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Spotlight on Sweden’s UPR: Racism, Discrimination & Legal Gaps

The 60th session of the UN Human Rights Council

Item 6: Universal Periodic Review adoptions

Oral statement by Geneva International Centre for Justice

(25 September 2025)

 

By Muriel Imhof / GICJ

We commend Sweden for engaging with the UPR and the implementation of most of the 200 recommendations accepted in 2020, as well as recent steps to combat racism and hate crime, including the adoption of a national action plan, the creation of specialised police units, and strengthened legal protections.

However, racism, Islamophobia, and discrimination against minorities remain a concern. We encourage Sweden to implement the suggested measures. We call on Sweden to ratify key international conventions, including the Conventions on Migrant Workers, Enforced Disappearance, ILO Conventions 190 and 169. We urge Sweden to strengthen its action plan through increased education and awareness-raising efforts, and to establish an independent body to investigate and address complaints of discrimination.

We further urge Sweden to improve enforcement of existing laws, and integrate international law into domestic law. In particular, we call on Sweden to adopt a legal definition of torture aligned with international standards, to criminalise femicide, to ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

In light of reports of harassment and intimidation faced by pro‑Palestinian activists, we support the call to amend the Police Act (1984) and the 1969 government decree on the use of firearms by police, to align them with the latest international standards on the use of force and we amend the national law to ensure that peaceful protests are not treated as criminal acts of sabotage.

As the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory concluded on reasonable grounds that the Israeli authorities and Israeli security forces have committed genocide against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, we call on Sweden to take all the necessary measures to update its position and align with the Commission’s findings.

Thank you.

 Spotlight on Sweden’s UPR: Racism, Discrimination & Legal Gaps
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The 60th session of the UN Human Rights Council

Item 6: Universal Periodic Review adoptions

Oral statement by Geneva International Centre for Justice

(25 September 2025)

 

By Muriel Imhof / GICJ

We commend Sweden for engaging with the UPR and the implementation of most of the 200 recommendations accepted in 2020, as well as recent steps to combat racism and hate crime, including the adoption of a national action plan, the creation of specialised police units, and strengthened legal protections.

However, racism, Islamophobia, and discrimination against minorities remain a concern. We encourage Sweden to implement the suggested measures. We call on Sweden to ratify key international conventions, including the Conventions on Migrant Workers, Enforced Disappearance, ILO Conventions 190 and 169. We urge Sweden to strengthen its action plan through increased education and awareness-raising efforts, and to establish an independent body to investigate and address complaints of discrimination.

We further urge Sweden to improve enforcement of existing laws, and integrate international law into domestic law. In particular, we call on Sweden to adopt a legal definition of torture aligned with international standards, to criminalise femicide, to ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

In light of reports of harassment and intimidation faced by pro‑Palestinian activists, we support the call to amend the Police Act (1984) and the 1969 government decree on the use of firearms by police, to align them with the latest international standards on the use of force and we amend the national law to ensure that peaceful protests are not treated as criminal acts of sabotage.

As the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory concluded on reasonable grounds that the Israeli authorities and Israeli security forces have committed genocide against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, we call on Sweden to take all the necessary measures to update its position and align with the Commission’s findings.

Thank you.

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