Geography:
Scania (Skåneland) is situated on the southern part of the Scandinavian peninsula. Area: 20 000 km². The historic Scania consists of four provinces: Skåne, Halland, Blekinge and the island of Bornholm. Today Skåne, Halland and Blekinge are part of Sweden and the island of Bornholm is a part of Denmark. The main regional city is Malmö.

People:
Population
The population of Scania is about 1.5 million, or about 15% of the total population of Sweden. Scanians as a people or nation do not have any legal status in Sweden.

Languages
The present official language in Scania is Swedish (in Bornholm Danish - however the dialects spoken in Bornholm are closer to the old language spoken in Scania). The historic Scanian language is rapidly diminishing and is not recognised by the Swedish state. It is therefore not subjected to any form of legal protection.

Economy
The main resource in Scania is agricultural produce.

Brief History
1658 Scania was annexed by Sweden through the Peace Treaty of Roskilde after 400 years wars. The Roskilde Treaty guaranteed self-rule by separate legislature.

1720 Scania lost its political independence. The self-rule clauses in the Roskilde Treaty was unilaterally nullified by Sweden and the parliamentary functions moved to Stockholm, the capital of Sweden.

1920 Scanians called for the protection of the Scanian language and the promotion of teaching of the history of Scania in schools.
1989 Stiftelsen Skånsk Framtid was founded to promote change in the regional situation of Scania.

1993 SSF became a member of UNPO.
Historical Background
The Scanians are indigenous to Scania and over the years Scania has experienced a normal immigration and emigration of individuals.
Historically, Scanians are Protestant Lutheran Christians. However, the Swedish and Danish constitutions provide for freedom of religion. The official language is Swedish (in Bornholm Danish - however the dialects spoken in Bornholm are closer to the old language spoken in Scania). Swedish is originally the language of the central Stockholm region of Svealand.
The usage of the historical Scanian language is rapidly diminishing.
The goal of the Scanian Future Foundation is regional self-determination on all aspects of everyday life, under the constitutions of both Sweden and the European Union.

The Scanian written history stems back to the early part of the last millennium. Scania has experienced 430 years under its own rule, 850 years as part of Denmark, 62 years as an autonomous area under Sweden and 283 years as part of Sweden.

Sweden invaded Scania in 1658 but later returned Bornholm to Danish rule. The subsequent peace treaties guaranteed Scania the right to maintain its traditional self-rule and its own legislative body. The self-rule was unilaterally nullified by the Swedish central government in 1719 and the parliamentary functions were moved to Stockholm.

Scania (except Bornholm) is a subject under the Kingdom of Sweden. Sweden has a single chamber parliament situated in Stockholm and Scania has a proportional representation in this parliament.

The historic human rights violations, which are still embedded in the past and present re- nationalisation policies in Sweden, are the major human rights problem in Scania. During the period of military invasion by Sweden at the end of the 17th century, more than 30% of the population in Scania was either executed or expelled. Some were forcefully conscripted by the Swedish military to the Baltics, from where only few returned. Although this incident belongs to history it is still something both the Scanian people and the State leadership must learn to come to terms with.

The psychological situation is very troublesome with an extremely high level of self-censorship in the region. Scania is considered, treated and described as something that has always belonged to Sweden - neglecting Scania's culture, language and history. This attitude is intimidating and discriminatory.

There are frequent examples of individuals who do not accept the official view on state myth on history, language, culture etc. and they are treated in a discriminatory way. A number of pro-Scanian authors, historians, cultural personalities and the like, have become persona non- grata because of their views and opinions. The freedom of openly declaring loyalty to Scania exists formally but it creates problems at work, in career and business as well as in personal relationships with others.

Since the 1950s, many attempts were made to bring the Scanian issue to the attention of radio and television but without success. There are examples of historians who have been almost totally boycotted from mass media because of their pro-Scanian views. When Scania became a member of international organizations such as FUEN (Federal Union of European Nationalities, Flensburg, Germany) and UNPO, it was ignored by the local mass media in the region.

Paradoxically, the media in the Capital of Stockholm published extensively on the events which illustrates the high degree of self-censorship in the region itself.
The Scanians have been subjected to a policy of cultural hegemony: by law, force and persuasion regional languages and cultures were discouraged in favour of the Swedish language and culture.

The Swedish Government does not promote the creation of effective and logical regional political decision-making institutions in accordance with the EU recommendations. The Government opposes the development of any political development based on a distinct regional identity.

Organizations:
Scania is represented in UNPO by Stiftelsen Skånsk Framtid (SSF). It was founded to promote the Region Scania as a distinct cultural entity in Sweden and the world. SSF subscribes to the basic ideas of the European Union. SSF believes that regional cultural heritage should be protected through regional self-determination in all areas of society and applicable to all peoples and nations.

Statistics:
Area: 20.000 km2
Population: 1.5 million
Language: Swedish (historically it was Scanian)
Religion: Christian