Response to interpellation 2023/24:140 on extremism within the Armed Forces
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
M believes that the Armed Forces should have an inclusive work environment free from discrimination and extremism 1. M emphasizes that the authority has an obligation to investigate and take measures against unwelcome behavior 1. M argues that the Armed Forces is conducting targeted work for equal treatment and is far ahead on issues of values. M wants to follow up on the measures and has raised specific incidents with the Supreme Commander 1 2. M highlights that security screening of conscripts prevents persons with extreme views from entering 2. M believes that the psychosocial environment is good 3. M argues that there are tools to combat fascism and Nazism 3.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Försvarsministern Pål Jonson (M)
Mr. Speaker! Peter Hultqvist has asked me what type of measures I take to ensure that the Defense Forces' core values are upheld and that extreme individuals with anti-democratic views are not given the opportunity to operate within the agency.
Racism, Nazism and fascism shall never be accepted within the Armed Forces; I am completely in agreement with Peter Hultqvist on this. The Armed Forces shall work towards a work environment that is inclusive and free from discrimination, harassment and violations. The authority has a duty to investigate and take action against all forms of unwelcome behavior. All personnel within the Armed Forces, whether they are employees, subject to total defense obligation or volunteers, have the right to a work environment characterized by equal treatment and that is free from extremism.
The Swedish Armed Forces' core values also state that the entire agency shall respect cultural and religious differences. Everyone who contributes to the Swedish Armed Forces' activities shall feel welcome and respected, regardless of ethnic origin or religious belief. This is particularly important because all personnel within the Swedish Armed Forces have a task to protect Sweden and our way of life. Racist ideology and ethnically based xenophobia can therefore never be tolerated.
The Armed Forces adopted guidelines for rules of conduct regarding offensive mistreatment, harassment, and sexual harassment within the Armed Forces in 2020. The guidelines encompass systematic work environment work with preventive measures, clarification of roles and responsibilities, including the employer's obligation to investigate and take action, as well as how harassment should be handled and investigated.
The Ministry of Defence has an ongoing dialogue with authorities, labor organizations, and representatives for those subject to total defense duty. I will specifically address what has occurred with Chief of Defence Micael Bydén within the framework of the recurring dialogue I have with him and with the authority. It is of great importance that issues concerning democratic values are taken seriously.
My view is that the Armed Forces are conducting a targeted and structured work for equal treatment and to create a work environment free from harassment and extremism. I will closely follow which measures the Armed Forces undertake.
Peter Hultqvist (S)
Mr. Speaker! I thank the Minister very much for the answer.
I believe that the minister and I have roughly the same position on this issue, so actually, it might not be about that. But from time to time, examples emerge of soldiers or groups of personnel within the Armed Forces having engaged in activities that do not feel value-wise okay. We recently had the example of Göta trängregemente T2, where a group had listened to Nazi music, insulted colleagues, and performed Hitler salutes. This was addressed by the regimental leadership through an action plan, and then the soldiers were supposed to have realized the stupidity.
The Minister for Defence used in his response the same wording that I had in the interpellation regarding that racism, Nazism and fascism shall not be accepted within the Armed Forces. The value base is also extremely clear on that point.
It is a matter of having a proper grip on the operations within the Armed Forces. It is very large, and large groups of people are coming in. Especially lately, due to the conflict in Ukraine, the number of applications to the Home Guard has also skyrocketed. This is, of course, something that is exploited by various far-right organizations and Nazi organizations that want to try to find a place in, for example, the Home Guard. One is well aware that eyes are on them when it comes to issues of core values, but they try to slip through the system.
It also happens: I read in the newspaper Expo, which I think is excellent in many ways, about an active member of a Nazi organization who had been interviewed - or expressed himself in some form of social media, that is a more accurate description. He said: "Out among the soldiers, as mentioned above, the values work is moving very slowly. The reason why many are in the Home Guard, I believe, is because you get to socialize with like-minded people and get a few days' vacation from the PC-society. At least in my company." He continued: "My group mate and I, who I travel with, usually listen to Dirlewanger and Division S on the way to the exercises."
It is clear that those types of values are not good and that people who have that foundation are working their way into the various organizations of the Armed Forces. Therefore, it is important that such types of people can be removed from the organization when this is detected. That possibility naturally exists, so the question is how strict a follow-up the Minister considers we should need to have. What more must we do for this to work all the way through in practice and for the problem to be suppressed when such things occur - so that there is a vigilance?
In the associations and out in the various parts of the Armed Forces, people obviously have much else to occupy themselves with than just this question, but this is very important because people within the framework of the Armed Forces' various organizations and the voluntary organizations also learn things that can be used against the state in another interest if it were the case that they have other loyalties or extreme political views.
Försvarsministern Pål Jonson (M)
Mr. Speaker! Thank you for an urgent interpellation, Peter Hultqvist! I do not believe either that the question is particularly partisan, but we share basic values in this. But let me raise some of the questions that Peter Hultqvist takes up.
The will to defend Sweden seems to be increasing, judging by everything. An expression of that is that we have a very large influx to the Home Guard; normally it is about 4,500 people who apply to the Home Guard, and during the year when the war broke out - i.e., 2022 - I believe it was closer to 30,000. We also see a large influx to the voluntary defense organizations and also many who want to perform the conscription.
All of this is, of course, fundamentally excellent, a great asset for Sweden and an expression of a will to defend Sweden. But when the authority grows rapidly, it is clear that the risks can increase purely statistically because people with wrong values, who do not belong in the Armed Forces, will enter.
The foundation of the Armed Forces is the set of values one starts from, and I know that the Armed Forces works hard on this. The core values in it are openness, results, and responsibility. Alongside this, the Armed Forces naturally has different instruments to handle these issues within the framework of the employer delegation we have had since 1994, which therefore means that from a political level, we do not interfere in individual matters. Labor law issues instead lie at the agency level, and Peter Hultqvist naturally knows that.
A rather intensive work is also taking place within the Armed Forces to further develop the value base. There is, of course, the Armed Forces' Personnel Responsibility Board, where individuals can be reported in the event of indications that persons have acted incorrectly. In addition to that, I know that a number of processes are taking place within the Armed Forces. This involves, for example, work on a new work environment manual, and there are also a number of processes where work is being done on competence development when it comes to the work environment situation within the Armed Forces.
My overall impression is, therefore, that there is a great sense of urgency within the Armed Forces to resolve such problems and that there is a great commitment. Then, one can never rule out that problems arise in individual cases, but I would say that the Armed Forces is also far ahead in working with these types of issues, which are fundamentally questions of values. It is important for all agencies, but it is naturally especially important for an agency that has the task of protecting democracy and which also has a form of monopoly on violence.
Peter Hultqvist (S)
Mr. Speaker! The work that is ongoing is good. During my time as minister, I used to follow up on this in the conversations I had with leading representatives. Even in my current role, I sometimes ask about these matters. I am glad that the Minister for Defence continues to take up such matters with the central leadership.
What might need to be done is to ensure that the Armed Forces, in a broader sense, provide a report on how they work with issues of values and furthermore make this a recurring point in connection with their contact with their own units across the entire line in the Armed Forces. In that regard, the Home Guard is particularly important.
It is also of essential importance that the Defense Duties and Examination Authority is attentive to this regarding the processes preceding conscription and recruitment to GSS/K and GSS/T. I know that this is one of the issues that is being worked on, but the importance of this cannot be overemphasized.
Every time something like this is highlighted, it creates a small crack in the margin for the Armed Forces. There is something about the glorification of violence in these extreme ideologies. The individuals who are encompassed by these extreme ideologies are often drawn to organizations where weapons and uniforms are part of the picture and where one might have a distorted perception of what defending the nation entails. We must be alert to this, especially in the time we are living in now. We see that extremism of various kinds is spreading. I want to warn against different variants of right-wing extremism.
I believe that such things not occurring is part of the Armed Forces' ambition to be competent and capable and to be perceived as reliable. This is something that one tries to eliminate. The regimental leadership has surely done what it can, but in a comment on the reports regarding what happened in Skövde, Aron Verständig, chairman of the Jewish Central Council, says that he is distressed and that he considers it dangerous when the consequences of Nazi expressions do not become more serious. He then refers to the fact that this was resolved within the framework of the regiment and that these soldiers were allowed to continue with the explanation that they had gradually realized their stupidity.
It has a signaling effect when this type of events occur. I think, just as the Minister for Defence said, that it is important that the will for defense increases and that the insight increases regarding the situation in our near surroundings concerning the war in Ukraine. This is tangible because, in the long run, it constitutes a direct threat to us.
I want to bring up something that is worth thinking about. I visited Ukraine. There, they say it like this: It is very important that we follow the laws of war, because we cannot become as bad as the enemy - we must have a higher morality. This applies to the highest degree also in this area. One must wash this so clean that it does not occur at all.
Försvarsministern Pål Jonson (M)
Mr. Speaker! In the current case, a JO report has been filed. Should that report result in criticism against the Armed Forces, I naturally expect the authority to take powerful measures. I do not want to go into more detail regarding the specific case given the employer delegation we have had since 1994, but the media reports I have received sound serious. I have already raised this once with the Supreme Commander, and I will do so again. I want to know that there are no systematic problems with this within the Armed Forces.
The Armed Forces conducts various types of employee surveys. These generally show that most within the Armed Forces believe that there is a very good psychosocial work environment there. That there is also a high degree of security awareness within the agency is fundamentally good.
Let me also say that we are taking various measures to reduce the risk of letting the wrong people into the Armed Forces. Among other things, decisions have been made in this chamber that a security screening shall be carried out for conscripts and that this shall be mandatory for level 3. It is a way to ensure that people with the wrong values or extreme views, or people who have an affinity for extremism, Nazism, or fascism, do not enter the Armed Forces as conscripts or those placed in military service.
Work is being done all the time to reduce the risk. At the same time, the Armed Forces will naturally become a larger part of our society, because we must build up a stronger defense and a stronger deterrence capability.
Peter Hultqvist (S)
Mr. Speaker! My experience after many years in various political positions with bearing on the Armed Forces is that we have a very good defense force. It is very clearly noticeable that the value base works; that I want to say emphatically. But it is also the case that one must react when this type of example comes to the surface, which they do from time to time. This applies especially in this time, when the organization is growing and we have a very large influx to, for example, the Home Guard.
I thought it was important to bring this up to mark it a bit and push the minister on this issue. I know there are many matters to deal with at the Ministry of Defence, but this is an important issue to maintain the line on in the long term. If it starts to be nibbled at the edges, we will have different types of problems and reactions.
I also do not want to anticipate any JO handling. I just want to note that this was the comment that Aron Verständig gave as an example of how it is reacted to when such things occur.
It is important to keep things clean in these contexts. I am glad that we share the same view on the issue.
Försvarsministern Pål Jonson (M)
Mr. Speaker! I thank Peter Hultqvist for this debate on an important issue. I believe we are in agreement that these are important issues. There is a broad political commitment surrounding them, which I also experienced when I was committee chair and these issues were raised. I also know that Peter Hultqvist raised and commented on these issues when he was Minister for Defence. One needs to do it and make a stand all the time.
At the same time, the measurements generally indicate that the psychosocial environment within the Armed Forces is good. There are a number of instruments and tools to constantly combat all forms of fascism, Nazism, and extremism. The value base constitutes the very foundation for this work, and in addition, there is the Armed Forces Personnel Responsibility Board. Work is being done with different types of work environment manuals and with constant competence development regarding this.
When such things come up - and if there is even a mere suspicion that there are people with sympathies for Nazism, fascism, or other extremism within the Armed Forces - it is harmful to the Armed Forces. It is harmful to the Armed Forces' ability to attract the right types of people. Therefore, one must act with force and with a great measure of commitment. Ultimately, this applies to us politicians, who make decisions on laws and guidelines and who govern authorities. Then the question naturally lies at the authority level when it comes to the employer's responsibility itself.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.