Minority issues

Susanne Nordström (M)

Madam Speaker! Today we are debating the motion report concerning minority issues. I would like to begin by moving for the approval of the proposal in the report.

It is about minorities, it is about indigenous peoples, it is about status, and it is about language and culture. In this context, I want to say that the motions in the report are in many cases important, thought-provoking, and not least difficult. These are difficult questions to solve, not just in Sweden but in the whole world. Therefore, I want to provide a more global perspective on these questions.

It is essentially about the same description of problems for minorities and indigenous peoples wherever you may be in the world. This became apparent to me and Jan Riise, at least, when we recently participated in an indigenous forum at the UN in New York. There, I met and spoke with people from different countries and different parts of the world, including a Maasai man from Tanzania and indigenous people from both the USA and South America.

Our delegation from the Riksdag also had a good opportunity to speak with Sámi from both Norway and Sweden. And I had my own meeting with Sara-Elvira, a Sámi woman from Jokkmokk. There I was able to get answers to many questions that I have been reflecting on.

In New York, I gained a greater understanding from a global perspective. There are thousands of indigenous cultures in the world. All have their unique stories and experiences. A single person or a single story can never ever speak for everyone, but despite everyone's differences, there is a common thread.

Madam Speaker! Most indigenous peoples have been marginalized and persecuted due to colonialism and expansionist policies that governments have developed. In many modern societies, we see higher rates of unemployment, lower education levels, discrimination, and violence among indigenous peoples. This was stated by Dr Albert K Barume, who in December 2024 was appointed as the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples.

During the relatively short time he has been a rapporteur, he has managed to participate in several conferences, numerous meetings and seminars with indigenous peoples. He has drawn several conclusions regarding indigenous peoples around the world. At the top of the list is the vulnerability of indigenous peoples in conflicts and violence. This applies in particular to women and girls. Number two on the list is the extractive industry and the green transition. Following that comes the involvement of youth in crime and trafficking of women and girls.

Minority issues

It is one thing to hear a rapporteur speak calmly and objectively about these issues, but to personally sit in a meeting in a smaller format and hear a distressed indigenous woman from the Amazon region speak in detail about her reality was, to say the least, emotionally charged.

Madam Speaker! Another person we met was Professor Elsa Stamatopoulou from Columbia University. She has been involved in indigenous issues since 1983. She told us that the UN Commissioner for Human Rights established a working group for indigenous peoples in August 1982. It was like a forum that was supposed to listen to the problems of indigenous peoples and work for their rights. What did the indigenous peoples say then, do you think? Well, they said: You people shall talk about us, and we stand here outside the room.

Fortunately, much water has flowed under the bridges since then. Professor Elsa told that the questions about human rights have gained an edge in the UN because they affect governments. The indigenous peoples have taken this to heart, and now we can see several declarations. Much has been achieved, but there is still much left to do.

But it is not that the questions being discussed are taken lightly. I believe there is an understanding that these questions are complex and tricky and that it takes time. In some way, it is modern society that is knocking, and it is the indigenous peoples who want there to be an understanding for that which they safeguard.

The keyword in this complexity, which essentially applies to all indigenous peoples, is access. By that, one means access to land. To that, one can add sharing of assets, that is to say benefits sharing. Elsa meant that there is still a resistance among indigenous peoples regarding access to land and sharing the assets.

I asked Elsa if democracy is sufficient to reach an agreement on these issues. She meant that it is not sufficient, but that strong civil organizations and respect from both sides are needed. Both Professor Elsa and Doctor Barume argued that it is the creative and vital engagement from youth that can be the future for resolving conflicts regarding land, assets, and rights.

Madam Speaker! What I take away from this indigenous forum in New York is precisely this: the importance of listening, not just hearing, and seeing every meeting as an opportunity to understand more, to reach an agreement and find a way forward where both sides, if I may put it that way, feel that this is or will become a win-win situation and not a lose-lose.

(Applause)

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Mirja Räihä (S)

Madam Speaker! For my part, I intend to focus on minority policy in Sweden.

The goal of the minority policy is to provide protection for the national minorities and strengthen their opportunities for influence as well as support the historical minority languages, so that they are kept alive. The Minority Act turns 25 years old today.

The Committee on the Constitution's report contains many motions with the aim of strengthening minority policy in Sweden. Nevertheless, the government has weakened large parts of the minority policy. The motions concern support for organizations, indigenous status, language initiatives, and so on. I move for approval of reservation 15 under point 12, reservation 18 under point 15, and reservation 29 under point 21.

During this week, we have celebrated 250 years of Jewish life in Sweden. The celebration is a marking of the decision made by Gustav III in 1775 that those with the Jewish faith would no longer be forced to convert to Christianity.

It is good that the government is strengthening the work to protect Jewish life in Sweden. That strengthening is necessary because antisemitism seems to be quite impossible to eradicate in Sweden and in Europe. The goal for our mission in the Riksdag must be that antisemitism is never allowed to flourish and must not be allowed to continue growing in our country.

The Jewish minority is in a special way exposed to hate and threats from extreme groups of various kinds. Continued work to strengthen the security around Jewish institutions and to increase the safety for Jews in Sweden is necessary. The police should have a special mission to strengthen the security around vulnerable arrangements and institutions.

We are probably quite in agreement in this chamber that the work being done is good. But then comes the rest, which we Social Democrats do not think has been so good. All minorities are receiving reduced resources to continue with their important work. The deteriorations that have occurred in the budget for 2025 are quite many.

The Institute for Languages and Folklore and the Sami Parliament have been tasked with operating language centers for the national minority languages Finnish, Yiddish, Meänkieli, Romani Chib, and Sami. The national language centers shall provide support and knowledge that facilitates for language speakers throughout the country to maintain, reclaim, and develop their language. The long-term goal of the measures is to increase the use of the languages both at the individual level and in society at large, as well as to promote a functioning transmission of the national minorities' languages and culture to the next generation. The purpose is that the national minority languages shall live on in Sweden.

We Social Democrats want to emphasize the importance of preserving, developing, and passing on the national minority languages and the minorities' cultures to future generations. They have long been an important part of our country's cultural and linguistic diversity. The language centers supported by the state have proven to be central actors in preserving and developing the languages and cultural heritage of these minorities. By giving them the opportunity to work long-term and stably, it is ensured that their valuable work can continue.

The Language Centre's work to revitalize and preserve minority languages is not a project work ongoing for a few years but a long-term work. Here, however, the government reduced the appropriations from 38 million to 8.5 million in this year's budget. The consequence was that Isof in June 2024 notified all staff of termination due to lack of work and was allowed to carry out terminations in December 2024. This was not a reinforcement of the minority work.

Madam Speaker! Certainly, the generosity from the government increased in the regulatory letter. In that, funds were distributed from the county administrative boards to the language centers, so that the total pot became 28 million kronor. However, it is still too little funding, and it is less than the sum that we Social Democrats have in our budget motion. There, we continue to propose 38 million, which we consider to be a reasonable sum. We also believe that the appropriations must be made permanent, so that the language centers can build up their operations. The funding should truly continue for all five language centers.

The content of the regulatory letter also means that the county administrative boards will receive fewer funds to support the administrative municipalities regarding both preschool and elderly care in minority languages. According to the law, these municipalities are required to be able to provide both preschool and elderly care in minority languages.

In addition to this, the consequence was that some national organizations for minority groups were deprived of large parts of their grants. One example is the delegation for the Swedish-Finns, which lost 44 percent of the grants they receive to be able to function as an umbrella organization.

Madam Speaker! A truth and reconciliation commission for the review of violations and abuses against the Tornedalians, Kveners, and Lantalaiset already submitted its final report to the government at the end of 2023. It is a solid piece of work that clearly demonstrates the oppression the Swedish state subjected the Tornedalians to with linguistic, religious, and cultural assimilation as its purpose. The Swedification policy has meant that the minority's language, culture, and identity have been devalued, stigmatized, and rendered invisible. Referral responses were submitted until April 2024. Naturally, a number of referral responses have been received. But very little has been decided by the government on how this work can proceed.

The consequence has been that the use of Meänkieli has decreased. I remember that when I was a teenager and went to Haparanda, everyone in all the shops spoke Meänkieli. Now, one has to look for people who speak that language. In that case, the language has not been passed on to the next generation except to a very limited extent.

In the commission's final report, it is stated that the state and the church have a moral responsibility to compensate the minority for the damage that has been the consequence of the assimilation policy and that this compensation and reconciliation need to take its starting point in the minority's needs today.

The government has now tasked Forum för levande historia to produce a popular version of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's work. This is, of course, welcomed by us Social Democrats. But the government needs to continue to take the commission's investigation to heart and, in the first instance, acknowledge the historical violations committed against the minority and also consider other proposals from the investigation. I can state here that the Church of Sweden has acknowledged how it has oppressed the Tornedalians. But answers from the state are still awaited.

Madam Speaker! Älvdalska has a long history in Sweden and carries ancient characteristics that can almost no longer be found in any other part of the Nordic linguistic area. The fact that älvdalska bears traces from Old Norse makes it a living part of our linguistic history, and it is an important part of Sweden's linguistic and cultural diversity. Despite this, älvdalska is classified as a dialect.

Älvdalska was spoken today by up to 3,000 people, primarily in Älvdalen parish in northern Dalarna. Representatives for Ulum Dalska and Älvdalen Municipality have for a long time argued that Älvdalska should be recognized as a minority or regional language in Sweden. Furthermore, several experts have stated that Älvdalska is to be regarded as a separate language, and the Council of Europe's expert committee has urged the Swedish government to review the status of Älvdalska.

The Government should therefore be tasked with investigating Älvdalskan's status and reviewing the possibility of recognizing Älvdalskan as a minority or regional language in Sweden.

Madam Speaker! Resource libraries constitute an important resource for reclaiming and preserving languages. Many times, the minority language dies in the third generation. I see that in my own family. In that case, literature is a good way to preserve the language. The resource libraries for minority languages do a fantastic job of serving all municipalities, schools, and other institutions with book packages and literature for reading circles throughout the country.

Consultations with minority groups are also important in this context. The Consultation Act for consultations with the Sámi is important and needs to be used in a way that is described in the preparatory works for the Act. Consultations shall be carried out well in advance before the government makes a decision, and this shall be carried out in a good spirit characterized by sincerity and honesty.

It is important to listen to the minority groups. What is current right now is the change of the follow-up authority for minority policy. The investigator who has investigated a potential change proposes a change from the County Administrative Board of Stockholm County to precisely Isof. But for some obscure reason, the government proposes MUCF in Växjö. It is an authority that does not have competence for minority issues. They say themselves: We do not have competence, but we are a bit curious. All minorities are against that change.

In conclusion: Certain parts of the minority policy are strengthened in the budget. That is true. But the government has also gone quite hard on other parts of the minority policy.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Gudrun Brunegård (KD)

Madam Speaker! The Instrument of Government states that the opportunities for the Sámi people and the ethnic, linguistic and religious minorities to maintain and develop their own community life shall be promoted.

The consideration we are dealing with today states: The goal of the policy for the national minorities is to provide protection for them and strengthen their opportunities for influence, as well as to support the historical minority languages so that they are kept alive.

When we now today debate the Committee on the Constitution's motion report KU28 on minority issues, it would be unthinkable not to begin with the situation for the Jewish minority, which just this year celebrates 250 years of Jewish life in Sweden, given the open antisemitism that has flared up recently.

Jews in Sweden are threatened and harassed simply because of the fact that they are Jews. A common expression of antisemitism is to attribute certain qualities and characteristics to Jews. It is also antisemitism when Swedish Jews collectively are made to bear the blame for Israel's warfare in Gaza.

This collective blaming has gone so far that Jews are urged not to wear Jewish attributes, such as the Star of David or a kippah, in order not to attract negative attention. Due to antisemitism, Jewish institutions, such as schools and synagogues, need to have iron fences and security.

Since the terrorist organization Hamas's attack against and hostage-taking of Israeli civilians on October 7, 2023, the antisemitic expressions in society have escalated. Anti-Israel demonstrations are interspersed with purely antisemitic expressions, not infrequently chanted in Arabic, which makes it difficult for the police to maintain order. It seems to be very difficult to have such expressions of hate and threats judicially reviewed as incitement against a population group.

Antisemitic expressions have pushed their way in even among members of parliament, who should know better and to a greater extent have the meaning of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights clear to them.

I quote the first three articles.

"Article 1. All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of community."

Article 2: Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this declaration without distinction of any kind, such as on grounds of race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. – – –

Article 3: Everyone has the right to life, liberty and personal security.

But the questioning of Jews' equal value and right to life, liberty, and personal security is precisely what has become commonplace among the chanting hordes, both here in Sweden and internationally.

That is why it was an immensely important and long-awaited signal when the Vänsterpartiet party board decided the other day to urge a Member of Parliament to leave her seat in the Riksdag after she, as the party leader expressed it, has shown poor judgment on several occasions.

What is even more worrying is that among the representatives of the Left Party here in our Swedish Riksdag, there are those who express support for the member who has been urged to leave their seat in the Riksdag.

Madam Speaker! The Committee on the Constitution visited the Stockholm synagogue this autumn and met representatives from the Jewish Central Council and the Jewish Youth Association in Sweden. They emphasized the importance of increasing knowledge about Jewish life and Jewish traditions among the general public. For Jewish life is so much more than the Holocaust.

It is about the right to be able to maintain multi-thousand-year-old traditions, which have been maintained, colored, and developed over centuries in exile, and to be able to do so without having to hide one's attributes such as a kippah or Star of David, without having to fear harassment or worry about having one's place of worship vandalized, and without having to have advanced security equipment around Jewish schools or elderly care homes.

The reinforcement of 30 million kronor for security-enhancing measures that was decided when it concerned the budget bill for 2024 – and an additional 10 million for surveillance, emergency equipment, and disaster preparedness – has been of great help in increasing the security around the Jewish institutions.

As I mentioned initially, 250 years of Jewish life in Sweden is being celebrated this year. There was a celebration last week. And the government has sent out the report A strong Jewish life for future generations for consultation.

The Government has further increased the appropriation for 2025 regarding measures for national minorities by 10.5 million kronor for this strategy. For the years 2026–2027, the appropriation is increased by the corresponding amount each year, and for the years 2028–2034 by 9 million annually.

The government has also, since 2023, had a cross-departmental working group that is to cooperate and conduct a dialogue on how to prevent and counter antisemitism in Sweden. The working group is led by the Prime Minister's State Secretary, and an additional eight State Secretaries from six different departments are members. The work also includes the Jewish Central Council, the Jewish Youth Association, and the Swedish Committee against Antisemitism, as well as representatives for relevant authorities and organizations.

Forum för levande historia has been tasked with producing material and spreading knowledge about the jubilee year. A number of different arrangements are carried out during the year.

Madam Speaker! I also want to say a few words about Älvdalska because I myself for many years have championed the issue of investigating its status so that it can be recognized as a language, for which there is also a Christian Democratic parliamentary decision.

It pleases me to see in the chamber that the commitment to the Älvdalskan has expanded to also include both of the larger parties, the Social Democrats and the Moderates, who were not quite in the loop from the beginning.

I have previously told this chamber about when I, as a newly graduated nurse, began working in long-term care at Mora Hospital and then needed an interpreter to make myself understood among the elderly, for they had forgotten Swedish and could only speak Dalska. Fortunately, there were many in the staff who both spoke and understood moramål, orsamål, and våmhusmål, which were the most common variants in that area, and also älvdalska. To the hospital, there also naturally came people from Älvdalen. But älvdalska was more complicated.

According to reports that I have received in recent years, unfortunately, knowledge of the upper Dalecarlian dialect goals has generally seen a gradual decline among the younger population in the Mora and Orsa area – even though the poet Birgitta Lillpers as recently as 2020 published the poetry collection Kälda, written in Orsa dialect, for which she received Sveriges Radios lyric prize for 2021.

It is therefore all the more important to support the revitalization of Älvdalskan, given that there is a strong and living interest even among the younger generation to keep Älvdalskan alive. The Council of Europe's linguistic council has for several years regarded Älvdalskan as a language – in terms of both vocabulary, grammar, syntax, and pronunciation. And Älvdalen Municipality devotes great energy to seeking grants for various projects to keep the language alive. These are courses for both schoolchildren and adults. It is a cultural-historical act to support this and to provide structured linguistic support for the revitalization of Älvdalskan. In what form this is best to be done, we in the government base will have to deliberate further on –

With this, Madam Speaker, I wish to vote in favor of the committee's proposal in the report.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Michael Rubbestad (SD)

Madam Speaker! Sweden has five recognized national minorities. They are Jews, Roma, Sami, Swedish-speaking Finns and Tornevians. All have their unique language, their unique experiences and their expression. Common to them is that all carry their own unique stories of identity and history.

There is a minority whose living conditions have noticeably deteriorated. It is the Jewish group in Sweden. That is what we last heard about in the post just before mine.

During the past year, we have seen how antisemitism has once again become visible in the public sphere. Following Hamas's terror attack against Israel on October 7, 2023, it was not only sorrow that followed, but also a frightening pattern where Jews in Sweden became targets of hate, threats, and demonization.

This is nothing new, but it has worsened. And it is not only limited to extreme movements. Antisemitism has also been imported via mass immigration from cultures where Jew-hatred is deeply rooted.

We see the result in places such as Malmö, where many Jews have chosen to move, where families with children are forced to opt out of the Jewish school, and where it is questioned whether it is still possible to live an open Jewish life.

It is a situation that should be completely unacceptable in a country that wants to call itself democratic. It is therefore good that the government is now taking this issue as seriously as it deserves and is working to facilitate and strengthen Jewish life throughout Sweden. This is done, for example, through the investment in security and remembrance trips – important measures both to secure a people and its culture and to highlight the vulnerability.

Madam Speaker! The Sámi were granted status as an indigenous people in 1977, when the government processed the government's bill on measures for the Sámi. The investigation had, however, not been tasked with investigating whether there could be other groups that meet the criteria to be considered an indigenous people.

The investigation stated, among other things: The Sámi constitute an indigenous population, which is likely as old as – or older than – the country's majority population. The Sámi are thus not immigrants in the modern sense.

As an example, in 2020, Svenska Tornedalingars Riksförbund attributed to the government a request to investigate whether Tornevians, Kven, and Lantalaiset also fulfill the requirements to constitute an indigenous people. These are groups whose roots in Sweden are deep. Their cultures have been passed down through generations, and their experiences of historical persecution are documented.

The Swedish Tornedalian Association's request for such an investigation was unfortunately rejected by the then Social Democratic government. The Sweden Democrats therefore propose that the current government should investigate the issue of the definition of indigenous peoples and review whether there are other minorities that can or should be classified as indigenous peoples alongside the Sámi.

There are also practical issues concerning the everyday lives of minorities, for example, the possibility of using one's language within the welfare system.

Today, there are specific administrative areas for certain languages – but not everywhere. This means that the right to speak one's minority language within elderly care, preschool, and healthcare practically becomes dependent on which postal code one belongs to.

We mean that the government needs to investigate how minority languages can be made accessible even outside of today's administrative areas. It is, of course, not about forcing solutions but about creating alternatives where it is possible.

Language is often the last thing to disappear, and it is the first thing that restores self-esteem.

This also applies to sign language. Swedish sign language is precisely a language and not an aid. It is many people's first language – the language they think in, the language they feel in, and the language they even dream in. Sign language has its own grammar and a long history in Sweden, and it is used every day by thousands of deaf and hard-of-hearing citizens. But still, the language does not have the same status as the recognized minority languages in Sweden. It is something that we believe needs to change.

In the Language Act of 2009, Swedish Sign Language is equated with the national minority languages, but the protection is not as extensive in the Language Act as in the Minority Act. By recognizing sign language as an official minority language, the language would receive the protection that is lacking today.

Madam Speaker! Our party believes in cohesion. We safeguard Swedish culture, and we see that our minorities are part of what makes Sweden just Sweden.

We naturally stand behind all our reservations in the report, but based on the practice of the Chamber and the Riksdag, I move for approval only of reservation number 30 regarding sign language as a minority language.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Jessica Wetterling (V)

Madam Speaker! I move for the approval of reservation 1.

Just as previous speakers have pointed out, this is a report that concerns all our five national minorities as well as the indigenous people, the Sami. It is therefore quite broad, and since the Left Party has many proposals in this area, our reservations are also very numerous. I will therefore not be able to speak about all of them.

25 years ago, the Riksdag decided that Sweden should join the Council of Europe's Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In Sweden, we have, as mentioned, five nationally recognized minorities and also one recognized indigenous people, the Sámi.

This is binding. The State has special obligations towards them, especially when it comes to protecting and developing minorities' languages and culture. Particularly the difficult situation for our minority languages requires proper efforts from the State. The State's assimilation policy has, in fact, been extremely successful historically speaking. The oppression of national minorities and forced assimilation is a dark part of Sweden's history that in many ways is still unprocessed and which lives on and has consequences even in our time. People have been made invisible and mapped in a discriminatory way solely because they belonged to a minority.

The previous assimilation policy meant that people were forced to deny their origins and stop speaking their language in order not to be excluded from the majority society. Some of the Left Party's proposals concerning exactly this part involve truth commissions, of which the Sami one is ongoing. It has requested an extension due to several circumstances that have caused the work to be delayed. The work may also be larger than was anticipated.

Unfortunately, the government has still not decided whether to let the commission continue its assignment or if it will be forced to conclude it before it has time to perform the processing that is so important. It is also something that the truth commission has chosen to send to the UN rapporteur, because it sees it as so serious that it has not received notice of an extension and that the economic situation has also worsened.

We also have a number of truth commissions that are concluded, including those for the Tornedalians, Lantalaiset, and Kveners. Nor there can it be considered completed just because the report itself is finished; there is also a number of measures and recommendations from the truth commissions that are important to take into account. So that has unfortunately not happened yet.

Even though it is now 25 years, and perhaps a small anniversary, one unfortunately cannot claim that this government is holding the banner particularly high when it comes to the national minorities, especially not when it comes to the language issue. Our national language centers shall provide support and knowledge that facilitates for language speakers throughout the country to maintain, reclaim and develop their language. The long-term goal of the measures is to increase the use of the languages, both at the individual level and in society at large, and to promote a functioning transmission from one generation to the next so that the languages shall live on in Sweden.

Unfortunately, almost all of our national minority languages are seriously threatened, even if there are certainly degrees of difference. I do not think it can be overemphasized the importance of preserving, developing, and passing on the national minority languages and the minorities' cultures to future generations. They have long been an important part of our country's cultural and linguistic diversity, and the language centers supported by the state have been extremely important and central actors precisely when it comes to preserving and developing the languages. Therefore, Vänsterpartiet believes that their funding needs to be made permanent and become more stable.

Unfortunately, the government claims that they are investing while simultaneously withdrawing three-quarters of the funding. Furthermore, for this year, the government withdrew the funding for the pan-Nordic linguistic organization Sámi Giellagáldu, which is run by the Sami Parliaments in Norway, Finland, and Sweden. This year, the operations were saved by the Sami Parliament in Sweden stepping in and using its meager grant for the funding. I can only quote the chairman of the Sami Parliament's board who said: "These are catastrophic figures being reported by the government. This will result in major cuts to the language work."

This is, unfortunately, at the very least shameful, because I still experience that we in this chamber are usually quite united on precisely the importance of preserving, developing and strengthening our national minority languages.

Madam Speaker! This weekend, the Sámi youth organization Sáminuorra held its annual meeting. I followed the reporting a bit, and one thing that I believe concerns us all here in the chamber of the Riksdag is that hate and threats and how to handle the polarization that exists in society was the most important issue at their annual meeting. I think it is a bit sad, and I believe there are several of us who feel that way. This is an organization that organizes Sámi youth in community just so they can speak the Sámi languages, develop their culture and have fun. Are they really to bear the responsibility for the societal problems we have with hate and threats on their young shoulders? Is it really the youngest generation that should need to bear that issue the most?

Of course it cannot be so, Madam Speaker. The goal should be, and must be, that everyone who lives in Sweden, regardless of national minority or other origin, should feel safe and included in our society, where our diversity and our differences are seen as a strengthening wealth and where our different cultures are met with respect.

I sometimes wonder how it feels for those people who live in the vulnerability that it nonetheless entails to be a part of something other than the majority society and to have experienced questioning throughout their entire lives because they belong to a national minority. One example is the Book Fair last year, where a seminar dealt with whether the Sámi were a privileged minority or a vulnerable indigenous people. Most of those who participated in the conversation did not even have any personal experience of the vulnerability that it entails to be part of a minority. I believe that it is something that we who are part of the majority society have quite a difficult time relating to.

Madam Speaker! Right now, Sweden is being reviewed by the UN. In its reporting to the UN, the government claims that it is actively working to ratify ILO 169, which I note as very interesting and very positive – then I might not even have needed to demand approval for reservation 1! I therefore expect that everyone later today will vote yes to reservation 1.

I can still note that my colleague in KU, Jan Riise, received as an answer to a written question that there is no timetable and that nothing is being done actively. I am therefore a bit concerned that it seems as if the government is lying to the UN. But we shall see. I might be very positively surprised in the chamber later today.

Madam Speaker! I actually have many questions to discuss, but I realize that time is short. Therefore, I want to conclude with what previous speakers have touched upon.

This year marks 250 years of Jewish life in Sweden. There is a broad consensus in this chamber regarding strengthening Jewish life. I also believe there is a very broad consensus on the concern over threats and hate in society and in all the different ways that racism – in this case, antisemitism – manifests itself.

I remember just as Godrun Brunegård does when we in the committee were given the privilege of visiting the synagogue here in Stockholm and meeting the Jewish representatives. It felt particularly important precisely given the increased antisemitism in society and how it has also been directed broadly in recent times. One is held accountable and required to take a stand for something that one does not oneself have control over. The criticism that exists against Israel as a state and its warfare should, of course, be directed at that government, not against Swedish Jews living in our society.

Something I also took away from that meeting was the importance of knowledge and education. It gives us in the majority society tools to resist the racism and prejudices that individuals spread about Sweden's minorities, so that they do not have to stand alone in the vulnerability they find themselves in.

We are celebrating 250 years. AI has certainly not come with any cloning function, so I will not be able to celebrate another 250 years, but I am sure that the Jewish minority will be able to celebrate even 500 years in Sweden.

One must also remember that Jewish life in Sweden did not begin with applause and broad acceptance. It began with resistance. But we have come a long way, and I look forward to us being able to increase the resistance against the racism that exists in society.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Malin Björk (C)

Madam Speaker! I would like to begin by moving for approval of reservation 20 under point 17.

When I cycled here to the Riksdag building this morning, I passed Raoul Wallenberg Square at Nybrokajen. There, I noted something new compared to last week, namely a number of large, framed illustrations standing closely in a row. Unfortunately, I did not have time this morning to stop and look closer at them, and the texts I saw were at each illustration, but I will make sure to do so when I pass the location next. Without having had the chance to see these exhibitions myself, I nevertheless want to take the opportunity to recommend that others do so as long as they remain there, until May 18.

The exhibitions Jewish Heroines and Jewish Life were set up at Raoul Wallenberg Square the other day when the celebration of the jubilee week began. It is a week seen as a highlight of the jubilee year that Sweden's Jews are celebrating, and which several members have attended. This year marks 250 years since the first Jew was allowed to settle in Sweden without converting. His name was Aaron Isaac. He is probably called the first Jew in Sweden, but that was of course not the case. Jews have a much longer history in our country than that, but then without the rights that Aaron Isaac received.

Jews are one of the five recognized national minorities we have in Sweden today. Just this year, just this week, it is time for all of us to remind ourselves of their history and, as we are now given such a good opportunity, take the chance to acquire more knowledge about Jewish life – for with knowledge of Jews or other minorities comes increased understanding for those who live a life that looks different from our own.

Understanding is often followed by increased tolerance for that which is different. In times when we unfortunately see intolerance towards others manifest to an all too great extent and in many parts of the world, it is important to remind oneself of the importance of tolerance and humility.

Madam Speaker! No person in Sweden shall be discriminated against or subjected to prejudice as a result of their origin. Everyone who lives in our country shall have the same opportunities for influence and participation in social life. Each one of us has a right to their language and their cultural identity. This constitutes the core of the minority policy that we have adopted here in the Riksdag. But unfortunately, reality does not always look like that. Unfortunately, the discrimination of minorities continues.

We receive recurring reports of minorities being subjected to hate, offensive expressions, and prejudice in schools, in workplaces, and not least online. This shows that our work to protect the rights of minority groups can never take a break. At the same time, we must keep in mind that minorities are not a homogeneous group. We must adapt the measures to the needs of different minority groups.

Madam Speaker! The national celebration of the 250th anniversary of Jewish life in Sweden, which I mentioned earlier and which several others have also raised, is coordinated by the Jewish Central Council, an organization consisting of several Jewish congregations in Sweden. Since January this year, over 170 events have been carried out across the country by hundreds of actors, such as museums and schools. These range from talks about Jewish food to art exhibitions and concerts. That it is precisely an organization like the Jewish Central Council that coordinates the celebration is exactly as it should be. Minority policy should be carried out together with the national minorities, not by others for the minorities.

For more than 20 years now, we in Sweden have had a unified policy to strengthen our national minorities and support our national minority languages. The goal of that policy is to provide these minorities with protection and strengthen their opportunities for influence.

The work with minority issues has certainly moved forward over the last 20 years, but there is still a lot to be done. The responsibility for monitoring how Sweden's minority policy is implemented lies with a few different agencies. It is of course important that the policy is coordinated, but for it to have an impact in practice, it is absolutely central to involve civil society.

Without the non-profit organizations that gather the minorities and the work that these associations do, there is a risk that not much will be achieved. For me, and for the Center Party, it is self-evident to emphasize the importance of civil society being given a decisive role in caring for, safeguarding, and developing the national minorities. Therefore, it is of great importance that organizations within civil society that gather national minorities are given long-term and sustainable economic and practical conditions to conduct a good operation, in order for minority policy to be able to be implemented in practice.

Madam Speaker! Several others here in the chamber have been involved in the issue of Älvdalska. We in the Committee on the Constitution went on a joint trip to Älvdalen a couple of years ago and were marinated in Älvdalska in various ways during that visit. Hopefully, it has contributed to more people now being aware of what we in the Center Party have advocated for for several years, namely to investigate the possibilities of recognizing Älvdalska as a minority or regional language in Sweden according to the Council of Europe's treaty.

Groups shall be guaranteed their linguistic rights. They are part of the fundamental rights anchored in the UN Convention on Human Rights. Today, children with Älvdalska as their mother tongue have no right to school education either in or in Älvdalska.

Älvdalska, which is spoken only in Sweden, is also an important part of the Swedish cultural heritage. With an official recognition of Älvdalska as a separate language, significantly more could be done to keep that language alive.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Jan Riise (MP)

Madam Speaker! In this report, we in Miljöpartiet have 20 reservations, if I have counted correctly. I therefore have no possibility whatsoever of going through all of them. What I intend to say should not be interpreted as any ranking or that one thing is more important than another, but I want to bring up some of the questions we have. And regarding the latest statement, we also support the idea of investigating Älvdalskan as its own minority language.

Madam Speaker! Throughout history, national minorities and indigenous peoples all over the world have been subjected to extensive abuses, violations, and discrimination. The stories are similar regardless of whether they originate in Sápmi, on the prairies of North America, in the rainforests of Latin America, or on the islands of the South Seas. This history obliges us to something else, something better, for all the people affected. It is, of course, not least about the right to language, culture, and influence.

We in Miljöpartiet stand up for national minorities' rights and campaigned during the last parliamentary term for a higher ambition in minority policy and continue to do so. I am therefore speaking about the minorities who live here: Jews, Roma, Sámi, Swedish-Finns and Tornevians.

During our time in government, we invested heavily in the languages of national minorities and in culture with new language centers and strengthened minority libraries. Together, we presented a historic consultation order for the Sámi people and established truth commissions for the indigenous people Sámi and the national minorities Tornevians, Kvens, and Lantalaiset. The national minorities in Sweden constitute up to one-tenth of our population, but they do not have full access to equal rights and opportunities.

Madam Speaker! The history of indigenous peoples spans centuries and millennia. Furthermore, it is remarkably similar across continents. But the discussion and development within the field is perhaps no more than 50 years old. It may be important to remember this from two different aspects.

It means, on the one hand, that injustices, oppression, discrimination and misunderstanding for many indigenous peoples around the world have been able to continue for a very long time without the rest of the world reacting. On the other hand, it means that we have a process ongoing here and now. We have truth and reconciliation commissions and new agreements and laws, but we also have a long way to go.

ILO Convention 169 was adopted in 1989 but has still not been ratified by Sweden, despite criticism from several international bodies and despite the fact that the convention's implications for Sweden have been investigated several times. In the Supreme Court's case Girjasmålet, the court also states that ILO 169 in certain parts is already binding for Sweden by expressing general principles of international law, which underscores the convention's importance.

Furthermore, we have the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which was adopted in 2007 by the UN General Assembly. Compared to the ILO Declaration, it deals more with rights, such as the right to culture, language and identity as well as to education, health and working life. Sweden has been recommended to implement the declarations and, in cooperation with the Sami people, establish mechanisms for this.

Furthermore, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has criticized the shortcomings regarding the Sami's influence and, above all, the lack of free, prior and informed consent – FPIC. This is important, and I am completely convinced that it is a concept that will recur.

Madam Speaker! Today, the Sámi are the only ethnic group in Sweden that is formally recognized as an indigenous people, and otherwise also Europe's only indigenous people, possibly together with Greenland's Inuit. We believe that the definition of indigenous people, as expressed in the ILO convention, does not exclude the possibility that there could be more peoples with the same claim to be seen as indigenous people.

Tornedalingar, Kvens, and Lantalaiset have lived in Sweden for a very long time, which is well documented. The Swedish Tornedalingar's National Association has requested that the government recognize Tornedalingar, Kvens, and Lantalaiset as an indigenous people according to Article 1 of the convention. Such a status would mean a public law and formal recognition and contribute to preserving and developing the language, identity, and culture. The government should appoint an inquiry to evaluate the principles of whether other groups, such as Tornedalingar, Kvens, and Lantalaiset, should be regarded as indigenous people. It is important that such work is given time and resources, not least for consultation with the parties concerned.

Madam Speaker! Hatred against Jews exists in our history, in far-right groups, in parts of the extreme left, and in Islamist environments. We see antisemitism among adults and children who have moved to Sweden from countries where Jew-hatred has characterized school education and state propaganda. This is something several members before me have touched upon in the debate.

This limits many Jews' opportunities to live an everyday life as they wish and to be able to live openly with their identity. The security arrangements that the Jewish institutions themselves need to arrange are costly and take resources from other activities. This is concerning and, of course, a completely unsatisfactory situation.

Today, there is neither a strategy to strengthen the Jewish minority nor an administrative area for Yiddish. The visibility of Yiddish culture and Yiddish is in some cases more complex than for many other minority languages, because among many people with a Jewish background there is a concern over their own safety, which can counteract the willingness to show their identity. It is therefore important to make efforts to promote and give visibility to Yiddish as a minority language and to give visibility to Jewish cultural life.

Madam Speaker! Sweden is obligated under both national law and international law to take measures to preserve, protect, and develop the specific rights belonging to the Roma minority. Despite this, the Swedish state has repeatedly been criticized for not living up to its international law obligations towards the minority. Sweden has also received criticism from the UN because Roma people are still subjected to discrimination in public places and has been urged to take powerful measures to address the widespread discrimination.

The government needs to do more to make visible and promote the specific culture belonging to Roma, strengthen their empowerment and revitalize the language Romani chib. As part of this work, the strategy for Roma inclusion must be given long-term and sufficient funding. To increase Roma inclusion, the promotion of a Roma community life is an important part. There is a large number of organizations and associations that in different ways represent the interests of Roma in Sweden. We need to discuss the forms of support for that structure.

Madam Speaker! Sweden is also obligated, through national law and international law, to take measures to preserve, protect and develop the rights belonging to the minority of Swedish-speaking Finns. Despite this, the state has also here repeatedly been criticized for not living up to its international law obligations.

The language issue is also important, and today there is a lack of work within school, education, and elderly care to ensure that Finnish has the conditions to survive. The government needs to implement further initiatives to make visible and promote the specific culture that belongs to Sweden-Finns as well as strengthen the minority's empowerment and revitalize the language.

Madam Speaker! In summary, the government should establish a coherent program to preserve minority languages and expand the possibilities to communicate with authorities in minority languages. This is crucial to ensure that minorities can access important services and support, and it would promote equality and inclusion.

We have, as said, 20 reservations. For the sake of simplicity and to save time, I move for approval only to reservation 4. This must in no way be interpreted as a ranking of the other reservations. We stand fully behind them.

The deliberation was hereby concluded.

(Decisions were made under § 15.)

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)