Sweden

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.