Core support and related matters

The plan requires that Sweden increases aid and strengthens the UN, and sees the UN as the only organization that can bear an alternative international order, where the General Assembly shall be strengthened. Reducing the number of UN organizations receiving support and phasing out UNRWA goes in the opposite direction and would weaken support for refugees in poor countries. The counter-proposal's requirement is thus rejected by the plan.

• increase aid and strengthen UNdecisive»Sverige ska öka biståndet, stärka FN och skriva under kärnvapenkonventionen« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Sweden shall increase aid, strengthen the UN and sign the nuclear weapons convention”
• UN as central actor»FN är en viktig organisation för fred, avspänning och nedrustning.« (party programme ↗)“The UN is an important organization for peace, relaxation and disarmament.”
• strengthened General Assembly»FN:s generalförsamling måste stärkas« (party programme ↗)“The UN's General Assembly must be strengthened”
• aid without conditions»Internationellt bistånd ska ges till fattiga länder utan egennyttiga« (party programme ↗)“International aid shall be given to poor countries without selfish”

The stance rests on the quoted commitment in the party's own documents; the actual vote deviated. Click the quote to verify it in the document.

The plan wants to continue to protect the UN's role and establishes that development aid shall correspond to at least one percent of gross national income, with poor people's and children's rights at the centre. Phasing out UNRWA, reducing the number of UN organizations that receive support and cutting core support contradicts this. The plan certainly wants to reform the UN system, but to make it a more effective tool, not to withdraw support.

• protect the UN's roledecisive»Vi kommer att fortsätta värna FN:s roll i arbetet för folkrätten och det internationella samarbetet.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“We will continue to protect the UN's role in the work for international law and international cooperation.”
• the one-percent target for development aid»Det svenska biståndet ska motsvara minst en procent av bruttonationalinkomsten.« (party programme ↗)“Swedish development aid shall correspond to at least one percent of gross national income.”
• rights in development aid»Flickors och kvinnors rättigheter måste stärkas globalt.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Girls' and women's rights must be strengthened globally.”
• reform for a stronger UN»Vi anser att hela FN-systemet bör reformeras för att åstadkomma en demokratiskt« (party programme ↗)“We believe that the entire UN system should be reformed to achieve a democratically”

The plan wants strong international cooperation with the UN as a central actor and a UN with capacity to act, and it protects the aid level of more than one per cent of GNI. Cutting the number of UN organizations receiving support and phasing out UNRWA pulls in the opposite direction and risks conditioning aid against domestic political interests. The plan's requirement for effectiveness does not justify a dismantling.

• strong UNdecisive»Miljöpartiet de gröna vill se ett starkt internationellt samarbete med FN som central aktör« (party programme ↗)“the Greens wants to see strong international cooperation with the UN as a central actor”
• protected aid»att mer än 1 procent av Sveriges bruttonationalinkomst fortsatt ska gå till bistånd« (2022 manifesto ↗)“that more than 1 per cent of Sweden's gross national income should continue to go to aid”
• poverty reduction guides»att biståndet ska styras av principer om effektivitet och fattigdomsbekämpning« (2022 manifesto ↗)“that aid should be guided by principles of effectiveness and poverty reduction”
• UN with capacity to act»Vi arbetar för ett FN« (party programme ↗)“We work for a UN”

The plan takes no explicit position on what the committee actually decided — often because the committee's reason was procedural. The stance is derived and fully cited, but it does not show the party broke a commitment.

The plan wants the UN to be reformed, but in the direction of the UN and its member states taking greater responsibility, and it values the UN, aid and multilateral cooperation as peace-building. Reducing the number of UN organisations that receive support and phasing out one of them therefore goes against the plan's line, even though the plan's requirement for action against corruption speaks for scrutiny of overhead costs. The conclusion is derived and uncertain.

• greater UN responsibilitydecisive»måste FN och dess medlemsstater ta ett större ansvar« (party programme ↗)“the UN and its member states must take greater responsibility”
• multilateral cooperation»Samarbetsorganisationer som FN och EU, handelsavtal och bistånd, kan knyta länder närmare varandra« (party programme ↗)“Cooperative organisations like the UN and EU, trade agreements and aid can tie countries closer together”
• support for UN-led operations»Centerpartiet vill att Sverige ska bistå i internationella fredsinsatser, gärna i ökad utsträckning under direkt FN-ledning.« (party programme ↗)“The Centre Party wants Sweden to assist in international peace operations, preferably in increased scope under direct UN leadership.”
• action against corruption»Vi vill inrätta en antikorruptionsmyndighet, skärpa regler mot korruption och införa ett lobbyregister.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“We want to establish an anti-corruption authority, tighten rules against corruption and introduce a lobbying register.”

The plan takes no explicit position on what the committee actually decided — often because the committee's reason was procedural. The stance is derived and fully cited, but it does not show the party broke a commitment.

The plan establishes that the UN's role is seriously hampered by lack of efficiency and that there are serious problems with lack of transparency and corruption with Swedish aid money, which is why aid policy must undergo major reforms. Requirements for efficiency improvements, fewer UN organizations receiving core support and testing of the usefulness of core support thus lie in line with the plan, which at the same time wants to maintain aid at one percent of GNI.

• UN's lack of efficiencydecisive»FN:s roll försvåras dock allvarligt av bristande effektivitet« (party programme ↗)“The UN's role is, however, seriously hampered by lack of efficiency”
• corruption in aid»Samtidigt finns i dag allvarliga problem med bristande öppenhet och korruption med svenska biståndspengar.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“At the same time there are today serious problems with lack of transparency and corruption with Swedish aid money.”
• major aid reforms»Den svenska biståndspolitiken måste genomgå stora reformer med fokus på demokrati, jämställdhet och minskad korruption.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Swedish aid policy must undergo major reforms focusing on democracy, equality and reduced corruption.”
• aid level maintained»Därför vill vi att det svenska biståndet ska uppnå till en procent av BNI.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Therefore we want Swedish aid to reach one percent of GNI.”

The plan takes no explicit position on what the committee actually decided — often because the committee's reason was procedural. The stance is derived and fully cited, but it does not show the party broke a commitment.

The party programme requires clear instruments for steering, coordination, and follow-up of aid and independent evaluations, explicitly also of the multilateral organizations that mediate a large part of Swedish aid. Investigating the usefulness of core support and reducing duplication and overhead costs follows from this. The requirement that the UN's position is protected and strengthened qualifies but does not overturn the conclusion.

• clear steering of aiddecisive»Det måste finnas tydliga instrument för styrning, samordning och uppföljning av biståndet.« (party programme ↗)“There must be clear instruments for steering, coordination and follow-up of aid.”
• independent evaluations»Oberoende utvärderingar av biståndet ska ske.« (party programme ↗)“Independent evaluations of aid shall occur.”
• applies also to multilateral organs»Detta gäller även för de multilaterala organisationer genom vilka en stor del av det svenska biståndet går.« (party programme ↗)“This also applies to the multilateral organizations through which a large part of Swedish aid goes.”
• the UN's position shall be strengthened»Därför måste FN:s ställning skyddas och stärkas, liksom olika internationella domstolar och rättssystem inom FN-systemet.« (party programme ↗)“Therefore the UN's position must be protected and strengthened, as well as various international courts and legal systems within the UN system.”

The plan takes no explicit position on what the committee actually decided — often because the committee's reason was procedural. The stance is derived and fully cited, but it does not show the party broke a commitment.

The plan takes a direct position against tax money being uncritically channeled in increasing volumes through unreformed UN bodies that lack transparency and accountability, and wants to work for a reformed UN. Aid should be focused to the countries and organizations where it does the most good and be guided by results instead of disbursement targets. It supports the counter-proposal's demand for fewer UN organizations, lower overhead and a review of core support's value.

• no to unreformed UN bodiesdecisive»inte heller okritiskt kanaliseras i ökande volymer genom oreformerade FN-organ som brister i transparens och uppföljning« (2022 manifesto ↗)“nor should it be uncritically channeled in increasing volumes through unreformed UN bodies that lack transparency and accountability”
• reform UN»Verka för ett reformerat FN« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Work for a reformed UN”
• focused aid»Fokusera det svenska biståndet till de länder, organisationer och tematiska områden där det gör störst nytta« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Focus Swedish aid to the countries, organizations and thematic areas where it does the most good”
• results before volume»Avskaffa enprocentmålet och ersätta det med en fyraårig budgetram för biståndet som skapar förutsägbarhet och resultatfokus« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Abolish the one-percent target and replace it with a four-year budget framework for aid that creates predictability and results focus”

The stance rests on the quoted commitment in the party's own documents; the actual vote deviated. Click the quote to verify it in the document.

The plan requires that international aid be significantly reduced and made more efficient, that allocations can be traced to the end recipient and distributed based on results, and points to weak follow-up and corruption as recurring problems. The counter-proposal's requirement for mergers of UN organizations, fewer support recipients, investigated utility of core support and phasing out of UNRWA directly follow from these commitments. The plan also speaks against the committee's reasoning that multilateral aid has already produced good results.

• reduce and make aid more efficientdecisive»Överlag måste det internationella biståndet kraftigt minska och insatserna effektiviseras.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Overall, international aid must be significantly reduced and efforts made more efficient.”
• evaluate aid»Effektivisera och utvärdera det svenska biståndet« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Make Swedish aid more efficient and evaluate it”
• corruption and weak transparency»Uppföljningen, insynen och resultat av biståndspolitikens inriktning, om att betala ut så mycket medel som möjligt, är svag, men exemplen är många på hur svenska biståndspengar bidragit till korruption och mutor och bidragit till att finansiera antidemokratiska rörelser och islamism.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“The follow-up, transparency and results of aid policy's direction of paying out as much funds as possible is weak, but the examples are many of how Swedish aid money has contributed to corruption and bribes and contributed to financing anti-democratic movements and Islamism.”
• traceability and result requirements»Men biståndsanslag måste bättre kunna följas ända till slutmottagaren och fördelas utifrån konkreta resultat utifrån i förväg fastställda mål.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“But aid allocations must be better able to be traced all the way to the end recipient and distributed based on concrete results based on pre-established targets.”