The Swedish Amnesty Fund in English 

The Swedish Amnesty Fund provides relief to: 

• Human rights defenders
• Victims of torture 
• Prisoners of conscience and their relatives 
• People who have been forced to flee because of death threats 
• Relatives of people who are the victims of enforced disappearance or have been extrajudicially executed 
• Refugees in Sweden 

The relief is provided for: 

• Torture rehabilitation 
• Relocation costs
• Legal aid 
• Self-help projects 
• General basic needs 

Contact us: 

The Swedish Amnesty Fund 
Box 4719 
SE-116 92 Stockholm 
Visiting address: 11 Alsnögatan 
Phone: +46-8-729 02 00 
Fax: +46-8-729 02 01 
E-mail: amnestyfonden@amnesty.se 

How was the Swedish Amnesty Fund founded? 

The Fund was founded in 1966 by Hans Alfredson and Tage Danielsson with the aim to support prisoners of conscience and their families. The initial capital for the Fund came from Hasse’s & Tage’s revue “Å, vilken härlig fred” ("Oh what a wonderful peace"). Since its creation, the Fund has distributed several million Swedish Crowns in relief aid. 

How is the relief work managed? 

The board of the Swedish Amnesty Fund is appointed annually by Amnesty's members. The board, consisting of 10 people who are all volunteers with special expertise in areas relevant to the relief work, meets approximately 8-11 times a year . During these meetings, the board reviews all the relief applications that have been submitted and makes decisions regarding the cases. All decisions by the board of the Swedish Amnesty Fund must also be approved by Amnesty International's head office in London. 

How does one know that the relief reaches the right recipient? 

The Swedish Amnesty Fund has, as does the Swedish section of Amnesty International, a so-called 90-account which enables the Swedish Fundraising Control (Svensk Insamlingskontroll) to check that the fundraising is properly carried out and that the work is not charged with excessive administrative costs. The Swedish Amnesty Fund's accounts are also regularly audited by external auditors.

Support the Swedish Amnesty Fund 

Since the 1 January 2004, the Fund and the Swedish section of Amnesty International share the income and costs of fundraising. 

All the donations and grants that Amnesty receives are distributed between the Swedish Amnesty section and the Fund. Currently, the Swedish Amnesty Fund receives 11% of the funds raised and pays 9% of the fundraising costs. Thus, the Swedish Amnesty section receives 89% of the funds raised and pays 91% of the fundraising costs. We believe that this allocation enables the reduction of costs for both parties while increasing the revenues. There are some exceptions to this allocation model such as wills directly addressed to the Fund. 

The Swedish Amnesty Fund's relief will unabatedly continue to reach victims of human rights violations all over the world, just like it did when it all started in 1966. A positive side effect of the merger of the fundraising has been that the Fund's board can now spend even more time handling applications. 

By donating money to the Swedish section of Amnesty's account, you will support both Amnesty's research and advocacy work as well as the Swedish Amnesty Fund’s relief work. 

Do you have any questions? 

If you have questions, please contact ingrid.mcgarry@amnesty.se. 
You can also call 08-729 02 00