Response to interpellation 2025/26:472 on the government's crime victim policy
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
L argues that the government values the work of women's shelters and has raised the permanent state grant to the highest level ever 1. L argues that the government facilitates for municipalities to purchase services from non-profit actors and has earmarked large funds to prevent violence 1. L argues that sheltered housing is the municipalities' area of responsibility and that they must take greater responsibility for the procurement and the operations 2. L argues that the municipalities have opportunities to prioritize non-profit operations and that the state must ensure that the regulatory frameworks are good 2 3. L emphasizes that increased quality requirements are necessary 2. S argues that the municipalities have been put on a starvation diet and that the permit requirement for sheltered housing has functioned catastrophically poorly 4. S argues that the marketization of sheltered housing risks harming the work and quality of the women's shelters 5.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Jämställdhetsministern Nina Larsson (L)
Madam Speaker! Sanna Backeskog has asked the Minister for Justice what measures the Minister intends to take to strengthen the country's women's shelters and ensure that they can continue to operate protected housing and be there for the country's crime victims. The work within the government is so distributed that it is I who shall answer the question.
I want to begin by emphasizing that the government values the important work that the women's shelters (kvinnojourerna) carry out, regarding both crime victim support activities and the protected housing that some women's shelters operate.
Regarding the victim support activities of women's and girls' shelters, the government allocates funds to several grant regulations from which the non-profit organizations can apply for funds. One such grant regulation is the state subsidy to women's and girls' shelters and certain other non-profit organizations within the victim support area. From 2026, the government has increased the permanent level for this grant regulation from 165 million to 185 million kronor per year, which is the highest permanent level ever.
The Government is also concerned that women's and girls' shelters continue to have the conditions to operate protected housing. It is the social welfare committee that is responsible for ensuring that individuals who need support and protection as a result of threats, violence, or other abuses can be received in a protected housing. The reform on protected housing aims to improve the protection for those who are in need of protected housing and to strengthen the children's rights perspective for children who accompany a guardian to such a housing.
The Government's starting point in this context is the individual's right to support, help, and protection in cases of vulnerability to violence and other abuses. The Government has taken several initiatives to facilitate municipalities' procurement of the intervention of protected housing from non-profit actors, for example through a mandate to the National Agency for Public Procurement and a temporary state grant for quality-enhancing measures in protected housing operated by non-profit organizations.
The intention is to facilitate in all respects for the women's and girls' shelters that wish to operate protected housing. It is, however, up to the municipalities themselves to design their procurements and ultimately choose which protected housings they can place on.
This government has stepped up the preventive work and allocates more funds to the equality policy than any previous government to prevent and stop men's violence against women, violence in close relationships, exploitation in prostitution and human trafficking, as well as honor-related violence and oppression. During 2026, the government has earmarked 640 million kronor for the work against violence and oppression within the equality policy.
Overall, during the mandate period, the government has strengthened support for women's shelters and certain other non-profit organizations within the crime victim area so that they can continue to provide support to those exposed to violence. The government has also taken several measures to facilitate for women's shelters to meet the increased quality requirements and thereby increase the possibilities of obtaining permission to operate a protected residence.
Sanna Backeskog (S)
Madam Speaker! Thank you to the Minister for Equality for being here and debating this important issue with me, again.
To begin with, I feel that I unfortunately cannot start this speech in any other way than by once again stating that society still has all too great deficiencies when it comes to detecting and stopping violence against women and children. Once again, we have read about horrific cases – a total of five children have recently been subjected to serious attempted murders by their fathers. In both cases, the mothers alerted and expressed concern for the children and for the men's aggressive, dangerous behavior. Thank goodness the children survived, but they will have to live with the lifelong trauma that a parent has tried to take their lives and knowing that it could have been stopped before they were subjected to the severe violence.
It is truly a shame for Sweden that women's stories and concerns for their children are still not taken seriously today. It is bottomless. I am completely convinced that the Minister for Equality shares my frustration and anger.
Madam Speaker! I would have submitted this interpellation to the Minister for Justice, as it was only a few weeks ago that I had the opportunity to discuss the protection of women subjected to violence with the Minister for Equality thanks to the interpellation by Member of Parliament Sofia Amloh. I then asked a question that I never received an answer to, but I thought then that I would return and try again.
The municipalities have been put on a starvation diet under this government. The state grants have not compensated for the inflation crisis and the cost increases. Costs for premises, electricity, wages, purchases, and pension contributions have increased sharply. At the same time, the social services face a reality where the new recruitment of children and young people into criminal gangs has increased by 700 percent, which of course takes a portion of the municipalities' resources.
Even for the country's women's shelters, the cost increases have been clearly felt, and many have not received increases in their grants. Furthermore, the implementation of the legislation on the permit requirement for protected housing has functioned catastrophically poorly, one must still have to say.
Now we stand here, in a reality where fewer and fewer women and children are being placed despite the fact that the need for protection has absolutely not decreased. Furthermore, up to 40 of the country's women-run protected shelters have been closed or put into dormancy as a result of the licensing requirement.
At the same time, the government has actually taken important steps regarding another activity, the important defection activity for gang criminals. Here, the protection is now better coordinated between the police and social services. When someone needs to leave a criminal gang and needs support and protection, the municipalities can be reimbursed with up to 80 percent of their placement costs for such a defector. This can be read on the government's website.
I guess that one sees here the need for a shared responsibility between state and municipality. Protection from real death threats and the need for rehabilitation from a life of gross violence are perhaps seen more as a justice issue than a social services issue.
One might see it as a national matter to stop the system-threatening, horrific gang crime. I truly agree with that in that case. But should it not also be a national matter to stop men's violence against women and children?
Shouldn't the state be able to take greater responsibility for exactly the protection from life-threatening danger and rehabilitation after a life of gross violence?
Jämställdhetsministern Nina Larsson (L)
Madam Speaker! Many thanks, Sanna Backeskog, for the interpellation and for the commitment to this issue! I fully share the frustration and anger that Sanna Backeskog expresses and describes here. It is a shame for Sweden that we still read about and take part in these incredibly tragic, horrific events, which we have now witnessed once again.
This is, just as Sanna Backeskog is pointing out, a major societal problem that we need to address from several levels and on several planes. The issue has been and is prioritized by the government from day one. The work consists of several different parts.
First and foremost, the shift that the government has made to base [the work] on the perspective of the crime victims is completely central and decisive. We are still working with the implementation of that perspective. Here, legislative measures, increased penalties, and the expansion of certain regulatory frameworks and legislative areas are central.
I shall mention some parts, which also relate to what Member Sanna Backeskog describes. It is the confidentiality changes. It is now possible and easier to share information between different authorities and different instances. But we still do not see the effect of it fully. It is moving slowly. The Government is pushing for the knowledge that it is possible to share information to be communicated much more clearly.
It is also important that the municipalities themselves engage in and prioritize that issue, so that the level of knowledge regarding this is raised throughout the municipalities. Support for increasing knowledge in the municipalities is something that the government has prioritized. A number of agencies have been tasked with providing support through both method development and knowledge bases, so that the municipalities can be better equipped. It is about seeing and understanding the tools that have been made possible, for example the confidentiality possibilities, but also about achieving significantly better coordination.
Recently, I submitted a strategy – Freedom from violence, oppression, and exploitation – concerning two of the gender equality sub-targets: that men's violence against women, violence in close relationships, and exploitation in prostitution and human trafficking shall cease, and that honor-related violence and oppression shall cease, which is sub-target 7.
The strategy also highlights a specific structure, precisely to improve coordination so that people do not fall between the cracks – I really hate that expression. We shall ensure that crime victims, both children and women, are caught, and that we will never again have to read about such horrific events as we have done this week.
Sanna Backeskog (S)
Madam Speaker! I thank you for the answer.
My party stands behind the increased penalties that have been implemented. During the previous parliamentary term, we tightened a number of penalties in the area of crimes against women. And it is our investigations that form the basis for many of the increased penalties, but also other regulations. For example, in the Committee on Civil Affairs, we have taken the initiative for an investigation regarding secrecy.
It is good that we can join forces on these issues. It also provides a long-term perspective over parliamentary terms, regardless of government position. It is indeed incredibly important that we maintain the direction across the country when it comes to stopping violence against women with all available resources.
I want to go back to the permit requirement and that 40 protected residences have been closed down or are dormant. Yes, the municipalities need more knowledge. And they absolutely need more resources. But it doesn't help if there are no protected residences to place the women and children in. This issue concerns precisely the women's shelters' protected residences. It is incredibly urgent that they are allowed to remain.
It was we Social Democrats who commissioned the inquiry on the permit requirement, in order to increase equality and quality. Here we agree. Our starting point was to strengthen, above all, children's rights in sheltered housing. Children who have witnessed violence or themselves have been subjected to violence shall receive support, the right to trauma treatment, and the right to schooling. They shall, of course, also be able to be placed without the perpetrator's consent, when the person who poses a threat is simultaneously the children's guardian. That was not the case previously.
It was also important for us to shut out unserious actors from sheltered housing.
When the current government presented its bill, we Social Democrats had a number of views. We warned about underfunding and highlighted social service workers' need for training and guidance in the new legislation. We warned, above all, about the marketization of protected housing. The failures of the HVB homes in recent years are a fact, and we do not want the women's shelters' protected housing to follow the same path. Unserious actors, where there may be criminals, must not be allowed in.
In our specific statement to the proposition, we wrote: ”The development of recent decades, where increasingly stricter requirements have been placed on the municipalities regarding competition according to the Public Procurement Act, has led to a shift towards the principle of lowest price, where the special value and importance of civil society organizations has been harder to prioritize. … We are convinced that a marketization of sheltered housing, similar to that found within HVB homes, risks damaging both the operations of women's shelters and the quality of the sheltered housing.”
We then demanded and still demand that all public procurement be reserved for idea-based organizations, so that women and children exposed to violence are not treated as a commodity in a market, and are not for sale for the lowest price.
Now we see that we are there. Since we last discussed the issue here in the chamber, Statskontoret has released its partial report on the reform. They show that the idea-based residences have decreased by nearly 60 percent. It is not a marginal adjustment. It is a structural dismantling of women's shelters.
Kvinnojourerna also describe that they are forced to devote a disproportionate amount of time and resources to administration, documentation, and adaptation to a very complex regulatory framework. These are resources that previously went to support, protection, and safety but are now tied up in system requirements.
It is also important to emphasize that those who are knocked out do not do so because they maintain low quality, but because they do not have the organizational muscles to handle the permit process. The systems favor actors with a strong administration, not necessarily those with the most competence regarding the needs of women exposed to violence. This means that we risk losing decades of knowledge, experience, and trust.
I would therefore like to ask the Minister for Equality: What measures does the government intend to take here and now to ensure that idea-driven women's shelters and their protected housing are not shut down without there actually being protected housing throughout the country?
Jämställdhetsministern Nina Larsson (L)
Madam Speaker! Thank you, Sanna Backeskog, for the question and the contribution! I agree in large part with much of what Sanna Backeskog is touching upon.
These are long-term changes that we also need to continue working on in an extremely long-term manner. It was, just as Sanna Backeskog says, the previous government that took the initiative for the permit requirement. It was extremely much needed.
We come from a history where there was much to be desired regarding the problems with support for women who are in need of sheltered housing. Therefore, it was also extremely important to increase order and clarity and thus also raise the requirements, so that a woman who is in need of support in the form of sheltered housing will also receive the quality she is entitled to.
Statistics Sweden's partial report regarding these issues shows a number of things. Many of the recommendations are precisely about the municipalities' possibilities to safeguard the reform. The Government also early on tasked the National Agency for Public Procurement to support the municipalities so that they can prioritize the idea-based activities in their procurements.
Protected housing falls within the municipalities' area of responsibility, and it is extremely important that the municipalities themselves also take full responsibility for the procurement and the operations.
It is completely central that we can now continue working with the recommendations that Statskontoret will provide. It is a work that is being prepared. Statskontoret also continues its evaluation of this. It is extremely important that we can also continue to follow those parts.
Protected housing is today comprised of partly non-profit activities across Sweden, and partly private actors. Just as the member emphasizes, that part has increased, and this is also pointed out by Statskontoret. A small proportion of protected housing is comprised of municipal activity.
We must ensure that the municipalities prioritize the idea-based activities. Here, Sveriges kommuner have every opportunity in the world to do exactly as Member Sanna Backeskog is suggesting, that is, to prioritize the idea-based activities in their procurements and enable non-profit actors to also take part in it. There are many very good examples in municipalities all over the country.
But this is still not a perspective that I believe has been adopted by Sweden's municipalities. They need to take that responsibility to a much greater extent than today. It is a responsibility that falls on the municipalities.
Sanna Backeskog (S)
Madam Speaker! I find it very difficult to understand the argumentation. How are the municipalities supposed to be able to prioritize the women's shelters' protected housing if they are shut down due to the government's permit requirement? I do not understand how that adds up. In my county, Gävleborg, all women's shelter-run protected housing has been shut down or put into hibernation since the permit requirement was introduced. Then there is no counterparty from the municipalities to work with anymore.
We cannot have it this way. What we are discussing is patching and repairing a system that is fundamentally broken when we have opened up for a marketization of women's shelters. It goes very fast to tear down vital operations, but it takes a long time to build them up again. It takes time to find committed, non-profit, and competent staff with long experience. We do not have that time. Everything points to it – all the reports about women and children who do not receive the support and protection they need.
The Police Authority presented a report in April 2026 together with other authorities. There, it is clearly seen that organized crime has established itself in welfare and actively sought out areas where private actors are permitted. Here, HVB homes and sheltered housing are specifically pointed out as major risk areas.
I say it again: Women's shelters should not compete in a market. Those exposed to violence should not be a source of economic profit for anyone. They should have support and protection from committed, competent people with long experience, where the knowledge exists regarding the dynamics of violence in a society that is not equal: It is about power and it is about gender, regardless of whether it concerns women exposed to violence in intimate relationships, prostitution and human trafficking, or honor-related violence and oppression.
I think it is time to show greater confidence in the women's shelters' competence and experience and ensure that the licensing requirement can be implemented in the way it was actually intended.
Jämställdhetsministern Nina Larsson (L)
Madam Speaker! Many thanks, Member Sanna Backeskog, for the remarks and for the commitment to these issues. These are issues that we must continue to keep at the top of the agenda. We must continue to adjust the regulations and structures we have in order to address the mistakes that have been made and the cases we have seen where it does not work.
This is a broad area that concerns several different parts. I have the greatest confidence in the ideology-driven women's shelters. Since I received this fine assignment, I have taken the opportunity to visit women's shelters as soon as I have been able to. It is an enormous competence and a great commitment that I encounter there.
I am completely convinced that the municipalities can prioritize idea-based activities in their procurements to a much greater extent than what is happening now. One can take support and help from the National Agency for Public Procurement to a much greater extent. It is a responsibility that the municipalities, which are responsible for the operations, must take.
From the state's side, we must ensure that the regulations are good, that cooperation and resources are in place, and that we can continue to develop the reform so that no women and children fall through the cracks again.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.