Response to interpellation 2022/23:249 on teachers' reporting obligation regarding undocumented children
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
The debate concerns teachers' reporting obligation regarding undocumented children. 1 L argues that the school should be a safe place and that the reporting obligation combats the shadow society 1. L emphasizes that proposals must be compatible with the Convention on the Rights of the Child 1 2 and wants an investigation 1 3. 4 S argues that the proposal is self-contradictory, violates the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and places an enormous burden on teachers 4 5. 6 S demands that the proposal be scrapped entirely as it threatens safety and could cause teachers to leave the profession 5 6. 7 SD argues that a reporting obligation is necessary for legal certainty 7 8 and argues that the Convention on the Rights of the Child does not conflict with the proposal 7 8.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Statsrådet Lotta Edholm (L)
Mr. Speaker! Aylin Fazelian has asked me if I intend to act to implement the reporting obligation within the school even if it were found to violate the Convention on the Rights of the Child and all children's right to education, and if I intend to act to implement the reporting obligation within the school even if it were to lead to teachers leaving the teaching profession. Aylin Fazelian has also asked me if I intend to act to implement the reporting obligation within the school even if it were judged to be incompatible with the professional ethics of working for all students' best interests, if I intend to work to introduce consequences for those teachers who do not report students if the proposal becomes a reality, and what the consequences in that case would consist of.
In the Tidö Agreement, political reforms in the area of migration and integration are specified. Among other things, proposals shall be submitted for an arrangement with information exchange and a reporting obligation between the Police Authority and authorities that can be assumed to come into contact with persons who are in the country without permission. The objective with a reporting obligation is to combat the shadow society and to gain control over who is in Sweden. Furthermore, it is stated that there may be situations where a report would conflict with compassionate values, for example in healthcare. Exceptions from the information obligation therefore need to be investigated further.
All proposals that the government will submit to the Riksdag will be in accordance with the binding international rules that Sweden has committed to follow. This means, among other things, that a proposal on a notification requirement needs to be compatible with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child - the Convention on the Rights of the Child - in which, among other things, the child's right to education is established. The Convention on the Rights of the Child has had the status of Swedish law since 1 January 2020.
My and the government's position is that the school shall be a safe place for students, teachers and other staff within the school system.
Aylin Fazelian (S)
Mr. Speaker! The answer we received from School Minister Lotta Edholm was self-contradictory. It is not possible to say on one hand that one stands up for all children's right to education, and on the other hand that teachers should report the undocumented children who come to the classroom. It is not possible to say on one hand that the school should be a safe place for teachers and other staff, and on the other hand force upon them extensive burdens that they do not want, especially when our teachers are already pressured and will be further burdened as a result of this government not providing resources to welfare and that cuts within the school will be waiting.
This is serious. If the reporting law in the Tidö Agreement becomes a reality, it would mean a compulsion for a number of professional groups to report and identify undocumented people. It is a proposal that has rightly been met with massive criticism from trade unions and children's rights organizations.
Among the country's teachers, the concern is particularly widespread. Teachers want to be teachers and focus on pedagogy and learning, not be forced to act as informants for the Migration Agency or the police. The proposed law also disrupts teachers' professional practice with the consequence that teachers end up in a position where they feel they must break the law.
Let me also remind the Minister for Education that it actually states in the teachers' professional ethical rules that the students shall be at the center and that teachers shall be careful about forwarding information when it is not for the students' best interests.
It is sad that the government base's largest party, Sverigedemokraterna, so clearly dictates over the government base's smallest party, Liberalerna, which on paper governs the Ministry of Education. To no one's surprise, Sverigedemokraterna have long pushed political proposals regarding reporting; it lies, so to speak, in this party's roots. More noteworthy is that Liberalerna have accepted this policy.
Education Minister Lotta Edholm needs to answer whether she will stop this bill. It violates children's fundamental rights and freedoms. It violates liberal values. It violates the Convention on the Rights of the Child and international law. Furthermore, it places an enormous burden on our future and current teachers.
The Liberals once claimed to be the voice of freedom and were founded precisely to counter this type of politics. Now, it seems the Liberals have become merely the Sverigedemokraternas tail.
My question to the Minister for Education is whom she chooses to listen to. Will she listen to Sacos, Sveriges Lärare, and the children's organizations' demands to withdraw this political proposal, or is it the Sverigedemokraterna she will listen to?
Patrick Reslow (SD)
Mr. Speaker! Let me first direct a thanks to the Minister for the answer.
This debate is quite strange. In Sweden, we have an asylum system that is supposed to be based on legal certainty - either one is granted permission to stay in the country and then receives a residence permit, or one is denied. If one is denied, one must leave the country. Sometimes this can be prepared, because it can be the case that the person cannot go home immediately.
The persons who remain despite a rejection are illegal immigrants. They then have no right to be in the country, according to international conventions. These are precisely the same international conventions that Aylin Fazelian just referred to.
Should we not have a legally secure asylum system? Is this what is intended?
When Stefan Löfven was Prime Minister, he said that if you have received a no, you should leave the country. Does something else apply for the Socialdemokraterna now?
This question is also about safety for students, parents, and teachers. They should know who is present in the classrooms and on the schoolyards. They have the right to know that the persons who are present at the school also have the right to be there.
It is also a question of the child's best interests. Here it is claimed that a reporting obligation would go against the child's best interests. But it is about taking the child into consideration. One does not know what the home conditions and living situation are. We must think of the child. When there is a reporting obligation for children who stay illegally in the country and attend a school, society can also take measures. But the Social Democrats do not want to know about this.
That one attacks the reporting obligation is perhaps the most remarkable. Already today, large parts of the public sector have a reporting obligation. Teachers and healthcare personnel must make reports of concern. But when it comes to illegal immigrants, a reporting obligation suddenly must not be allowed to exist, because then it is a reporting law, which contradicts professional ethics. What if one discovers that there are grounds for a report of concern regarding an illegal child? Should one not then be able to report? It is completely absurd.
It is also absurd that the Social Democrats support arguments that one should not follow potential legislation. Should this become legislation, we assume that all personnel who have to follow the law also follow it. Otherwise, one moves away from democracy. People who work in the public sector, and above all teachers who perhaps teach about democracy, must follow the rules of the game of democracy. We must be very clear about that.
Finally, a few words about the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Nowhere in the Convention on the Rights of the Child does it state where and how education shall be conducted. The only thing it states is that all children have a right to education. Therefore, introducing a notification requirement does not conflict with the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Education can be carried out just about anywhere. That is how it already works today for children staying in Sis-homes or similar, and for children who are moved from one municipality to another. It is the responsible authority's task to ensure that teaching takes place in an appropriate location.
Statsrådet Lotta Edholm (L)
Mr. Speaker! I may say a few words about the background of the investigation in question. For many years, we have seen a shadow society emerge where people live outside Swedish legislation and without the right to be in Sweden, which has led to major problems. Not least, people are exploited in a system where they do not have the right to be, and those who are most affected are, of course, the children.
With that said, we write in the Tidö Agreement that there will be cases where a report conflicts with sensitive values, and for me it is completely self-evident that Sweden shall follow Swedish legislation and the international conventions Sweden has acceded to.
Sweden has also incorporated the Convention on the Rights of the Child into law, that is, included the entire Convention on the Rights of the Child into Swedish legislation. Of course, the Convention on the Rights of the Child will also continue to apply in Sweden.
Aylin Fazelian (S)
Mr. Speaker! I cannot interpret the Minister's answer as anything other than that she stands by the bill that will force public employees within the welfare sector to report undocumented persons. It is not enough to investigate a number of exceptions; this bill needs to be scrapped in its entirety! It is the law enforcement authorities that should handle this. Our teachers should not have to report their students.
It is cowardly of the Minister for Education to dodge my questions with the argument that an inquiry will be appointed. The questions are still many, and they become more as the Sweden Democrats also participate in the debate to keep the Minister for Education in check.
What happens to the teacher who refuses to report their student? Will they be fired? Will they lose their teaching license? Many teachers feel great anxiety, and several testify that they would rather resign than report a child.
A teacher has chosen to express it with the following words: "No, I will never, ever as long as I live, report a child staying without permission in my classroom. It is not my job. It goes against the professional ethics I uphold. They can rather take my teacher's license, request my keys and ask me to clean my desk. I can look for a new job, become a mail carrier, a telemarketer or whatever. For the day we teachers are to act as agents and spies for the Migration Agency, I have nothing left to do in Swedish school. Then I will have to ask to resign. And I don't think I am alone. I think there are many of us who refuse to report our students."
A united Saco, all 21 trade unions, are clear that their members do not want to see this proposal become a reality and that it would lead to a major negative impact on the working environment for public employees.
The criticism from large parts of society is great. But, Mr. Speaker, something that has stuck with me in particular is my own father's words. When I described the bill on reporting, he was silent for a moment. Then he shook his head and said: "Aylin, not even in Iran."
My father was a teacher when he lived in Iran, and the oppression and the deprivation of human rights that occurs in that dictatorship is unimaginable. But not even in Iran are teachers forced to identify their students.
This should give the Minister for Education food for thought.
Patrick Reslow (SD)
Mr. Speaker! I am somewhat confounded when Aylin Fazelian compares Sweden with a dictatorship in the Middle East. I do not know what the reference frames are within the Social Democrats today if one makes such comparisons.
No, the Sweden Democrats are not keeping the Minister for Education in check. I am here to emphasize that it is important to have a society governed by the rule of law and to know who is in the country. Today, far too many people are in the country without us knowing who they are. We must know who is here; that is what it is about.
Everyone who comes into contact with illegal persons within, for example, school and healthcare shall as a general rule have a reporting obligation. This reporting obligation does not differ from today's obligation to report when there is concern that a child will be harmed in the home, and I have no complaints regarding that reporting obligation.
What happens to the teacher who does not follow the law, asks Aylin Fazelian. Should that teacher resign? Yes, perhaps that is the case. If one does not want to follow Swedish legislation, one is not a good teacher representative, and if one does not stand up for democratically made decisions, one is not a good teacher representative. Perhaps one should then consider doing something else. Aylin Fazelian is right about that, and I can stand behind that.
It is important that we achieve legislation in this area for precisely the reasons I have mentioned. But above all, it is about what the Minister for Education expresses towards the end of his answer: safety and security for everyone involved. Then an investigation can determine where the boundaries should be drawn, how the execution should take place, and who shall have the formal duty.
But one thing is certain: The Convention on the Rights of the Child is not in conflict with this, because the Convention on the Rights of the Child only speaks generally about the right to education and not where the education should take place.
Statsrådet Lotta Edholm (L)
Mr. Speaker! Aylin Fazelian says that the proposal should be scrapped in its entirety. Now, there is no proposal, but rather an investigation is to be commissioned into these issues. And I am somewhat surprised that the Social Democrats, so early on, are distancing themselves from an entire investigation that concerns how one should actually combat the shadow society that exists in Sweden, and which I believe the Social Democrats also see and consider deeply problematic. The investigation will focus on this entire problematic area, not just the part concerning how to ensure that children have their rights met in Sweden. I have not perceived that the Social Democrats have previously made such a distancing from this in its entirety.
But the question will be investigated; it is incredibly important. It is also important that Sweden stands by the conventions we have signed and, of course, also Swedish legislation, where the Convention on the Rights of the Child now is included as an important part.
Aylin Fazelian (S)
Mr. Speaker! Anyone who has ever thought that the Sweden Democrats is a party for the country's wage earners should listen to this debate. Patrick Reslow and the Sweden Democrats were incredibly clear: If one does not fulfill these tasks – for example, if teachers do not want to report their students – one must resign. Then you do not belong in the school.
It is truly stomach-turning. It is to place a burden on the country's already enormously pressured teachers to let them deal with tasks that they do not want to deal with. It is not to have the backs of the public employees in Sweden.
It is within the Minister for Education's power to stop this from even becoming an investigation. Because it contradicts fundamental values. It is not compatible with international law and children's right to education. It is within the Minister for Education's power to throw this in the wastebasket already, not let it go to an investigation and not let it become political reality.
Let me summarize: It is a proposal that violates the Convention on the Rights of the Child, because it violates all children's right to education. It is a proposal that entails a risk of teachers leaving the teaching profession at a time when we have an enormous teacher shortage. It is a proposal that threatens the security and conditions for broad groups of wage earners in Sweden.
Enough is enough! Sweden's teachers want to be teachers. They do not want to engage in snitching. This needs to be thrown in the trash immediately, and that responsibility rests on the school minister's shoulders.
Statsrådet Lotta Edholm (L)
Mr. Speaker! Now Aylin Fazelian considers that there shouldn't even be an investigation. I am actually a bit surprised. I thought the Social Democrats thought that the shadow society is a problem and that something must be done about this. What we are discussing now is part of this, but the investigation as a whole is much more extensive. But, as said, it has not been commissioned yet, and I look forward to us receiving the directives so that we can discuss them.
For me, it is perfectly crystal clear that the Convention on the Rights of the Child applies, just like other Swedish legislation, and then we must also consider the best interests of the child. But the investigation is about something completely different and something much larger than that, namely how we are to combat the shadow society that is actually a major threat to individuals in Sweden. It is a shadow society where women and children are exploited in a completely insane way and which I believe we must do something about. We cannot have thousands of people living underground, who are forced to be dependent on other people and who are forced to work practically as slaves in Sweden. We actually also have a responsibility to ensure that this changes.
But, as said, the Convention on the Rights of the Child applies and Swedish law applies. This will be reflected in the legislative proposals that will eventually come. For it is important to remember that we have not submitted any proposals whatsoever in this direction yet.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.