The Human Library is an international organization and movement that first started in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 2000. It aims to address people's prejudices by helping them to talk to those they would not normally meet. [1] [2] [3] The organisation uses a library analogy of lending people rather than books. [4] [5] These people have "experienced prejudice, social exclusion or stigma," and participants can ask them questions so as to "learn about the other person and also challenge their own prejudices." [6] [7] The Human Library Organization is active in over 80 countries, [8] in which there are a few permanent Human Libraries but most happen as events. [9]
The organization began in Copenhagen in 2000 when the first Human Library event was held at Roskilde Festival. [9] The event was run by Ronni and Dany Abergel, [9] Asma Mouna, and Christoffer Erichsen, then working at the Danish Youth NGO Stop Volden (which translates to Stop the Violence), inspired by the American Stop the Violence Movement. The first event ran four days with eight hours of conversations each day and more than 1000 people took part.
The next Human Library was hosted in Oslo, Norway, by Ronni Abergel for the Nordic Minister Councils youth assembly "Unge I Norden". The event was prepared in partnership with Terese Mungai-Foyn and went on to inspire the establishment of the Norwegian Human Library program in 2003.
The first permanent Human Library was established in Lismore, Australia, in 2006. [10] As of 2019, the project has grown to have partners in more than 70 countries across the world. [11]
Copenhagen Business School often abbreviated and referred to as CBS, is a public university situated in Copenhagen, Denmark and is considered one of the most prestigious business schools in Western Europe and the world.
Ungdomshuset was the popular name of the building formally named Folkets Hus located on Jagtvej 69 in Nørrebro, Copenhagen, which functioned as an underground scene venue for music and rendezvous point for varying autonomist and leftist groups from 1982 until 2007 when—after prolonged conflict—it was torn down, and later also for its successor, located on Dortheavej 61 in the adjacent Bispebjerg neighbourhood. Due to the ongoing conflict between the Copenhagen Municipality and the activists occupying the premises, the building on Jagtvej was the subject of intense media attention and public debate from the mid-1990s till 2008.
Islam is the second largest religion in Norway after Christianity. As of 2021, the number of Muslims living in Norway was 169,605. The majority of Muslims in Norway are Sunni, with a significant Shia minority. 55 percent of Muslims in the country live in Oslo and Akershus. The vast majority of muslims have an immigrant background, and very few Norwegians are Muslim.
The Ella Baker Center for Human Rights is a non-profit strategy and action center based in Oakland, California. The stated aim of the center is to work for justice, opportunity and peace in urban America. It is named for Ella Baker, a twentieth-century activist and civil rights leader originally from Virginia and North Carolina.
Until the late 2000s terrorism in Sweden was not seen as a serious threat to the security of the state. However, there has been a rise in far right and Islamist terrorist activity in the 21st century.
Secular coming-of-age ceremonies, sometimes called civil confirmations, are ceremonies arranged by organizations that are secular, i.e., not aligned to any religion. Their purpose is to prepare adolescents for their life as adults. Secular coming of age ceremonies originated in the 19th century, when non-religious people wanted a rite of passage comparable to the Christian confirmation. Nowadays, non-religious coming-of-age ceremonies are organized in several European countries; in almost every case these are connected with humanist organisations.
The International Alliance of Women is an international non-governmental organization that works to promote women's rights and gender equality. It was historically the main international organization that campaigned for women's suffrage. IAW stands for an inclusive, intersectional and progressive liberal feminism on the basis of human rights and liberal democracy, and has a liberal internationalist outlook. IAW's principles state that all genders are "born equally free [and are] equally entitled to the free exercise of their individual rights and liberty," that "women’s rights are human rights" and that "human rights are universal, indivisible and interrelated." In 1904 the Alliance adopted gold as its color, the color associated with the women's suffrage movement in the United States since 1867 and the oldest symbol of women's rights; through the Alliance's influence gold and white became the principal colors of the mainstream international women's suffrage movement.
The Danish Center for Research on Women and Gender (KVINFO) is a Danish information center about women's issues. It primarily aims to provide the general public with information about the results of women's studies and gender research undertaken in Denmark and internationally.
During the World Bank Annual Bank Conference on Development Economics in Oslo, Norway in 2002 large globalization-critical protests were held. A coalition of many organizations organized an alternative conference and a demonstration with more than 10 000 participants, thus making it the largest mass mobilisation in Norway in recent history. Before the protests, there was much concern about violence and riots, but the actual protest was almost entirely peaceful with a few minor incidents.
The Youth Climate Movement (YouNGO) or International Youth Climate Movement (IYCM) refers to an international network of youth organisations that collectively aims to inspire, empower and mobilise a generational movement of young people to take positive action on climate change.
The Nordic Resistance Movement is a pan-Nordic neo-Nazi movement in the Nordic countries and a political party in Sweden. Besides Sweden, it is established in Norway, Denmark and Iceland, and formerly in Finland before it was banned in 2019. The NRM has been described as a terrorist organization due to their aim of abolishing democracy along with their paramilitary activities, weapons caches and connections to proscribed terrorist organizations such as the Russian Imperial Movement, National Action and Azov Battalion. In 2022, some members of the United States Congress began calling for the organization to be added to the United States Department of State list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations.
Crime in Denmark is combated by the Danish Police and other agencies.
Historically speaking, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people have not been given equal treatment and rights by both governmental actions and society's general opinion. Much of the intolerance for LGBT individuals come from lack of education around the LGBT community, and contributes to the stigma that results in same-sex marriage being legal in few countries (31) and persistence of discrimination, such as in the workplace.
Counter-jihad, also spelled counterjihad and known as the counter-jihad movement, is a self-titled political current loosely consisting of authors, bloggers, think tanks, street movements and campaign organisations all linked by apocalyptic beliefs that view Islam not as a religion but as a worldview that constitutes an existential threat to Western civilization. Consequently, counter-jihadists consider all Muslims as a potential threat, especially when they are already living within Western boundaries. Western Muslims accordingly are portrayed as a "fifth column", collectively seeking to destabilize Western nations' identity and values for the benefit of an international Islamic movement intent on the establishment of a caliphate in Western countries. The counter-jihad movement has been variously described as anti-Islamic, Islamophobic, inciting hatred against Muslims, and far-right. Influential figures in the movement include the far-right anti-Muslim conspiracy theorists Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer.
The International Union of Socialist Youth (IUSY) is an international youth labor organization, whose activities include publications, support of member organizations and the organization of meetings. Then named the Socialist Youth International, it was formed at the 1907 International Socialist Congress at Stuttgart as the youth wing of the Second International.
The Norwegian Women's Lobby is a feminist policy and advocacy organization in Norway, and is described as the country's "main, national, umbrella organization" for women's rights. NWL is inclusive, promotes intersectional feminism and "works to represent the interests of all those who identify as women and girls." The implementation of the CEDAW treaty is a major focus for NKL, and it works to enhance the implementation, visibility and relevance of CEDAW within politics and society. It states that it "brings together both the key women’s organisations and the leading experts on women’s rights in Norway" and that it has a focus on being a "cooperation partner for the government [and] to contribute to the representation of the Norwegian women's movement in international forums." NWL has stated that "NWL understands discrimination against girls and women in an intersectional perspective and is against, among other things, racism, homophobia, transphobia and ableism. NWL views the anti-gender movement as a grave threat to the rights of all women and girls as well as the LGBTIQ+ community."
Intersex people are born with sex characteristics that "do not fit the typical definitions for male or female bodies". They are substantially more likely to identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) than the non-intersex population, with an estimated 52% identifying as non-heterosexual and 8.5% to 20% experiencing gender dysphoria. Although many intersex people are heterosexual and cisgender, this overlap and "shared experiences of harm arising from dominant societal sex and gender norms" has led to intersex people often being included under the LGBT umbrella, with the acronym sometimes expanded to LGBTI. Some intersex activists and organisations have criticised this inclusion as distracting from intersex-specific issues such as involuntary medical interventions.
Intersex people in Uganda face a dangerous environment, with significant gaps in protection from mutilation and non-consensual cosmetic medical interventions and protection from discrimination.
Foreign aid for gender equality in Jordan includes programs funded by governments or non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that aim to empower women, close gender based gaps in opportunity and experience, and promote equal access to education, economic empowerment, and political representation in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.
The health access and health vulnerabilities experienced by the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, intersex, asexual (LGBTQIA) community in South Korea are influenced by the state's continuous failure to pass anti-discrimination laws that prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The construction and reinforcement of the South Korean national subject, "kungmin," and the basis of Confucianism and Christianity perpetuates heteronormativity, homophobia, discrimination, and harassment towards the LGBTQI community. The minority stress model can be used to explain the consequences of daily social stressors, like prejudice and discrimination, that sexual minorities face that result in a hostile social environment. Exposure to a hostile environment can lead to health disparities within the LGBTQI community, like higher rates of depression, suicide, suicide ideation, and health risk behavior. Korean public opinion and acceptance of the LGBTQI community have improved over the past two decades, but change has been slow, considering the increased opposition from Christian activist groups. In South Korea, obstacles to LGBTQI healthcare are characterized by discrimination, a lack of medical professionals and medical facilities trained to care for LGBTQI individuals, a lack of legal protection and regulation from governmental entities, and the lack of medical care coverage to provide for the health care needs of LGBTQI individuals. The presence of Korean LGBTQI organizations is a response to the lack of access to healthcare and human rights protection in South Korea. It is also important to note that research that focuses on Korean LGBTQI health access and vulnerabilities is limited in quantity and quality as pushback from the public and government continues.