November 25th was the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. The Man Up campaign started recently in Ireland to change abusive attitudes towards women.

Now the City of Helsingborg is standing up for women with the campaign Man Up Sweden.

Last year, almost 30,000 women in Sweden reported cases of assault, but the real figure is feared to be much higher. In the same year, just over 70,000 women sought help at one of Sweden’s women’s shelters.

Entrepreneur and Helsingborg ambassador Joachim Samuelsson is the organiser of the campaign Man Up Sweden, which was launched on November 25th. The Man Up campaign was initiated by the organisation SAFE Ireland, and it is now going global with Sweden being the first country to join.

“We’re launching the campaign Man Up Sweden today in order to change abusive attitudes and behaviour towards women in our society and also, hopefully, to help dramatically reduce the appalling statistics on assaults. If we want to make a difference, we need men to really engage in this issue. This is not a woman’s problem, it’s a man’s problem,” says Joachim Samuelsson.

Man Up Sweden aims to encourage huge numbers of people, and particularly men, to speak up openly and with one voice. Enough is enough. There are five key areas to take a stand against abusive behaviour and physical violence towards women, and which the campaign would like companies, associations and even entire cities to get involved in as well. The City of Helsingborg is the first city to support women and children as part of the Man Up Sweden campaign.

“We’re standing up for women and the campaign because it’s an important issue and its goes without saying that everyone should have the opportunity to live a life without fear of violence or threats. The campaign is entirely consistent with our vision of Helsingborg 2035 and a united city. By supporting this campaign we are supplementing the things we already do – support women’s shelters and non-violence groups for men – and therefore taking the issue to the next level,” says Peter Danielsson (M), Mayor of Helsingborg

 

For further information, please contact:

Joachim Samuelsson, entrepreneur, telephone +46 70-846 47 88

Peter Danielsson (M), Mayor of Helsingborg, telephone +46 42-10 50 87