ACAT Sweden is a link of FIACAT, the International Federation Of Christians Against Torture and death penalty , and wishes to be affiliated to the afore mentioned mother organization. Like FIACAT we are strongly committed to act for the abolition of the death penalty worldwide and the use of torture and / or other cruel and degrading treatment as it is defined by the article 5 of the UN Declaration of Human Rights.
Like FIACAT prayer for the tortured and the torturer is our main mean of action, since Our Lord Jesus Christ has been tortured and sentenced to death. Another mean to achieve that goal is through information, seminars, press articles and internal education. Since many years a group of Christians in Sweden, mainly from Sancta Clara Church have volunteered to assist refugees and migrants in need for legal, psychological and socio-economic guidance. Our main effort has been to provide a humanitarian framework and an understanding of the traumatic events they experienced in their homelands.
As a member of the European Community since 1995, Sweden is bound by the laws, treaties and praxis of the Union and has to work inside the frame of common rules for asylum and in conformity with its own constitution . Although Sweden has inherited a long tradition of tolerance and humanity, the need for conformity to the join alien policies of the union creates sometimes situations that require a Christian approach to assist refugees. Revolutions and wars have since 2001 generated a big flow of refugees and migrants. We have to mention also the steady growing numbers of victims of trafficking and even the complication created by children under 18 arriving at our airports and seeking protection. We remember that our Lord Jesus Christ had to escape from the wrath of Herodes and hide in Egypt. A thousand years before, Moses law prescribed that refugees should not be persecuted since the people of Israel had to seek shelter in Egypt ( mos. 2:20)
Moreover ACAT Sweden believes that information and transparency are strongly beneficial to the development of Human Rights providing the system of check and balance necessary for a satisfying and fair application of humanitarian principles. We have therefore decided to register ACAT Sweden as to further expand and promote the Christian message of hope, forgiveness and the respect of human dignity.
ACAT Sweden Goals And Action
Our main areas of understanding and action are as follow:
Death Penalty
Torture and degrading Treatments
Executions Both Judicial and Extra-Judicial
Disappearances
Asylum under Swedish and International law
The position of the Church Of Sweden and assistance provided by the free churches in Sweden
The European court of Justice
The European Council
The situation of Women and Children
As can be seen this list is not exhaustive as is the case in the more than 30 countries that have devoted themselves to fight for the same goal. In summary ACAT Sweden works to assist mainly asylum seekers and eventually other migrants in need for legal advice and intervention as it is not unuasual that applications are rejected mainly because they do not fulfill the criteria required by the law.
We therefore visit visit periodically detention centers where refugees are held before an impending deportation. We also attempt to control that the rights of the appliers have been respected all along and above all try to evaluate the risks of torture and other ill-treatments including execution if the deportation is carried away.
Prayer with or without the asylum seeker presence is the action of choice of ACAT Sweden, since we strongly believe and have experienced that the doors open only we keep knocking at them. Prayer have also been very efficient in softening the heart of the authorities leading to the healing of dignity and self confidence
Asylum under Swedish and International law