In a report published, the Council of Europe Anti-racism Commission (ECRI) calls on the Swedish authorities to address hate speech, risks of racial profiling and reinvigorate the role of education as a tool to better live together in intercultural societies.
ECRI welcomes the progress made and good practice examples in a number of fields since the previous monitoring report in 2017, such as the establishment of the Swedish Holocaust Museum and the Living History Forum, a nationwide centre for promoting democracy, tolerance and human rights, using lessons learnt from the Holocaust and crimes against humanity committed in history.
Other positive developments include the criminalisation of Holocaust denial and making legal gender recognition administratively easier to obtain. In addition, new guidelines were issued by the Prosecutor General, with a view to ensuring the proper investigation and prioritisation of crimes motivated by hate.
Efforts have also been made to increase the proportion of children with a migration background in pre-schools, thus enabling a better development of their Swedish language skills.
However, despite the progress achieved, ECRI expresses concern about several shortcomings and addresses 12 recommendations to the authorities.
ECRI recommends, as a matter of priority, that the Swedish authorities review police guidelines on interaction with the public and better regulate “stop and search” activities, with a particular emphasis on the treatment of children and young people. The Anti-racism Commission is warning that the introduction of “security zones” bring risks of racial profiling.
Concerns also include various legislative and other measures already adopted or planned within the framework of the Tidö-agreement as regards the conditions for family reunification, the policy of granting immigrants permanent residence permits and the deportation of foreign nationals whose conduct is not considered appropriate. As a result, ECRI recommends that the Swedish authorities review and develop policies aiming at improving the integration of foreign nationals and refrain from action which would lead to unjustified differential treatment.
In response to statistics showing that Black persons and people of African descent are common victims of hate crime, ECRI recommends that the Swedish authorities develop measures to combat and increase the reporting of such crimes.
In addition, there are shortcomings in many teachers’ capacity to teach about racism and intolerance, including LGBTI issues, while current confrontations and conflicts in and outside Europe (including the current conflict in the Middle East) and manifestations of racism and intolerance in society are reflected in classrooms. Therefore, ECRI recommends that the authorities should, as a matter of priority, reinvigorate the role of education as a tool to better live together in intercultural societies by raising awareness among teachers about existing tools developed for this purpose.
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