Christian Palme (born 15 July 1952 in

Uppsala Uppsala (, or all ending in , ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the county seat of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inha ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

) is a Swedish

communications Communication (from la, communicare, meaning "to share" or "to be in relation with") is usually defined as the transmission of information. The term may also refer to the message communicated through such transmissions or the field of inquir ...

expert An expert is somebody who has a broad and deep understanding and competence in terms of knowledge, skill and experience through practice and education in a particular field. Informally, an expert is someone widely recognized as a reliable s ...

, journalist and writer. He is a son of the late historian, professor

Sven Ulric Palme ''Sven Ulric'' Adalvard Palme (born May 25, died- May 14, 1977) was a Swedish historian and professor at Stockholm University. He was the son of the historian Olof Palme (1884–1918) and Ola Palme (born Tonow) (1888–1982).'' Sveriges dödbok 1 ...

and brother of professor

emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

. His grandfather was the historian

Olof Palme Sven Olof Joachim Palme (; ; 30 January 1927 – 28 February 1986) was a Swedish politician and statesman who served as Prime Minister of Sweden from 1969 to 1976 and 1982 to 1986. Palme led the Swedish Social Democratic Party from 1969 until h ...

(1884–1918), and his great-grandmother was Swedish-speaking Finnish women's rights activist .

Career

As a young journalist Christian Palme worked with the Swedish national daily

Svenska Dagbladet ''Svenska Dagbladet'' (, "The Swedish Daily News"), abbreviated SvD, is a daily newspaper published in Stockholm, Sweden. History and profile The first issue of ''Svenska Dagbladet'' appeared on 18 December 1884. During the beginning of the ...

, Swedish

public service A public service is any service intended to address specific needs pertaining to the aggregate members of a community. Public services are available to people within a government jurisdiction as provided directly through public sector agencies ...

radio

Sveriges Radio Sveriges Radio AB (, "Sweden's Radio") is Sweden's national publicly funded radio broadcaster. Sveriges Radio is a public limited company, owned by an independent foundation, previously funded through a licensing fee, the level of which is d ...

and the

news agency A news agency is an organization that gathers news reports and sells them to subscribing news organizations, such as newspapers, magazines and All-news radio, radio and News broadcasting, television Broadcasting, broadcasters. A news agency may ...

United Press International United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th ...

. In 1984 he was appointed

correspondent A correspondent or on-the-scene reporter is usually a journalist or commentator for a magazine, or an agent who contributes reports to a newspaper, or radio or television news, or another type of company, from a remote, often distant, locati ...

in Denmark for the Swedish national daily

Dagens Nyheter ''Dagens Nyheter'' (, ), abbreviated ''DN'', is a daily newspaper in Sweden. It is published in Stockholm and aspires to full national and international coverage, and is widely considered Sweden's newspaper of record. History and profile ''Da ...

and in 1993 he became correspondent in Eastern Europe and the

Balkans The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...

for

. He has also been employed as intelligence analyst with Swedish Military Intelligence and as Public Affairs Adviser with the

Office of the High Representative The High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina, together with the Office of the High Representative (OHR) in Bosnia and Herzegovina, were created in 1995 immediately after the signing of the Dayton Agreement which ended the 1992–1995 Bosn ...

Bosnia-Hercegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...

. As correspondent in the Balkans Palme became known for his impartial coverage of the

Yugoslav wars The Yugoslav Wars were a series of separate but related#Naimark, Naimark (2003), p. xvii. ethnic conflicts, wars of independence, and Insurgency, insurgencies that took place in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, SFR Yugoslavia from ...

. When the UN

Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, and ...

created the

International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was a body of the United Nations that was established to prosecute the war crimes that had been committed during the Yugoslav Wars and to try their perpetrators. The tribunal ...

(

ICTY The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was a body of the United Nations that was established to prosecute the war crimes that had been committed during the Yugoslav Wars and to try their perpetrators. The tribunal ...

) in 1993 in

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

, Palme was one of the first journalists to understand its significance. In the following years he wrote a large number of features in

on the war crimes tribunal and in 2002 he summarized his observations in the book ''Om ondskan i vår tid – Sökandet efter rättvisa på Balkan'' (Evil in Our time – The Quest for Justice in the Balkans), which was hailed by newspaper reviewers as one of the best books on the Balkan wars published in Sweden. He later followed up the discussion of war crimes in the

Balkan The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...

s with the documentary film ''Peace Without Justice'' (wit
Bengt Nilsson
produced and financed by Swedish

Sveriges Television Sveriges Television AB ("Sweden's Television Stock Company"), shortened to SVT (), is the Sweden, Swedish national public broadcasting, public television broadcaster, funded by a public service tax on personal income set by the Riksdag (national ...

(2003)). In 2004 Christian Palme was awarded the '' Eldh-Ekblad Peace Prize'' by the

Swedish Peace and Arbitration Society The Swedish Peace and Arbitration Society (SPAS) ( sv, Svenska freds- och skiljedomsföreningen) is a non-governmental organization in Sweden, dedicated to peace, disarmament and democratization. It operates by methods including publishing, lobbyin ...

(Svenska Freds- och skiljedomsföreningen) in recognition of his groundbreaking journalism promoting the emerging international criminal justice system. In 2004 Christian Palme left

to become Public Information Adviser in the Office of the Prosecutor of the

International Criminal Court The International Criminal Court (ICC or ICCt) is an intergovernmental organization and international tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands. It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute individuals ...

(ICC) in

. In 2007 he returned to

and after a spell as project manager with a private

agency he was appointed Media and Communications Adviser with the

Nordic Africa Institute Nordic Africa Institute ( sv, Nordiska Afrikainstitutet) serves as a research, documentation and information centre on modern Africa for the Nordic countries. The Institute also encourages research and studies on Africa. The institute was founded ...

, a government

thinktank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmental o ...

and centre of excellence for research on modern Africa, based in

, Sweden. In 2010 he was awarded the Swedish Publishing Award for his work shaping th
Nordic Africa Institute Annual Report 2009

Bibliography

*''Vägen mot rättvisa – De nya krigsförbrytartribunalerna/The Road to Justice – The New War Crimes Tribunals'' (2000)
''Om ondskan i vår tid – Sökandet efter rättvisa på Balkan/Evil in Our Time – The Quest for Justice in the Balkans''
(2002)

Filmography

*''Laglös fred/Peace Without Justice'' (2003)

Awards

* Eldh-Ekblad Peace Prize 2004 * Swedish Publishing Award 2010

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Palme, Christian Living people 1952 births Swedish journalists Dagens Nyheter journalists Swedish people of Finnish descent