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 Kantor Center reported one case of threats in Malmö and several cases of vandalism against Jewish cemeteries and against a memorial to Raoul Wallenberg, who saved Jews during the Holocaust.
ILGA-Europe reported two cases of threats, including one involving a group and one against a lesbian couple; and one physical assault against a transgender person involving a knife.
The Swedish Committee Against Anti-Semitism (SCAA) engaged in several ongoing projects in the educational field, including a programme aimed primarily at teachers and day-care providers. The training explores anti-Semitism and anti-Muslim bias in the educational setting, including how to respond and counter prejudices, as well as issues around hate crime.
The Police Authority of Skane County continued to develop and implement the training of specialized police officers in each district on registering and recording hate crimes. The Crime Victim Compensation and Support Authority funded several projects on hate crimes, aimed to increase knowledge of victims. The Authority funded a research project in 2011 to explore the causes and consequences of hate crime, and to examine possible means of prevention, with a focus on identifying strategies to improve the situation for victims. Other awareness-raising and capacity-building initiatives targeting specific groups are included in this report under the relevant sections.
There were several projects to address LGBT hate crime. The Police Authority of Vasta Götaland County participated in the local LGBTQ festival with a mobile police office and conducted seminars about the importance of reporting hate crimes to police. The Crime Victim Compensation and Support Authority similarly organized a seminar on hate crime at Stockholm Pride 2011. The Crime Victim Support Unit also continued to work on outreach to support LGBT victims of hate crime, including launching a website specifically targeting young LGBT people who have been the target of hate crime (aldrigokej.se).
The Swedish Committee Against Anti-Semitism (SCAA), has several ongoing projects in the educational field to address of anti-Semitic hate crime, including two different educational programmes targeting students in secondary schools. The first programme focuses on the life story of a person who survived Auschwitz-Birkenau and includes exercises to encourage students to reflect upon modern-day Sweden and a “hate crime quiz”. The second programme uses interactive materials addressing anti-Semitism and other modern forms of intolerance, including anti-Muslim bias and racism against different types of ethnic groups. The latter programme was developed and published by SCAA and the Living History Forum, together with the Anne Frank House and ODIHR. A third educational programme is aimed primarily at teachers and day-care providers and explores anti-Semitism and anti-Muslim bias in the educational setting, including how to respond and counter prejudices, while also discussing issues around hate crime.
Official figures record 2,648 racist and xenophobic crimes.
Official figures record an estimated 3,936 hate crime reports with xenophobic/racist motives. The overall figure presented here (2,648) excludes the following incidents that do not fall within the OSCE definition of hate crime: 643 defamation; 396 hate speech; and 146 unlawful discrimination.
Anti-Roma crimes (103) were also reported under this category but are presented separately in the section below.
Official figures record 103 hate crimes as motivated by bias against Roma and Sinti.
Sweden reported 184 anti-Roma hate crimes. The overall figure presented here (103) excludes the following incidents that do not fall within the OSCE definition of hate crime: 37 cases of defamation; 16 of hate speech; and 28 unlawful discrimination cases.
Official figures record 126 anti-Semitic hate crimes.
Official data included 194 anti-Semitic hate crimes. The overall figure presented here (126) excludes the following incidents that do not fall within the OSCE definition of hate crime: 14 defamation and 54 hate speech.
Official figures record 189 crimes motivated by intolerance against Muslims.
Sweden reported 278 anti-Muslim hate crimes. This number was revised to 189 after the following incidents were excluded: 38 defamation, 45 hate speech, and 6 unlawful discrimination cases.
Official data included an estimated 179 anti-Semitic hate crimes. The overall figure presented here (168) excludes cases of defamation and hate speech which do not fall within the OSCE definition of hate crime.
Police reports identified 168 anti-religious crimes, of which approximately 162 were motivated by a bias against Christians.
Official figures record 682 crimes motivated by bias based on sexual orientation, and further 52 hate crimes targeting transgender persons.
Sweden reported 854 crimes motivated by a sexual orientation-related bias. The overall figure presented here (682) excludes the following incidents that do not fall within the OSCE definition of hate crime: 146 cases of defamation; 13 of hate speech; and 13 unlawful discrimination cases.
Official figures also record 52 hate crimes targeting transgender persons. This figure includes cases of defamation, hate speech, and unlawful discrimination and is not included in the total figure.
Links
[1] https://hatecrime.osce.org/node/18/csv
[2] https://hatecrime.osce.org/ngo/kantor-center
[3] https://hatecrime.osce.org/what-hate-crime/anti-semitism
[4] https://hatecrime.osce.org/ngo/ilga-europe
[5] https://hatecrime.osce.org/what-hate-crime/bias-against-other-groups-sexual-orientation-or-gender-identity
[6] https://hatecrime.osce.org/ngo/swedish-committee-against-anti-semitism-scaa
[7] https://hatecrime.osce.org/what-hate-crime/bias-against-muslims
[8] https://hatecrime.osce.org/what-hate-crime/racism-and-xenophobia
[9] https://hatecrime.osce.org/what-hate-crime/bias-against-roma-and-sinti
[10] https://hatecrime.osce.org/what-hate-crime/bias-against-christians-and-members-other-religions