Foreword

For more than 50 years, the Nordic governments have co-operated with one another to promote gender equality.

This Nordic co-operation has been strengthened and developed continuously over time, and since 2020, it has also encompassed the equal rights of LGBTI people.

We share fundamental values in the Nordic Region, such as a belief in the equal value of all people and the universal applicability of human rights. We also share a societal model that promotes gender equality and equal rights, and which is thus often seen as an ideal archetype by many.

We are a region of stable democracies that promote peace and freedom, not least the freedom of the individual to make their own decisions and to give shape to their own lives as they wish. Freedom from negative gender stereotypes and traditional gender norms is thus a shared core value in the Nordic Region.

In the Nordic Region, all inhabitants should be able to feel secure and that they belong, and nobody should be subjected to discrimination, abuse or violence as a result of their gender, sexual orientation or gender identity.

It is important that we protect and nurture this common set of Nordic values on which our societies are built. At a time when gender equality and equal rights for LGBTI people are being questioned the world over, in the Nordic Region we stand up for gender equality, equal rights and the equal value of all people.

These human rights must not be taken for granted. We must continue to defend the advances we have made in the Nordic Region. It is precisely for this reason that we will tirelessly continue our Nordic co-operation in the interest of gender equality and the equal rights of LGBTI people in the run up to 2030.

Paulina Brandberg, Swedish Minister for Gender Equality and Working Life and Karen Ellemann, Secretary General of the Nordic Council of Ministers

Paulina Brandberg
Swedish Minister for Gender Equality and Working Life

Karen Ellemann
Secretary General of the Nordic Council of Ministers