elderly, and Gender Equality, Åsa Regnér tasked the MUCF to develop a digital platform with information on health and gender equality. The target group was newly arrived and asylum-seeking children and youth, ages 13-20. The work on the website is yet to begin. Anna Westin from MUCF said a roadmap was being developed to help professionals speak to new arrivals about sexual health issues. She added that the idea was to start educating those in the field later this year. The government clearly sees this as an important issue but RFSU and some other civil society groups don't believe there is enough political will and want to see more money being invested by Sweden's political leaders. Ottar Magazine wanted to find out whose responsibility it was to ensure that refugees knew enough about sexual rights and health. The Minister of Public Health, Gabriel Wikström told Ottar: “The Swedish state has the overall responsibility to create good conditions for the reception of refugees.” He added that it was important that different sectors of society work together on this. “The situation has brought into focus the need for functioning cooperation, between state authorities, between the state, regions, and local authorities, as well as between the state and the nonprofit sector. There are some things we will never do as well as organizations in civil society,” says Mr Wikström. Back at the school in Uppsala where 18-year-old Daimon from Eritrea is also a student. He says that his home country and Sweden differ on the topic of sex in many aspects. He likes the freedom in Sweden but expresses surprise at certain things. For instance the Swedish law that criminalizes the purchase of sex workers, but not the work itself. “How can it be legal to sell sex, but not to buy it? That's like selling coffee but forbidding people to drink it,” he says. Daimon says that learning about sexual health has been vital for his integration into Swedish society. “It makes it easier for us to do things the right way.” This article was originally published by Swedish Ottar  Magazine #1 2017. Original text by Anna Knöfel Magnusson and photos by Marc Femenia.