(cont. from § 5) An extended travel ban for children (cont. SoU24)
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
1 L wants to expand the travel ban to protect children from honor oppression, harmful upbringing trips, and conversion attempts 1. 2 M proposes an expansion to protect children against honor-related violence, abuse, or criminal activity, and that criminal liability for self-help should include abduction 2. 3 S argues that it is unacceptable for the government to delay the proposal 3. 4 M responds that the government has done the fundamental work 4. 5 S emphasizes the need for strengthened legislation 5. 6 M considers it a challenge to work similarly in all municipalities and regions 6, that the government commissioned Socialstyrelsen to produce educational material 6, that the government takes responsibility to ensure that no child is taken abroad against their will 6 and that the investigation should have contained more 6.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Gulan Avci (L)
Madam Speaker! In six weeks, it is time for the country's primary and secondary school students to begin the long summer break. For many, it is something to look forward to, but far from everyone looks forward to the summer break. For thousands of children in Sweden, the summer break is not a bright spot but the darkest time of the year.
Over the years, I have spoken with many young girls who are terrified of what will happen when the schools close their doors for summer break. That fear and the anxiety that many carry with them regarding the fact that they may be forced to travel to their parents' home country and be married off to a person they have never met or are in love with is very difficult for us who live free lives to understand or even comprehend.
Madam Speaker! Over the years, we have received the many reports that have succeeded one another. These are reports that show that tens of thousands of children and young people live in captivity among us, with honor oppression as their everyday life. Among the testimonies I have received, there was one where the youngest honor victim was only four years old. It was a little girl who risked being taken away to her father's home country to be married off to her cousin. Thank goodness the plans were revealed, and the girl could be taken into care.
This affects me very deeply. How can a child's rights be violated in such a gross manner? How can a father commit such a horrific crime against his own daughter? It is these children's fates that are my driving force in the fight against the culture of honor.
Madam Speaker! For a long time, there has been a great reluctance to combat the culture of honor. This is partly due to the ignorance that has existed and to knowledge that has been too poor, but it is also due to the fear of being labeled as a racist. I have personally been labeled as a racist over the years because of my fight against the culture of honor.
It is one thing to hurl insults at politicians like me - I can take that, even though it has many times been deeply offensive and hurtful - but worse is it for the many social workers, teachers, and others who in the end have not dared to act to protect children and young people against child marriages, female genital mutilation, offensive virginity checks, virginity operations, and "re-education" trips in the parents' old home country.
Thankfully, however, a sobering process has occurred over time, and we have come a good way. This is shown, not least by today's report, which concerns an expanded travel ban for children. The legislative changes mean that we can protect more children from being taken out of Sweden and subjected to crimes and abuse.
It concerns, among other things, travel bans regarding abusive upbringing trips for children. I read a column by principal Linnea Lindquist in Expressen, where she described what a school student told her about his parents sending him on an upbringing trip in their home country. He said: "In my country, they tied me to the bench when I didn't sit still. The teacher hit us with a wooden stick and when we said bad words, he took out the chains."
Madam Speaker! The existing law is good, but it is not clear enough and is insufficient. Therefore, we must broaden the travel ban. It is about being able to protect children even from, among other things, harmful upbringing trips and conversion attempts of LGBTQI persons, which is not possible today. For the new law to be effective, it is self-evident that central authorities such as the police and the Swedish Migration Agency need to be granted access to information regarding persons with a travel ban so that they can act early and forcefully to stop these abductions before it is too late.
I have noted that there are those who are concerned that the current law and the expanded bill risk taking over the work of the social services and other important authority actors to protect vulnerable children. To them, I want to be clear: The expanded travel ban should be seen as exactly what it is, namely an important complement to care interventions supported by the Act on Care of Young People and other protective measures that the social services shall take to protect vulnerable children. It is not a tool that is intended to replace other interventions.
Finally, I want to emphasize that we Liberals, who for decades have fought against honor-related violence and oppression, will of course follow how the expanded bill is complied with in practice. If it turns out that a certain type of oppression risks being downgraded, we will of course never hesitate to act.
Therefore, I move for approval of the proposal in this report. It is a great victory for all those children who have their most basic human rights violated in one of the world's most egalitarian countries, due to traditions and cultural expressions that do not belong either in Sweden or in any other part of the world.
Statsrådet Camilla Waltersson Grönvall (M)
Madam Speaker! At the beginning of this year, I had the honor of speaking at the wreath-laying ceremony at Fadime Sahindal's grave. It was an occasion to honor Fadime's memory but also her struggle to live her life and choose her love.
Fadime's life and actions remain relevant for us here today, and it was here in the Riksdag that she gave a very much-noticed speech 23 years ago. In that speech, she told how her life was restricted in the name of honor. She told how her parents wanted her to travel to Turkey to be married off there to her cousin. She urged us to never turn our backs on those who are subjected to honor oppression and violence.
Madam Speaker! Every year we hear the silence echo from empty school desks when school starts again in August. We know that over 900 children and young people, despite the legislation on travel bans that exists today, have been taken out of the country against their will. We also know that the number of unreported cases is large. It concerns children who have been taken out to be forced into marriage, converted from homosexuality, participate in so-called "re-education trips" or undergo genital mutilation.
We have a law on travel bans today, but it is simply not sufficient. Society must do much more. Children and young people need to be protected from harmful stays abroad to a greater extent than what is possible today. The Government therefore proposes an expansion of the current travel ban. There is thus a need to expand the scope of application for the current legislation so that more children can be protected from being taken abroad against their will.
The proposal for an expanded scope of application entails both a strengthened protection for children against being subjected to honor-related violence and oppression, and a better protection against children being seriously harmed abroad for other reasons. The travel ban is proposed to be decidable if there is a tangible risk that a child will be taken abroad or leave Sweden and the child's health or development will be harmed during the stay abroad due to circumstances that may warrant care according to LVU.
It can involve physical or mental abuse, improper exploitation, deficiencies in care, or some other condition in the living environment. It can also involve the young person's abuse of addictive substances, criminal activity, or other socially degrading behavior.
The Government also proposes that confidentiality shall apply to information regarding an individual's personal circumstances at the Swedish Police Authority in activities aimed at upholding a travel ban if it can be assumed that the individual or someone close to him or her would suffer if the information is disclosed.
Furthermore, it is proposed that the criminal liability for self-help with a child be extended to also include acts where a child under 15 years of age is taken away or otherwise withheld if the act is intended to prevent care according to LVU from commencing.
Reports from, among others, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the National Centre for Honor-Related Violence and Oppression testify that it occurs that parents take children to other countries to avoid measures and interventions from the social services, for example, to prevent a decision under LVU from being enforced. If care under LVU has not been initiated, such a procedure is therefore not punishable in the current situation if it does not also involve, for example, a separation of the child from the other parent. There is also no other criminal provision specifically targeting this situation.
We are changing this now. An abduction or other withholding of a child to prevent care according to LVU should be punishable regardless of whether the care has been initiated or not.
Madam Speaker! We need to strengthen the work to be able to prevent, detect, and help children and young people who are exposed to honor-related violence and oppression. During the coming year, a new Social Services Act will be presented and work will begin for the transition to a long-term sustainable, more preventive and knowledge-based social service.
Social services need to be easily accessible, and interventions need to be able to be offered in a simpler way than today. Even though these are important pieces to reach children and young people who need this in time, we need to do more. The extended travel ban is a step on the way to protecting more children and young people from being taken out of the country.
These legislative changes are proposed to enter into force on June 1 this year. The reason for this is that we must not have another summer where children are taken away and school desks stand empty when the classes reconvene for the autumn term. Let us continue together with undiminished strength so that we may have a country and a world that is free from this dishonorable violence and oppression!
I want to say at the same time that the government will not be satisfied with this. We have already begun the next steps with parts that the current investigation, which forms the basis for the proposal that this bill covers, does not contain. There we are now taking the next step to move forward.
The goal must be that all children in Sweden shall be given a bright and secure future. All children in Sweden shall be allowed to fall in love with exactly whomever they want. All children in Sweden shall have the same rights.
Now we take the next step towards this. In August, there shall be a student in every seat.
Fredrik Lundh Sammeli (S)
Madam Speaker! I have already previously highlighted the strength of this law and how important it is, and it is good that the government is proceeding with the Social Democratic proposal that was worked out during the previous parliamentary term.
I must nevertheless express my surprise that it has taken so long for the government to place this product on the Riksdag's table. We know that this is an issue where every day is crucial and where every day entails a risk that children will suffer and be oppressed. It is unacceptable and something that we all need to work on and act against.
The Minister for Social Services would like to give the impression that she is tackling many of these issues and acting promptly. My question is therefore: Why has it taken until today? When the government took office, the completed referral reports were on the table at the ministry. Still, it has taken until today before we got the product in place here and can make an important and decisive decision.
Statsrådet Camilla Waltersson Grönvall (M)
Madam Speaker! This is an extremely important issue, and the government is working consistently in a number of different areas to ensure the safety of children and young people. We are now ensuring that a new Social Services Act will be in place, which means that we can work early and preventatively, and this is part of that. Just as I mentioned in my speech, it is important in order to be able to strengthen the protection for children who are in a vulnerable situation when it comes to honor oppression and violence linked to it.
Just as it concerns the Social Services Act, Member Lundh Sammeli wants to make it so that everything was ready when we arrived at the Ministry of Social Affairs, one piece of legislation after another. Then my natural question is: If everything was ready when we arrived at the Ministry of Social Affairs, why had the previous Social Democratic government not implemented this?
The answer, my friends, is that there is a long line of legislations where one had not done everything possible to ensure the safety and security of children and young people. The decisive difference is that we did all the fundamental work that comes after the referrals have been received. I believe that Member Lundh Sammeli knows that it involves a rather long process to ensure and draft the Council of Legislation referrals and get this finished.
That is what the government is doing now, and thanks to that, we will not have another summer without this important legislation being in place.
Fredrik Lundh Sammeli (S)
Madam Speaker! One cannot, as a government, say that this is such an incredibly important issue and that one has worked on it with vigor when we are in the spring of 2024.
It is now that the product is on the table. The government could have worked much faster with this legislation to get it in place earlier than what is now the case. Reviews from recent years point out that over 900 children have been illegally taken out of the country during the time we have had the legislation that we have had.
There is, therefore, a need to strengthen it. For every day that passes, more children risk finding themselves in this situation. The Government itself has pointed out the importance of having the legislation in place before the summer, and we will now all eight parties jointly make that possible. It is important.
The Minister has pointed out in various interviews that there is a need for more effective cooperation between authorities, not least social services, healthcare, and the police. Another clear problem is that the knowledge regarding child abduction varies greatly between our municipalities.
Now the product lies here for debate and decision. My follow-up question is: In what concrete ways will the government ensure more effective cooperation and a higher and more equal level of knowledge across the country in these issues, which are absolutely crucial for very many children and young people?
Statsrådet Camilla Waltersson Grönvall (M)
Madam Speaker! I thank Fredrik Lundh Sammeli for a very important question.
Being able to work in a similar manner in all 290 municipalities, furthermore often interconnected with 21 regions, is a challenge, and in a number of different areas we see deficiencies. That was also the reason why the government on March 27 this year tasked Socialstyrelsen with producing and disseminating educational material regarding the proposed new regulations concerning extended travel bans for children. As part of the assignment, Socialstyrelsen shall gather knowledge and views from Barnafrid at Linköping University, which is a national center for knowledge on violence against children, and engage in dialogue with Jämställdhetsmyndigheten, the Children's Ombudsman, and the Agency for Family Law and Parenting Support.
The government will follow the implementation of this legislation very closely. Just as I mentioned in my opening remarks, we have already begun to take initiatives for the next steps, because we are still concerned that children can be taken out of the country against their will. I would, of course, wish that the investigation underlying the proposal, which was indeed commissioned by the previous government, had contained much more. But it does not, and therefore the government now takes continued responsibility to ensure that not a single child is taken out of the country against their will but sits in their desk in August when school begins.
The deliberation was hereby concluded.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.