Minister of Integration and Gender Equality Affairs Nyamko Sabuni of Sweden

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Sabuni was elected a Member of Parliament in 2002 and assumed the office of Minister for Integration and Gender Equality on October 6, 2006.
Nyamko Sabuni was born in Bujumbura in Burundi where her father, a left-wing politician from Zaire, lived in exile.
Sabuni was a member of board of the Liberal Youth of Sweden from 1996 to 1998.
The article on Nyamko Sabuni is supported by WikiProject Sweden, which is an attempt to improve the quality and coverage of Sweden-related articles on Wikipedia.
Despite her ascendancy in her adopted country, Sabuni says that Sweden, where immigrants � half of them Muslims � make up nearly 12% of the population, has been only moderately successful at mass integration: �We have a whole underclass of people who don�t have jobs, who don�t speak the language and who are living on the fringes of society and drawing money from workers.
Sounds awfully PC, doesnt it? But Sabuni is anything but.
Sabuni was twelve when she made the journey to Sweden with her family, learned the language, and thrived in her new environment.
Her father is Christian and her mother Muslim, but Sabuni herself was raised without religion (although Wikipedias entry on Sabuni has a different tale to tell than the NY Times on her parentsit says both are Muslim.
Sabuni is considered unsympathetic to the plight of immigrants (read: Muslim immigrants), despite her own status as an immigrant and daughter of Muslim.
37-year-old Nyamko Sabuni is the new minister of integration and gender equality.
Sabuni has angered many Muslims in the past by calling for a ban on headscarves for teenage girls in Sweden.
Sabuni has also angered Muslims by calling for withdrawing state support to religious schools and a ban on headscarves for girls under 15, although those proposals have not won support in the four-party government.
Everything suggests this tradition is emerging here in Sweden, it's not something you bring from your former home country," Sabuni said about the Islamic headscarf.
Sabuni said Sweden would be able to absorb the growing tide of refugees, but added that discrimination and self-imposed seclusion by some immigrants were hampering integration.
newspaper Expressen, says there is no doubt Sabuni is one to watch.
Integration and Equality Minister Nyamko Sabuni is due to address parliament on the issue on Tuesday.
The daughter of a frequently jailed opposition politician in Congo who fled to Sweden as a political refugee, Sabuni has a past so singular for Sweden that she arguably represents a minority of one.
Sabuni has already received the endorsement of Little Green Footballs and Dhimmi Watch.
As Mr Sabuni comes from Burundi that makes it easier for him to say such things.
Nyamko Sabuni has also demanded a ban on headscarves for Muslim girls under 15 and for an end to state support for religious schools, as part of a program to tackle what she calls an honor culture.
Writing in Expressen, Sabuni said that all public funding should be withdrawn from religious schools, as they could not guarantee to respect children's right to equality.
Sabuni comes across as a dervish, all business and kinetic energy.
Sabuni has a past so singular for Sweden that she arguably represents a minority of one.
Sabuni has certainly been helped in her career by the Scandinavian-style feminism of her husband, Carl Bergquist, whom she began dating when she was 24 and he was 47.
Certainly, Nyamko Sabuni has some good ideas, such as her emphasis on jobs and language skills.
Nyamko Sabuni was born in exile in Burundi.
Ms Sabuni said that merely the process of drafting and implementing these plans has been of immense value.
Born in Burundi where her parents, from the former Zaire, lived in exile, Sabuni is Sweden's new minister of integration and gender equality and, as always, a woman of conviction.
Sabuni is no longer in the opposition, and the petite, elegant woman with short cropped hair and an intense gaze now proudly heads a government ministry.
Politics: 3 Apr 07Nyamko Sabuni has called for the upper limit on parental insurance to be scrapped in a bid to encourage high earners to stay at home with their children.
Society: 21 Oct 06Integration minister Nyamko Sabuni has said she wants to give immigrants a second chance to learn Swedish.
Despite her ascendancy in her adopted country, Sabuni says that Sweden, where immigrants half of them Muslims make up nearly 12% of the population, has been only moderately successful at integration: We have a whole underclass of people who dont have jobs, who dont speak the language and who are living on the fringes of society.
Anders Jonsson, a political commentator on the liberal newspaper Expressen, says there is no doubt Sabuni is one to watch.
Sabuni is a black muslim female, a Swedish citizen, and holds a ministerial post in the government.
Like Frans, Sabuni is optimistic that her election will empower immigrants, especially Africans.
Sabuni was also attacked by Muslim groups for proposing a ban on headscarves for girls under 15 and the introduction of a specific mention of honour crimes in the criminal code.
Before becoming the integration minister, Nyamko Sabuni was well-known for her controversial views which gave little room for long-held Muslim traditions.
Sabuni is well-aware of the climate of fear that attends what she calls "honor culture.
Nyamko Sabuni said of the CMR closure: "It didn't achieve its aims.
The Sunday Times reports that Nyamko Sabuni is ambitious.
Sabuni has shelved proposals that caused Swedish Muslim groups to protest her elevation to cabinet, but she holds fast to a personal view that headscarves should be prohibited in school for those under 15, Sweden’s age of consent.
Sabuni said many immigrants in Sweden feel excluded, a country of 9 million where 15 percent of the population were born abroad or have parents who were.