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 Federation for LGBT Rights reported 52 homophobic, biphobic (bias against bisexual people) or transphobic hate incidents, including three cases of threats, against a transgender person, a lesbian couple and a gay man, respectively.
World Without Nazism reported one incident of threats, in which a flag with a swastika was attached to the doors of a synagogue.
World Without Nazism reported one physical assault against a Muslim woman by a group, during which her headscarf was pulled off her head.
World Without Nazism reported one arson attack on a Pentecostal church.
The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) published findings from a survey on experiences and perceptions of anti-Semitism conducted in Belgium, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Sweden and the United Kingdom. The survey showed that many respondents have been victims of anti-Semitic violence and harassment, and feared becoming hate crime victims in the future. The survey also mapped the extent of unreported anti-Semitic hate crime. The FRA recommended that EU Member States consider taking a number of steps to improve the reporting, recording, investigating and prosecuting of hate crimes.
The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) recommended that Sweden introduce a common and clear definition of hate crime that allows all reported hate crimes to be tracked through the justice system; replicate the establishment of police hate crime units and special investigators in all parts of the country; and extend to all parts of the country the hate crime training given to police, prosecutors and judges.
ODIHR observes that Sweden has not reported information on sentenced hate crime cases to ODIHR.
The Swedish Prosecution Authority commissioned the development of an improved methodology for the identification and tracking of hate crimes in the judicial and law enforcement systems. The new methodology should improve pre-trial investigations and increase prosecution rates.
In 2013, the Swedish Police issued an inspection report on the ability of police authorities to detect and investigate hate crimes, including recommendations for the future. The Police Authority of Jönköping County, together with the local municipality, organized a public panel discussion on hate crimes to raise awareness and increase reporting rates. The Police Authority of Norrbotten County has also worked to raise awareness among potential victims about hate crimes and their rights.
Approximately 20 municipalities were actively engaged in the work of a network of municipalities put together by the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions. Best practices among municipalities in combating hate crimes are shared within the network and published in a report.
The Swedish Association for Victim Support worked with more than 90 local hate crime victim-support organizations on collecting hate crime data. Data on incidents were compiled in a report that identified 279 hate-motivated incidents. The Swedish Crime Victim Compensation and Support Authority provided funding to Malmö University to conduct a comparative research study on exposure to and experience with hate crimes, which will compare the situation among students in the United Kingdom and in Sweden. The Anti-Discrimination Bureau in Uppsala continued its project "Web presence" by training 790 persons from schools and non-governmental organizations on Internet hate. The project enables online reporting of Internet hate crimes, resulting in 111 reports being received and forwarded to police in 2013.
The Swedish Crime Victim Compensation and Support Authority also supported training programmes on law enforcement and hate crimes, which aimed to enhance the capacity of the National Association of Afro-Swedes to provide support services to hate crime victims of Afro-Swedish origin.
Two-day seminars were held in Umeå, Göteborg and Malmö that aimed to raise awareness among teachers, police and civil servants about anti-Semitic hate crimes and crimes motivated by bias against Muslims. The series was organized by the Swedish Committee against anti-Semitism.
The Swedish Committee against anti-Semitism has translated and disseminated ODIHR’s "Guidelines for Educators on Countering Intolerance and Discrimination against Muslims" in schools.
The Swedish Association for Victim Support, together with the Expo Foundation and the Swedish Federation for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights, continued to train its volunteers and staff to increase their ability to identify hate incidents and provide better support to victims of hate crimes and offences.
Official figures record 2,723 racist and xenophobic crimes.
Figures reported to ODIHR include an estimated 3,999 hate crime reports with xenophobic/racist motives. The number presented here excludes cases of defamation, hate speech and unlawful discrimination that do not fall within the OSCE definition of hate crime.
Anti-Roma crimes were also reported under this category but are presented separately in the section below.
Official figures record 146 crimes motivated by bias against Roma and Sinti.
Figures reported to ODIHR include an estimated 233 hate crime reports. The number presented here excludes cases of defamation, hate speech and unlawful discrimination that do not fall within the OSCE definition of hate crime.
The data on anti-Roma crimes are collected and were reported as part of the Racist and Xenophobic hate crime category but are presented separately here.
Official figures record 79 anti-Semitic crimes.
Figures reported to ODIHR include an estimated 193 hate crime reports. The number presented here excludes cases of defamation and hate speech that do not fall within the OSCE definition of hate crime.
Official figures record 214 crimes motivated by anti-Muslim bias.
Figures reported to ODIHR include an estimated 327 hate crime reports. The number presented here excludes cases of defamation, hate speech and unlawful discrimination that do not fall within the OSCE definition of hate crime.
Official figures record 289 anti-religious crimes, of which 176 were motivated by bias against Christians.
Figures reported to ODIHR include an estimated 321 hate crime reports, of which 191 were against Christians. The number presented here excludes cases of defamation and hate speech that do not fall within the OSCE definition of hate crime.
Official figures record 492 crimes motivated by bias based on sexual orientation and a further 45 hate crimes targeting transgender persons.
Figures reported to ODIHR include an estimated 625 hate crime reports on crimes motivated by bias against sexual orientation. The number presented here excludes cases of defamation and hate speech that do not fall within the OSCE definition of hate crime.
The 45 reported cases of crimes motivated by bias against transgender people include an unspecified number of incidents other than hate crimes and are, therefore, not included in the overall figure presented here.
The Holy See reported the attempted arson of a church, motivated by anti-Christian bias. Swedish authorities reported back that the case was investigated as a suspected arson not involving a bias motive, and that the investigation was closed due to a lack of leads.
Links
[1] https://hatecrime.osce.org/node/333/csv
[2] https://hatecrime.osce.org/ngo/swedish-federation-lgbt-rights
[3] https://hatecrime.osce.org/what-hate-crime/bias-against-other-groups-sexual-orientation-or-gender-identity
[4] https://hatecrime.osce.org/ngo/world-without-nazism
[5] https://hatecrime.osce.org/what-hate-crime/anti-semitism
[6] https://hatecrime.osce.org/what-hate-crime/bias-against-muslims
[7] https://hatecrime.osce.org/what-hate-crime/bias-against-christians-and-members-other-religions
[8] https://hatecrime.osce.org/igo/eu-fra
[9] https://hatecrime.osce.org/igo/un-committee-elimination-racial-discrimination-cerd
[10] https://hatecrime.osce.org/what-hate-crime/racism-and-xenophobia
[11] https://hatecrime.osce.org/what-hate-crime/bias-against-roma-and-sinti