Sweden is the country in the world that gives the second largest share of its gross national income, GNI, to development assistance and Ukraine is today the country to which Sweden gives the most.
The increased support for Ukraine began already with the previous government and the current government has continued on the same track. They have also abolished the target of one percent of GNI going to development assistance. Something that human rights organizations are sharply critical of.
"We are moving money from people living in extreme poverty and oppression to Ukraine. Then, of course, we will stand with Ukraine, but it would have been much better to keep the one percent target," says Mattias Brunander, Director General of Diakonia.
The Minister: Of course we care
Mattias Brunander believes that the change signals an irresponsibility and that Sweden does not care about people in other countries where there is a humanitarian crisis. The Minister for Development Aid does not share that picture.
– Sweden is a very generous donor. We have increased support for women in the war in Ukraine, we have increased aid to Turkey to dig people out of the rubble and we have also increased global support for human rights defenders and democracy fighters, says Johan Forsell in Agenda.
V: "Cuts will not make us more effective"
Johan Forssell (M) says that you can not only look at how much money is spent, but also need to look at the results. He says that the government is therefore taking measures to make aid more efficient, modern and transparent.
The Left Party's Lotta Johnsson Fornarve is of a different opinion and says that it is a mistake to leave the one percent target and that high development assistance is more important than ever given the world situation.
- To claim that development assistance becomes more effective just because you cut it out, I think is very strange. Businesses do not usually become more efficient when they receive less money, says Lotta Johnsson Fornarve (V) in Agenda.