Unga Örnar (Young Eagles), officially ''Unga Örnars Riksförbund'' ('National League of Young Eagles'), is a children's organisation in

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 ...

. ''Unga Örnar'' was founded on

7 November Events Pre-1600 * 335 – Athanasius is banished to Trier, on the charge that he prevented a grain fleet from sailing to Constantinople. * 680 – The Sixth Ecumenical Council commences in Constantinople. * 921 – Treaty of ...

1931 Events January * January 2 – South Dakota native Ernest Lawrence invents the cyclotron, used to accelerate particles to study nuclear physics. * January 4 – German pilot Elly Beinhorn begins her flight to Africa. * January 22 – Sir I ...

by the labour movement and the

Swedish Social Democratic Youth League The Swedish Social Democratic Youth League ( sv, Sveriges Socialdemokratiska Ungdomsförbund ; SSU) is a branch of the Swedish Social Democratic Party and the Swedish Trade Union Confederation in Sweden. The president has been Lisa Nåbo, since ...

(SSU), in order to function as a secular organisation for leisure and cultural activities for working class children. In 1933, Unga Örnar was declared as a non-partisan organization, albeit it remains linked with the labour movement. As of 2023, the organization claims a membership of around 6,000 nation-wide.

History

The foundation of Unga Örnar was inspired by the Austrian organisation Rote Falken ('Red Falcons') which was founded in 1925. During its early stages, activities of ''Unga Örnar'' were similar to the

scout movement Scouting, also known as the Scout Movement, is a worldwide youth movement employing the Scout method, a program of informal education with an emphasis on practical outdoor activities, including camping, woodcraft, aquatics, hiking, backpacking ...

and members carried uniforms. However, in 1933 a legislation was introduced prohibiting political organizations to use uniforms. In order to circumvent the law Unga Örnar was declared to be formally to be independent from the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties For ...

, albeit with strengthened connections to

Arbetarnas Bildningsförbund Arbetarnas bildningsförbund (ABF) (the Workers' Educational Association) is the educational section of the Swedish labour movement. ABF conducts seminars, classes and study circles on a variety of subjects, including workshops, languages and mu ...

('Workers Educational Association', ABF). Until the 1960s, a uniform called the 'eagle suit' was worn throughout the organisation. It consisted of a blue shirt with an embroidered eagle, a red kerchief, and an elastic band that could be green, blue, red, or white, depending on the wearers' age and role. In 1991, Unga Örnar and the

International Falcon Movement – Socialist Educational International The International Falcon Movement – Socialist Educational International (IFM-SEI) is an international non-profit organisation based in Belgium that campaigns for children's rights. It is a fraternal organisation of Socialist International and ...

organised a world camp at

Himmelstalund Himmelstalund is a large park/open space in Norrköping, Sweden. The park is famous for having one of Sweden's biggest collection of petroglyphs with more than 1660 pictures. Some of the depicted boats having a similar shape as the Hjortspring ...

sfältet in

Norrköping Norrköping (; ) is a city in the province of Östergötland in eastern Sweden and the seat of Norrköping Municipality, Östergötland County, about 160 km southwest of the national capital Stockholm, 40 km east of county seat Linköp ...

. Around 9,000 people from 52 countries participated in the event, which was the biggest camp ever of IFM-SEI. Unga Örnar, along with other civil society organisations, advocated from 1994 onwards for the incorporation of the

UN Convention on the Rights of the Child The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (commonly abbreviated as the CRC or UNCRC) is an international human rights treaty which sets out the civil, political, economic, social, health and cultural rights of children. The Con ...

into

Swedish law The law of Sweden is a civil law system, whose essence is manifested in its dependence on statutory law. Sweden's civil law tradition, as in the rest of Europe, is founded on classical Roman law, but on the German (rather than Napoleonic) model. ...

(which was done in 2020).https://www.dagensarena.se/opinion/unga-ornar-barnkonventionen-som-lag-ar-inget-trolleritrick/

Activities

The members in Unga Örnar are active in the decision-making processes of the organisation. At its 2019 congress, 89 percent of the delegates were between the ages of 6 and 25. Examples of activities that Unga Örnar organise are summer camps, democracy clubs, craft clubs, theatre groups, and homework assistance. They also have park games and youth recreation centers in certain municipalities.

International activities

Unga Örnar also has international operations, which in large part are done together with the

Olof Palme International Center The Olof Palme International Center is a Swedish non-governmental organization and the Swedish labour movement's cooperative body for international issues. The center's areas of interest include democracy, human rights and peace. The center is nam ...

. Through supporting and working together with non-profit organisations in

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

, and

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...

, Unga Örnar attempts to work with issues related to peace, democracy, social justice and human rights.

References

* ”Om oss: Unga Örnar”. Unga Örnar. http://ungaornar.se/om-oss/unga-ornar/. Read 7 April 2020. * Götz, Norbert (2009). �
Att styra och ställa på egen hand' : Unga Örnar 1929–45
�� (pdf). Arbetarhistoria (Stockholm: Arbetarrörelsens arkiv och bibliotek) 4: sid. 4–12. ISSN 0281-7446. http://www.arbetarhistoria.se/fulltext/132.pdf. Read 7 April 2020. * ”Styrdokument”. Unga Örnar. https://ungaornar.se/styrdokument/. Read 5 September 2023. * Lundberg, Björn (2018). ”Naturliga medborgare : friluftsliv och medborgarfostran i scoutrörelsen och Unga Örnar 1925-1960”. pp. 101–105. ISBN 978-91-7924-306-7. OCLC 1049983968. Read 8 April 2022. * Österberg, Anders (2017). ”Unga Örnar: Barnkonventionen som lag är inget trolleritrick”. https://www.dagensarena.se/opinion/unga-ornar-barnkonventionen-som-lag-ar-inget-trolleritrick/. Read 5 September 2023.

Sources

Youth organizations based in Sweden Labour movement in Sweden Organizations established in 1931