Anna-Karin Johansson is the Secretary General at the Swedish National Commission for Unesco since 2020. Her engagement for democracy, equality, human rights, and justice has been a guiding principle in her professional career ever since she as a young journalist spent time in Tanzania.
During the years, she has held positions such as Secretary general for RFSU – The Swedish Association for Sexuality Education, Head of Unit at SIDA – Sweden’s government agency for development cooperation, Political Expert at the Prime Minister’s office, Head of the Development Unit at DO - The Swedish Government Agency for Equality and Secretary General for the NGO Swedish Committee for Afghanistan.
In 1997 she led the project Living History, initiated by the Swedish Prime Minister and working for democracy and human rights from the starting point of the Holocaust and other crimes against humanity. She continued working in the newly founded agency The Living History Forum on leading positions.
She also has a track-record as author with a wide range of topics. For instance, in 2012, she published a book about the internationally well-known children’s book author Astrid Lindgren and she was project manager for one of Sweden’s most widely distributed books Tell your children, about the Holocaust in Europe 1933-1945.