Human Rights

Human rights are based on the idea that all people have rights that are equal for everyone. After the Second World War, in 1945, 51 countries decided to create the United Nations (UN) to prevent war and protect every person's rights. In 1948 the UN presented the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which contains a total of 30 provisions (articles). It states that all people are born free and equal in dignity and rights, and have the right to a life free from violence. Among the rights are, for example, the right to express one's opinion, the right to work and have vacation, the right to attend school, the right to seek asylum in another country if one's life is in danger, freedom of religion, protection against discrimination based on sex or skin color, and the right to a nationality (no one may be deprived of their citizenship without an approved and objective reason under the law). Discrimination — treating certain people worse than others — is a violation of human rights, and in Sweden it is prohibited by the Discrimination Act (diskrimineringslagen).

Sweden's gender equality policy means that women and men should have the same rights, obligations, and equal power to influence society and their own lives. Examples of work on gender equality: encouraging as many women as men to become politicians; laws intended to ensure equal pay for equal work; schools and agencies working for equal opportunities in education and personal development; and parental benefit (föräldrapenningen), which makes it possible for both women and men to stay home with their children. Domestic violence and honor-related violence and oppression are criminal offenses under Swedish law. Sweden has a consent law (samtyckeslagen), meaning that anyone who wants to have sex with someone must make sure that the person is participating voluntarily, even if they are married. Honor-related violence and oppression means that a family or group tries to control how members behave, and can affect women, girls, boys, men, and LGBTQI people; child marriage, when someone under 18 gets married, is prohibited under Swedish law. Jämställdhetsmyndigheten (the Gender Equality Agency) is responsible for the national effort against honor-related violence and oppression. Under the sex purchase act (sexköpslagen), it is illegal to buy sex in Sweden — the buyer can be punished, but not the person selling sex.

The UN has agreed on a convention on children's rights, the Convention on the Rights of the Child (barnkonventionen), meant to protect all children's human rights. Since 2020, the Convention on the Rights of the Child is law in Sweden. In 1979, Sweden was the first country in the world to decide that hitting children is prohibited, and today around 70 countries have banned violence against children. It is the parents or another legal guardian who is responsible for a child's upbringing and development, but agencies, courts, regions, and kommuner must apply the Convention on the Rights of the Child — for example by asking children what they think before decisions that affect them are made, and by schools and health care working to ensure no child is discriminated against.

Sweden gives special protection to certain minority groups. In 2000, Sweden recognized Jews, Roma, Sami, Sweden Finns, and Tornedalians as national minorities, with the right to use their minority languages (Yiddish, Romani chib, Sami, Finnish, and Meänkieli) in contact with authorities, preschools, and elderly care. The Sami are also a recognized indigenous people with a long-standing relationship to the area of Sápmi, which stretches across Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Russia, and have special rights linked to land and natural resources, as well as their own elected parliament, Sametinget (the Sami Parliament). LGBTQI people (an umbrella term for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex people) are protected against discrimination under the Discrimination Act: it became legal to be homosexual in Sweden in 1944, same-sex couples gained the right to adopt children in 2003, and the Church of Sweden allowed same-sex couples to marry in church in 2009.

Diskrimineringsombudsmannen (DO, the Equality Ombudsman) is a government agency that works for equal rights and opportunities for all, and ensures that the Discrimination Act is followed. Under the law, it is illegal for companies and organizations to treat people worse because of sex, gender identity or expression, religion or other belief, age, ethnicity, disability, or sexual orientation; workplaces and schools must work with active measures against discrimination. If a crime is committed against a person because they belong to a particular group, it is called a hate crime (hatbrott), and the perpetrator receives a harsher sentence if the crime has a hate-crime motive.