Response to interpellation 2022/23:35 on prostitution as grounds for deportation from Sweden
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
The debate concerns prostitution as a ground for deportation from Sweden. L argues that people in prostitution are often in a state of great vulnerability and that the ban on purchasing sexual services is a tool against human trafficking 1. L argues that the government does not intend to deport people because of vulnerability, but that an investigation shall analyze the conditions for reintroducing previous legislation 1 2. L argues that prostitution can be a ground for deportation based on previous legislation and that the government will set higher requirements for people coming to the country 3. S argues that prostitution is a modern type of slavery and that those who sell their bodies are crime victims 4 5 6. S expresses concern that prostitution is mentioned as an example of misconduct in the Tidö Agreement 4. S argues that the Tidö Agreement lacks reforms for equality and that the government's budget has negative consequences for women and welfare 7.
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 Paulina Brandberg (L)
Madam Speaker! Jessica Rodén has asked me whether I consider any form of prostitution to be grounds for deportation from Sweden and how I intend to act based on my standpoint. Jessica Rodén has also asked me whether I will work to ensure that the investigation mentioned in the Tidö Agreement does not come to fruition.
Let me begin by stating that people who are in prostitution are, in most cases, in a position of great vulnerability. People in prostitution are also often victims of crime, for example, human trafficking for sexual purposes.
This is part of the background to why the Gender Equality Authority has an overall mandate to promote the development of preventive measures against both prostitution and human trafficking for all purposes. Likewise, it is the Gender Equality Authority that is responsible for coordinating the work against human trafficking for all purposes at a national level, developing cooperation between authorities and other actors – including international actors – as well as assisting the authorities with methodological support and competence development.
The ban on the purchase of sexual services entered into force on 1 January 1999. Sweden was then the first country in the world to criminalize the purchase, but not the sale, of sex. The ban on the purchase of sexual services is an important tool in the work against human trafficking for sexual purposes. It also constitutes a central link in the work against men's violence against women.
The ongoing investigation into an exit program for adults who are subjected to prostitution and human trafficking for sexual purposes shall, among other things, submit proposals on the design and organization of an exit program. It shall also assess how Sweden fulfills international commitments regarding identification, protection, support, and return for victims of human trafficking and, if necessary, propose measures to develop the work. I look forward to reviewing the investigation's proposals on how we can strengthen a very vulnerable group.
The possibilities in the Aliens Act for temporary residence permits for crime victims during ongoing criminal investigations shall continue to be used. It is important that every crime victim is given a chance for redress and receives the support of society, regardless of whether it concerns human trafficking or other crimes, regardless of whether the crime victim supports themselves through prostitution or in some other way, and regardless of whether it concerns women or men.
From the Tidö Agreement, it appears that an investigation shall be appointed which shall, among other things, analyze the conditions for reintroducing the possibility of deporting foreigners due to lack of conduct. In the point, an enumeration is made, among other things, of what has been counted as lack of conduct in the preparatory works for older legislation. In these preparatory works, prostitution is mentioned as an example. What can serve as a basis for deportation due to lack of conduct will be clarified by an investigation.
I will, of course, work to ensure that the Tidö Agreement is fully realized. This point in the agreement aims to analyze the conditions for reintroducing legislation as well as to produce legislative proposals to the extent that is possible. It also appears from the Tidö Agreement that the current investigation shall, among other things, analyze the legal possibilities based on the Swedish constitution, EU law, the European Convention, and other international law obligations. The Government intends to return with committee directives where the investigation's mandate is further developed. I will not anticipate the preparation of these directives.
Jessica Rodén (S)
Madam Speaker! I would like to extend a big thank you to Minister Paulina Brandberg for the answer.
We live in a society that is becoming increasingly sexualized and digitized. Pornography has been normalized, and it is also extremely accessible for young people today - yes, for everyone. Prostitution has, due to technological developments, but also due to the pandemic, gained enormous digital momentum.
One of the most common misunderstandings regarding sex trafficking is that there would be good and bad sex trafficking and prostitution, where good prostitution is defined as voluntary sex for payment while bad prostitution is defined as there being coercion involved. That idea is terrifying and does not hold up in practice. It is not possible to separate human trafficking and prostitution.
I am pleased that the Minister highlights the Equality Agency's important work and mandate to promote the development of preventive measures against both prostitution and human trafficking for all purposes. However, I am very concerned by the Minister's formulations in the response to my interpellation, Madam Speaker.
In his answer, the Minister states that people who are in prostitution "in most cases" are in a vulnerable position and that people in prostitution "often" are subjected to crime, "for example human trafficking for sexual purposes". Let that sink in - "in most cases" and "often" subjected to crime! No, prostitution is a modern type of slave trade. Hundreds of women are funneled into and out of Sweden for a single purpose: to be sold to men. People who are in prostitution are always subjected to crime.
It is not the women and children who are being exploited who exhibit a lack of morality; they are crime victims. In this regard, Madam Speaker, I would like to ask the Minister: Does the Minister not think it is offensive to these crime victims that the Tidö Agreement states that prostitution is an example of immorality?
Denis Begic (S)
Madam Speaker! Warm congratulations on the ministerial post, Minister! I am pleased that a prosecutor with experience in human trafficking is precisely the Minister for Equality. I also believe that the Minister for Equality has much greater experience of these issues than most of us in this chamber. But I want to participate in this debate because it can be perceived as only being about women's issues when it is a much larger issue that does not only concern women. It is a societal problem.
The Minister for Equality's colleague Maria Malmer Stenergard said in an interview with SVT that if one comes to Sweden and does everything one can to integrate - follows laws, norms and values - one should not be worried.
Let me tell you about a girl - we can call her Sara - who was kidnapped by men when she was 15 years old. She was sold and raped several times. Then she was sold again - and again - for a 15-year-old girl brings in, as the Minister for Equality knows, very much money to these damned human traffickers.
Finally, when Sara had been sold perhaps five times, she ended up in an apartment in Östermalm in Sweden. There, she was raped, assaulted, and exploited perhaps ten times a day by Swedish men.
One day after ten years, when Sara is perhaps 25 years old, she manages to escape and ends up with a Swedish police officer. Then she finds out that she lives in Sweden and is to be deported. Her crime is that she has been kidnapped by men and exploited in the most despicable way, again by men. If she had not managed to escape, she would have ended up on an even blacker market where human parts are sold and perhaps met a certain death. Where in Swedish law does it state that Sara has made herself guilty of lack of conduct?
It is my duty to help Sara and all women who end up with these criminal men. I must take the women into defense and tell the minister to help them and be more humane when it comes to their situation. Give them at least asylum in Sweden! It is not Sara who should be punished, but entirely other people.
According to unreliable sources, there are today 200-250 women who prostitute themselves in Sweden. Most are foreign women. There are, of course, also Swedish girls who end up there. They are not threatened with deportation, but they are threatened by the fact that Swedish society does not take care of them. We will have to have another interpellation debate about that.
It is not thousands of women that we are to take care of here, but they are very few. Sweden, which is one of the richest countries in the world, can afford to take care of these people and give them respite. Therefore, I want to urge the minister to contact, for example, Talita and listen to what they say and to contact the police officers who have worked with these issues and listen to what they say.
These women are not criminals. Do not let SD's view of humanity color you, liberals!
Madam Speaker! I must give credit to the Minister for Equality, who said in a DN interview, if I remember correctly, that this should not be grounds for deportation. But she did not mention with a single word that these women are not criminals. My concrete question is therefore: Does the Minister for Equality consider these women to be criminals, and should they, in that case, be deported from Sweden?
Statsrådet Paulina Brandberg (L)
Madam Speaker! I share the previous speaker's view that it is very important to ensure the situation of vulnerable women and crime victims. I have sat in courtrooms in Sweden and felt an enormous frustration and a shame over the lack of a crime victim perspective that has existed in the Swedish justice system.
Swedish women who have been raped or beaten have been able to encounter their perpetrators on the street shortly thereafter. Perpetrators have been released onto the streets after short prison sentences and have been able to commit new assaults that did not have to occur.
This government will stand on the side of vulnerable crime victims at a completely different level than previous governments have done, but I think it is very welcome that this perspective is now being highlighted so clearly by the Social Democrats.
In the Tidö Agreement, we have several points aimed at strengthening the situation for crime victims. There will be harsher penalties for violence and sexual offenses, and life sentences can even be considered for the most serious crimes. We will expand the possibilities for restraining orders and stay-away orders. There will be detentions in more cases and increased support and information for crime victims and potential crime victims. Greater consideration will be given to crime victims in decisions regarding permissions, and stricter conditions for parole will be introduced. These are very important measures to achieve a much better crime victim perspective in our policy.
I want to be very clear and say regarding this point in the Tidö Agreement that there is no intention whatsoever from the government's side to deport people because they have fallen into a state of vulnerability. That is not what is to constitute the basis for deportation.
As I said in my opening response, this clause in the Tidö Agreement aims to look at previous legislation that has existed in Sweden and see to what extent it should be reintroduced. Exactly how it will look will be determined by the investigation.
Finally, I just want to address what Jessica Rodén said. She reacted to the fact that it states in my answer that these women "often" are victims of crime. According to our definition of sex buying, those from whom one buys sex are not crime victims. They do not have crime victim status according to the legislation we have today. If, on the other hand, one is subjected to human trafficking or severe pimping, one has crime victim status according to the definitions we have in Swedish legislation today. Otherwise, one has the status of a witness.
The answer is formulated in such a way that they are often in "great vulnerability". Jessica Rodén said that they are often in "vulnerability". I mean that they are always in vulnerability, but sometimes it is extra great – for example when it is a question of human trafficking. Therefore, it is described in that way.
Finally, regarding Denis Begic's urging to contact Talita and police officers who work with prostitution, I can also be clear that I have had contact with both Talita and police officers who work with prostitution at the police's human trafficking section several times a week for several years. I have included that perspective in all parts.
Jessica Rodén (S)
Madam Speaker! Thank you for the answers, Madam Minister! For me, people's trust in Swedish legislation is crucial. The Tidö Agreement has created great and unnecessary anxiety in society, among others among several human rights organizations who fear that the government intends to tear up the Swedish sex purchase legislation. People who sell their bodies could then be convicted of lack of conduct despite the fact that it is not criminal to sell sex in Sweden. The work against women's vulnerability and the support for them must increase - not decrease.
The Tidö Agreement is the government's communication to the Swedish people. There, the government describes what its intentions are with its policy during the mandate period. It is clear to the Swedish people that we have a weak government. It has only a margin of two mandates. And already now, only a few weeks after the government presented its cooperation agreement and its budget, we note that the parties in the government base had not talked to each other before the formation of the government. Ministers from different parties within the government base have openly criticized several proposals in the Tidö Agreement - so has the minister Paulina Brandberg.
Madam Speaker! I also want to draw the attention of the Chamber and the listeners to this: In an interpellation debate in this Chamber only a few weeks ago, Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard from Moderaterna said that the sweeping formulations found in the Tidö Agreement are not legislation. If the Tidö Agreement is only a document with "sweeping" formulations, I wonder why the coalition parties choose to use just that specific example, prostitution, as a reason for deportation.
Denis Begic (S)
Madam Speaker! We are talking right now about prostitution. That is the core of this issue, and that is why I stood up in the debate. It is not about all other crime, because there we can agree. But within prostitution, the women are vulnerable, and again, those who are worst off are to be considered criminals.
The Minister for Equality says that she meets police officers in her profession. It pleases me that we have received a prosecutor as Minister for Equality, because she understands these issues. At the same time, it worries me that I do not receive an answer to the question of whether the Minister for Equality considers these women to be criminals. For me, they can never be criminals, and there must not be such a formulation in any Swedish legislation. They are the most vulnerable of all.
I ask the question again: Does the Minister for Equality consider these women to be criminals and should they be deported?
Statsrådet Paulina Brandberg (L)
Madam Speaker! I can answer directly to the questions that have been asked of me. As I understand it, there was a question about whether the government has plans to repeal the sex purchase act. No such plans exist at all. Denis Begic asked if women who sell their bodies are criminals, and the answer is no, not according to current legislation. The government also has no plans to criminalize this.
As I said in my interpellation answer, the basis for the wording regarding prostitution can be found in the preparatory works for the legislation that applied in Sweden until 2005. It is no secret that the government will set higher requirements for people who come to our country, and we will review under what conditions one can stay in Sweden. It is on that basis that this point is included.
It is not a matter of a sweeping formulation. What is stated in the Tidö Agreement is that this issue shall be investigated. The issue has not been investigated but shall be investigated. Before this investigation is complete, we will not know exactly what the proposal will look like. That would be to anticipate the investigation.
Let me be clear again that the government recognizes the vulnerability of this group, and we will not formulate any legislation where the vulnerability itself or the fact that someone was subjected to a crime in itself shall constitute a basis for deportation from our country. We will have a strong crime victim perspective, and we will take into account the interests of vulnerable women.
Jessica Rodén (S)
Madam Speaker! The Tidö Agreement contains no reforms to increase equality. The Government wants to constitutionally protect the right to abortion but does not seem to have any other proposals to strengthen the rights of women and girls. This is serious in a time when the development towards increased equality has stalled, and the opposition to women's rights and feminism is only growing.
The work against women's vulnerability and the support for them must increase, not decrease. But with the government's budget, the belt will be tightened even further for the economically most vulnerable. In the Tidö Agreement, the word "misconduct" is mentioned eleven times while "equality" is mentioned once. It is clear what the right-conservative government prioritizes. The government's budget will have enormous consequences for women, equality, and welfare.
Statsrådet Paulina Brandberg (L)
Madam Speaker! I cannot help but be somewhat surprised by Jessica Rodén's claim that the Tidö Agreement does not contain any reforms to strengthen women's rights.
In today's debate, I have mentioned many of our reforms, including that we are to tighten the penalties for sexual offenses and violence in close relationships and that we are to increase support for crime victims. In different ways, we will ensure that women are protected from perpetrators through restraining orders, stay-away orders, more detentions, and so on. In addition to this, there are, for example, reforms for equal healthcare, and as Jessica Rodén mentioned, we also want to constitutionally protect the right to abortion.
Even in the government's budget, there are important investments for women's and girls' rights. Among other things, the government is investing 50 million kronor to strengthen the work against honor-related violence and oppression - a task that was too neglected under the Social Democratic government. There is also a designated sum for the organizing of women and girls in vulnerable areas so that these women and girls can be better integrated into Swedish society, be able to take advantage of their rights, and be able to make the demands they have the right to make.
The government stands on the side of those exposed to crime and sees the vulnerability of women and girls and will safeguard their interests. The Tidö Agreement contains certain points, but in all our policies, we will have an equality perspective and safeguard the interests of vulnerable women and girls.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.