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Hate crime provisions in the Criminal Code have been amended to include transgender identity among the protected characteristics.
The Swedish Police Authority and Victim Support Sweden have worked to enhance the skills of police officers and victim support volunteers to identify hate crimes, with the aim of increasing public confidence in the criminal justice system and reducing the number of unreported hate crimes.
The Police have organized training events and conferences to improve the ability of reception police officers, regional command centre staff, Police Academy students and local police officers to recognize hate crimes, in order to ensure more accurate statistics on reported hate crimes. During the training events, the Police collaborated closely with civil society working on LGBTI issues, women's rights and anti-Semitism, and with various state authorities. Furthermore, the Police continued to refine and optimize investigation work, including in collaboration with the prosecution.
The Police Advisory Board met four times in 2019, including with Roma groups/organizations, the Swedish Federation for LGBTQI Rights, Full Personality Expression Sweden and representatives of the Muslim and Jewish communities. A key objective of the Board is to increase confidence among groups targeted by hate crime.
In June 2019, the Swedish Prosecution Service organized national hate crime conferences, aimed at improving practitioners' awareness and ability to respond to hate crimes. Through a collaborative project with Victim Support Sweden, the prosecution service addressed the issue of hate crime victim support and increasing the number of reported hate crimes.
The Swedish Crime Victim Compensation and Support Authority continued to sponsor several civil society organizations and provided support to victims of hate crime through its Crime Victim Fund.
The Swedish Committee against Anti-Semitism (SKMA) continued its training programme on anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, primarily for teachers and school staff, but also for politicians and other influential leaders. SKMA works with teaching tools developed by ODIHR and partners. It also conducted similar training seminars for youth in upper-secondary schools.
The Swedish Federation for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights (RFSL) reported one rape of a transgender woman and one case of threats against a gay man at work.
The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) recommended that Sweden use its training and awareness-raising measures in their continuing efforts to ensure that criminal law provisions concerning racism and racial discrimination are properly applied by all persons in the criminal justice system and to strengthen further its data collection and monitoring system on racist incidents.
ODIHR observes that Sweden has not reported information on sentenced hate crime cases to ODIHR.
Sweden instituted or continued a number of hate crime programmes. These included two projects supported by the Victim Support Association to help staff of local organizations better understand hate crime; a research project funded by the Crime Victim Compensation and Support Authority that aimed at understanding the causes, consequences and support measures for hate crime in Skåne County; a project in Norrbotten in which the crime victim co-ordinator of the police authority reviews police reports daily to follow up with victims, including potential hate crime victims, for further support; several training events held by the Police District in Greater Gothenburg with various level of staffs on hate crime; a train-the-trainers course on hate crime for the Police Authority in Skåne County; a research project of Stockholm University designed to gauge the level of potential prejudices in responding to hate crime cases in which the Police Authority in Skåne County participated; and a project by the Prosecution Development Centre in Malmö to identify and track potential hate crime cases in order to evaluate case-handling by police and prosecutors.
The Discrimination Bureau in Uppsala conducted training programmes for schools, businesses, public sector agencies, associations and organizations on discrimination and hate crime. The Bureau counseled individuals on their rights when victims of discrimination or hate crime, as well as running a project called Online Presence that trains school staff, youth and support organizations to recognize hate online and to take appropriate responsive steps.
The Victim Support Association supported the Roma Culture Centre to provide information to crime victims, including specific information for hate crime victims.
The Police District in Greater Gothenburg participated in a hate crime seminar at the LGBT festival. The Swedish Federation for LGBT Rights received government funding on projects to support LGBT victims of violence, including bias-motivated violence, by providing training for staff and conducting public-awareness outreach in the media.
Official figures record 2,678 racist and xenophobic crimes.
Sweden reported an estimated 3,979 hate crime reports with xenophobic/racist motives. The overall figure presented here (2678) excludes the following incidents that do not fall within the OSCE definition of hate crime: 651 cases of defamation, 419 of hate speech and 120 of unlawful discrimination.
Anti-Roma crimes (111) were also reported under this category but are presented separately in the section below.
Official figures record 111 hate crimes as motivated by bias against Roma and Sinti.
Official data included an estimated 215 hate crimes motivated by bias against Roma and Sinti. The overall figure presented here (111) excludes the following incidents that do not fall within the OSCE definition of hate crime: 56 defamation, 21 hate speech, and 27 unlawful discrimination cases.
Official figures record 132 anti-Semitic hate crimes.
Official data included an estimated 221 anti-Semitic hate crimes. The overall figure presented here (132) excludes the following incidents that do not fall within the OSCE definition of hate crime: 10 defamation and 79 hate speech.
Official figures record 193 crimes motivated by intolerance against Muslims.
Sweden reported an estimated 306 Islamophobic hate crimes. The overall figure presented here (193) excludes the following incidents that do not fall within the OSCE definition of hate crime: 39 cases of defamation, 72 of hate speech and 2 of unlawful discrimination.
Police reports identified an estimated 240 anti-religious crimes, of which approximately 200 were motivated by a bias against Christians.
Official data included an estimated 258 anti-Semitic hate crimes. The overall figure presented here (240) excludes cases of defamation and hate speech which do not fall within the OSCE definition of hate crime.
Official figures record 537 crimes motivated by bias based on sexual orientation, and a further 41 hate crimes targeting transgender persons.
Sweden reported an estimated 713 crimes motivated by a sexual orientation-related bias. The overall figure presented here (537) excludes the following incidents that do not fall within the OSCE definition of hate crime: 143 cases of defamation, 25 of hate speech, and 8 of unlawful discrimination.
The police also recorded 41 hate crimes targeting transgender persons. This figure includes cases of defamation, hate speech and unlawful discrimination and is not included in the total figure.
