| Country | Sweden |
|---|---|
| Optional protocol | on the involvement of children in armed conflict, on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography |
| Safety | |
| Corporal punishment | Corporal Punishment is prohibited. |
| Overview of the child rights situation | In the Swedish report, racism and discrimination are the main issues that still need to be addressed. It is also problematic that child benefits for asylum-seeking families are reduced after the third child - in contrast to general child benefits. Teachers and other professionals working with children are not trained on how to deal with bullying. |
| Situation of intersexual and transsexual children | There are cases of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) children experiencing bullying, intimidation and violence. |
| Discrimination | |
| Racism, children belonging to a minority and indigenous children | The Committee is concerned that the term “race” has been deleted in the new Anti-Discrimination Act and the Instrument of Government, and that there are no explicit legal provisions declaring illegal and prohibiting organizations promoting and inciting racial hatred.<br /> The Committee is concerned at reported instances of arbitrary interference in the family life of Afro-Swedes and Africans and at the removal of children by social welfare authorities, as previously pointed out by the Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent after its visit to the State party. |
| Situation of children with disabilities | The Committee is concerned about the increasingly high rate of suicide among persons with disabilities, including children, in the State party. |
| Situation of asylum-seeking, refugee and migrant children | There are cases of Roma children being discriminated against by their schoolmates. The Committee is concerned at reported cases of asylum-seeking children sent back to their country of origin in violation of the principle of non-refoulement. <br /> The Committee is concerned that child-specific forms of persecution, such as the risk of being subjected to forced labour, child marriage, trafficking, female genital mutilation or recruitment as child soldiers, are not explicitly mentioned in the Aliens Act as grounds for obtaining asylum.<br /> The Committee recommends to expedite the processing of asylum applications and ensure that all asylum-seeking children are fully provided with basic necessities, in particular adequate clothing and personal hygiene articles, as well as all the necessary school materials. |
| Education | |
| Free kindergarten | Yes |
| Free primary and secondary school | Yes |
| Digital possibilities | The Committee recommends to increase Sweden’s efforts to develop regulations to protect the privacy of children, and adequately train children, teachers and families on the safe use of information and communications technology, in particular on how children can protect themselves from paedophiles, from being exposed to information and material harmful to their well-being, and from online bullying. |
| Health | |
| physical health | The Committee recommends that the State party step up its efforts to improve the health status of children from disadvantaged and marginalized groups, and allocate sufficient financial, human and technical resources to guarantee their right to health without discrimination. |
| Relation to other countries | |
| mental health | The Committee urges the State party to establish a system of independent expert monitoring of the diagnosis of ADHD and other behavioural specificities, and of the use of drug treatments for the children diagnosed. The Committee is concerned that, while the rates of mental health and psychosocial disorders are high among young people, school health services are inadequately resourced to address them in a timely and appropriate manner, and that access to school psychologists and the psychosocial support system involves a long waiting period. |
| Business sector | The Committee recommends to completely prohibit the export of arms, including small arms and light weapons, when the final destination is a country where children are known to be, or may potentially be, recruited or used in hostilities. |
| Situation of juvenile justice | The Committee is seriously concerned about the practice of solitary confinement of children in conflict with the law in remand prisons and police cells and about the large number of children in the latter. The Committee appreciates the various measures taken by the State party to facilitate contact between children and their incarcerated parents, including the setting up of visiting apartments in several prisons. Children deprived of their liberty are not always informed of their rights and the reasons for restrictions being imposed on them, nor afforded all fundamental legal safeguards from the very outset of deprivation of liberty, such as the right to access to a lawyer, the right to an independent medical examination and the right to notify a relative or a person of their choice. |
| Specific observations | The Committee is concerned about the significant rise in child abuse, especially of children up to 6 years of age, and is disappointed that only a few reports of such abuse result in prosecution. |
| Additional Background | Concluding observations on the fifth periodic reports released on 6 March 2015. |
| Last Updated (date) | 23rd of February, 2022 |