Youths turn their backs on politics

The number of young people actively involved in Sweden's political parties has collapsed since 1990. Total membership of parties' youth movements has fallen from 100,000 in 1990 to just 20,000 today.

Published: 6 August 2007 12:21 CEST

The scandal-hit Social Democrat youth movement, SSU, has lost 20,000 members since the early nineties, Aftonbladet reports. The Centre Party youth wing (CUF) has seen membership fall by 15,000, the Moderates’ are down 12,000 and the Liberals’ are down 9,000.

The apparent fall-off in interest could partly be down to the figures having previously been exaggerated, but the paper reports that a large number of members are believed to have left the organizations.

The youth sections of the Left and Green parties did not submit complete information to the paper, and were therefore not included in the comparison.

Nordic justice ministers meet tech giants on gangs using apps to hire 'child soldiers'

Denmark’s justice minister, Peter Hummelgaard, said in a press release that he hoped to use the meeting on Friday afternoon to discuss how to stop social media and messaging apps being used by gang criminals, who Danish police revealed earlier this year were using them to recruit so-called “child soldiers” to carry out gang killings.

“We have seen many examples of how the gangs are using social media and encrypted messaging services to plan serious crimes and recruit very young people to do their dirty work,” Hummelgaard said. “My Nordic colleagues and I agree that a common front is needed to get a grip on this problem.”

As well as recruitment, lists have been found spreading on social media detailing the payments on offer for various criminal services.

Hummelgaard said he would “insist that the tech giants live up to their responsibilities so that their platforms do not act as hotbeds for serious crimes” at the meeting, which will take place at a summit of Nordic justice ministers in Uppsala, Sweden.

In August, Hummelgaard held a meeting in Copenhagen with Sweden’s justice minister, Gunnar Strömmer, at which the two agreed to work harder to tackle cross-border organised crime, which has seen a series of Swedish youth arrested in Denmark after being recruited to carry out hits in the country.

According to a press release from the Swedish justice ministry, the morning will be spent discussing how to combat the criminal economy and particularly organised crime in ports, with a press release from Finland’s justice ministry adding that the discussion would also touch on the “undue influence on judicial authorities” from organised crime groups.

The day will end with a round table discussion with Ronald S Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress, on how anti-Semitism and hate crimes against Jews can be prevented and fought in the Nordic region.

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