Agda Rössel
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Agda Viola Rössel, née ''Jäderström'' (4 November 1910 – 27 May 2001) was a Swedish politician (
Social Democrat Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...
) and diplomat. She was appointed
Permanent Representative of Sweden to the United Nations The Permanent Representative of Sweden to the United Nations is head of the Permanent Mission of Sweden to the United Nations in New York City, United States. List of permanent representatives List of deputy permanent rep ...
in 1958 and was as the first of her gender to have been permanently placed in that position among the 60 UN ambassadors that year in the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...
organisation; she served in that position till 1964. After this assignment she was Sweden's Ambassador to many countries such as Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, and Greece.


Early life

Agda Rössel née Jäderström was born in
Gällivare Gällivare (; ; or ; or ; ) is a locality and the seat of Gällivare Municipality in Norrbotten County, province of Lapland, Sweden with 8,449 inhabitants in 2010. The town was founded in the 17th century. Together with nearby towns Malmberget ...
,
Norrbotten Norrbotten (), sometimes called North Bothnia, is a Swedish province (''landskap'') in northernmost Sweden. It borders south to Västerbotten, west to Swedish Lapland, and east to Finland. Administration The traditional provinces of Swede ...
, Sweden on 4 November 1910;
Gällivare Gällivare (; ; or ; or ; ) is a locality and the seat of Gällivare Municipality in Norrbotten County, province of Lapland, Sweden with 8,449 inhabitants in 2010. The town was founded in the 17th century. Together with nearby towns Malmberget ...
is a small town engaged in mining to in the far north of Sweden to the north of the
Arctic Circle The Arctic Circle is one of the two polar circles, and the northernmost of the five major circle of latitude, circles of latitude as shown on maps of Earth at about 66° 34' N. Its southern counterpart is the Antarctic Circle. The Arctic Circl ...
. Her father was a railway employee. She was the fourth child in family of six children. She was keen in studies. She attended schools in Gällivare and in
Malmberget Malmberget ("The Ore Mountain", Finnish language, Finnish and Meänkieli dialects, Meänkieli: ''Malmivaara'') is a urban areas of Sweden, locality and mining town situated in Gällivare Municipality, Norrbotten County, Sweden. It had 5,590 inhabit ...
. Even though she wanted to train as a doctor, due to her mother's illness and financial problems her studies were disrupted for many years as she had to tend a family of seven people. After her mother recovered she continued her studies in Stockholm on the subject of social studies. She also pursued a technical course concurrently working a welfare department in large jail where she learned psychiatry.


Career


Early career

After passing out from the technical school in 1939 she chose a career related to trade unions and she worked for a Stockholm Hotel Group in their personnel department and then in a telephone company as Ombudsman. During the later part of the war years she worked as emergency response adviser in Stockholm working Board. She got married in 1943 to James Rössel, a Swedish journalist. She became a member of the board of
Swedish Confederation of Professional Employees The Swedish Confederation of Professional Employees (, TCO, literary ''White-collar workers' Central Organisation'') is a national trade union centre, the umbrella organisation for 12 trade unions in Sweden that organise professional and other qua ...
(TCO's Board). With help provided by to female friends like
Alva Myrdal Alva Myrdal ( , ; née Reimer; 31 January 1902 – 1 February 1986) was a Swedish sociologist, diplomat and politician. She was a prominent leader of the disarmament movement. She, along with Alfonso García Robles, received the Nobel Peace ...
(
Swedish Social Democratic Party The Swedish Social Democratic Party, formally the Swedish Social Democratic Workers' Party ( , S or SAP), usually referred to as The Social Democrats ( ), is a social democratic political party in Sweden. The party is member of the Progressiv ...
) and
Ulla Lindström Ulla Gunilla Lindström, née ''Wohlin'' (15 September 1909 in Stockholm â€“ 10 July 1999), was a Swedish journalist and politician (Social Democrat). She was Minister of Family, Consumer, Aid and Refugee Affairs from 1954 to 1966. She was ...
(journalist and politician) and with media publicity, in 1948, she became President of the Professional women's associations and Cooperation. With rising popularity she became she vice president of International Federation of Business and Professional Women, in place of Alva Myrdal. During
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
Rössel was head of the Save the Children Federation. In 1951, she was appointed by the
Government of Sweden The Government of the Kingdom of Sweden () is the Cabinet (government), national cabinet of Sweden, and the country's Executive (government), executive authority. The Government consists of the Prime Minister of Sweden, Prime Minister and their ...
as the Swedish delegate to the
United Nations Commission on Human Rights The United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) was a functional commission within the United Nations System, overall framework of the United Nations from 1946 until it was replaced by the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2006. It was a ...
. In 1956, she had stated: "We business and professional women, conscious of our increased responsibilities towards mankind in the light of this new tomicpower, accept the challenge of it and make it our own".


UN Ambassador

In 1958 Sweden appointed her as its
Permanent Representative to the United Nations A permanent representative to the United Nations (sometimes called a "UN ambassador")"History of Ambassadors", United States Mission to the United Nations, March 2011, webpagUSUN-a. is the head of a country's diplomatic mission to the United Natio ...
(in place of
Gunnar Jarring Gunnar Valfrid Jarring (12 October 1907 – 29 May 2002) was a Swedish diplomat and Turkologist. Early life Jarring was born on 12 October 1907 in Brunnby, Malmöhus County, Sweden, the son of Gottfrid Jönsson, a farmer, and his wife Betty ( ...
) and she was the first female to hold that post in the UN body which then consisted of 60 ambassadors from various countries. She presented her credentials on 8 August 1958;
Östen Undén Bo Östen Undén (25 August 1886 – 14 January 1974) was a Swedish academic ( J.D.), civil servant and Social Democratic politician who served as acting Prime Minister of Sweden 6–11 October 1946, following the death of Per Albin Hansson (188 ...
chose her for the post though she was not a professional diplomat. She served in that post till 1964. She was succeeded by
Sverker Åström Carl Sverker Åström (30 December 1915 – 26 June 2012) was a Swedish diplomat. After completing his studies, Åström began his career as an attaché at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in Stockholm. He served in the Soviet Union during World ...
. During this tenure she also served on the
United Nations 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, an ...
. During the UN posting she campaigned for global moratorium or abolition of
death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in s ...
and
female circumcision Female genital mutilation (FGM) (also known as female genital cutting, female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) and female circumcision) is the cutting or removal of some or all of the vulva for non-medical reasons. FGM prevalence varies ...
.


Ambassador

After this assignment, she served at
Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...
as Ambassador to Bulgaria and Yugoslavia (at
Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...
) from 1964 to 1969, Ambassador to Czechoslovakia during 1969 to 1973, and to Greece (posted in
Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...
) from 1973 to 1976. Rössel was also associated with a classified report she had written in 1968 which played a part in a scandal that involved
Sven Wedén Sven Wedén (23 July 1913 – 31 March 1976) was a Swedish politician. He was the leader of the Swedish Liberal People's Party (Sweden), People's Party from 1967 to 1969. Wedén survived severe tuberculosis and became a businessman in the fam ...
, known as the ; this report was de-classified and released to the public in 1994 by then-Prime Minister
Carl Bildt Nils Daniel Carl Bildt (born 15 July 1949) is a Swedish politician and diplomat who served as Prime Minister of Sweden from 1991 to 1994. He led the Moderate Party from 1986 to 1999, appearing as its lead candidate in four general elections, b ...
.


Personal life

She was married between 1943 and 1951 to James Rössel. Rössel died at the age of 90, in May 2001.


Bibliography

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References


Notes


Print

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Further reading

* Almgren, Nina; * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rossel, Agda 1910 births 2001 deaths 20th-century Swedish women politicians Swedish Social Democratic Party politicians Permanent representatives of Sweden to the United Nations Ambassadors of Sweden to Greece Ambassadors of Sweden to Yugoslavia Ambassadors of Sweden to Czechoslovakia People from Gällivare Swedish women ambassadors