Nyamko Sabuni

Nyamko Sabuni
Minister for Gender Equality
Incumbent
Assumed office 6 October 2006
Prime Minister	Fredrik Reinfeldt
Preceded by	Jens Orback
Minister for Integration
In office 6 October 2006 – 5 oktober 2010
Prime Minister	Fredrik Reinfeldt
Preceded by	Jens Orback
Succeeded by	Erik Ullenhag
Personal details
Born	31 March 1969 (1969-03-31) Bujumbura, Burundi
Political party	Liberal People's Party
Alma mater	Uppsala University
Religion	None (Atheist)
Website	www.folkpartiet.se/sabuni

Nyamko Ana Sabuni (born 31 March 1969) is a politician, currently serving as Minister for Gender Equality in the Swedish government. She is a member of the Liberal People's Party. Sabuni was elected a Member of Parliament in 2002 and assumed the office of Minister for Gender Equality on 6 October 2006. Between 2006 and 2010 she also served as Minister for Integration.

Personal life

Nyamko Sabuni was born in Bujumbura in Burundi where her father, a left-wing politician from Zaire, lived in exile. Sabuni's father is a Christian while her mother is a Muslim. The family obtained political asylum in Sweden in 1981 and Sabuni grew up in Kungsängen, north of Stockholm. She studied law at Uppsala University, migration policy at Mälardalen University in Eskilstuna, and information and media communications at Berghs School of Communication in Stockholm.

She is married to a Swedish man with whom she has twin boys. She has described herself as non-religious.

Political career

Sabuni was a member of board of the Liberal Youth of Sweden from 1996 to 1998. She has cited the murder of Ivorian refugee Gerard Gbeyo, committed by a Swedish neo-Nazi in the town of Klippan in 1995, as one of the reasons she became involved in politics.

In a 17 July 2006 opinion letter published in the Swedish newspaper Expressen, Sabuni called for mandatory gynecological examinations of all schoolgirls in order to prevent genital mutilation. She has proposed a ban on hijab for girls under 15 and also advocated the inclusion of honor killings as an independent category within the Swedish criminal code. In July 2006 her book Flickorna vi sviker ("The Girls We Let Down"), about women in Sweden living under the threat of honor violence, was published.

Sabuni states that practicing Muslims who live by the Qur'an "limit their own opportunities". She suggests that practices such as praying five times a day, or questioning music marginalize Muslims. Muslims respond by saying that Sabuni is singling them out, while avoiding issues concerning the Muslim community like unemployment.

On 6 October 2006, the new Swedish coalition government which emerged from the election announced Sabuni's appointment as the new Minister for Integration and Gender Equality. She is the first person of African descent to be appointed as Minister in a Swedish government.

Sabuni's appointment as Minister for Integration and Gender Equality was met with protests from some Swedish Muslims, who accused her of Islamophobia and populism. A petition against her appointment was signed by the Muslim Association of Sweden, reportedly the largest organization representing Muslims in Sweden.

See also

• Gender equality

External links

• Nyamko Sabuni at the Government Offices of Sweden (English)
• Nyamko Sabuni at the Liberal People's Party (Swedish)
• Nyamko Sabuni at the Riksdag (Swedish)

Preceded by Jens Orback	Minister for Integration 2006 – 2010	Succeeded by Erik Ullenhag
Preceded by Jens Orback	Minister for Gender Equality 2006 – present	Incumbent