KISAM Mothers and Youth in the World – Statement on Human Rights and Discrimination.

Our association KISAM Mothers and Youth in the World has been active in vulnerable and particularly vulnerable places in Östergötland for ten years and over the years we have met thousands of non-European born women, children and young people.

We are very concerned, because we have seen a gradual deterioration that has accelerated in recent years, when it comes to the fundamental human rights of women born outside Europe. There are many new laws that discriminate and we have party leaders who publicly speak about a major clean-up!

We are a voice for those who are otherwise rarely heard. We can tell you about the situation that few even in Sweden know about in an increasingly polarized country. About the discrimination that our women and their children encounter in their everyday contacts with schools, authorities and working life. How they are discriminated against because of their origin and status as a refugee or immigrant. Our target group is in a position of dependence on the state and authorities and the effect is that they dare not or can not report discrimination.

In the ethnically segregated area of Skäggetorp, there is widespread poverty and vulnerability to new repressive laws. Local government decisions affect women and families in the most basic and undignified ways, with money being taken away for food and rent if mothers miss a form requested by the authorities. There are shootings and explosions in the residential areas where the families live and children go to school. Underfunded schools mean that few children reach educational goals — in Skäggetorp, only one in three students met the standards in grade 9, the last year qualifying children for high school. Mothers are constantly stressed and worried that their children will be recruited into criminal gangs.

Human rights to security, and life and health are not protected in efficient and positive ways. Instead of focusing on preventive measures, it is now legal to evict families with children, if a family member has committed a crime, and the government is proposing that children can be imprisoned from the age of 13, Children are also being forcibly taken from families of non-European origin on unclear grounds.

Low-educated women in particular are discriminated against in their education in the Swedish language, as they often have a lower
previous level of education than men, in parallel with greater responsibility for the children. Swedish For Immigrant students who do not pass the exam to the next level are suspended for 6 months. This repressive measure is completely unique in the Swedish education system and also counterproductive because when the women are at home for 6 months they have forgotten what they have learned. Of 100 low-educated women who study at SFI in Linköping, only 8 pass the 3rd level out of a total of 4. Good knowledge of Swedish language is a prerequisite for employment. Sweden has the highest unemployment rate in Europe and foreign-born women are those who have the most difficulty getting a job.

We hope to contribute to increased insight and greater understanding that positive and inclusive support is needed for everyone’s common future. Young people should be able to feel safe and should be able to get help to cope with school. We need an education system that can provide women with support that is tailored to their needs instead of punishing them for not having the conditions to advance quickly in the educational levels. Women who have come from other parts of the world lack legal representation before authorities because they cannot afford to hire a lawyer and do not understand on their own how to assert their rights.

There is a need for better legal certainty in decisions by authorities and greater knowledge of human rights and children’s rights among State and communal employees who decide on the exercise of authority with far-reaching consequences for people’s lives.

Sweden’s growing discrimination against these women and families has devastating consequences for their lives and for our shared
future. Our young people often express that they do not feel wanted in the country they live in.
“I’m the one who people move away from on the bus. I’m the one who’s denied housing. I speak three languages but I am treated as
stupid. I’m the one you don’t want here — but I’m here. And I’m staying.” — Mostafa, son of Nemat.

Glädjande har vårt lokala arbete uppmärksammats i FN i Geneve då de granskar hur väl Sverige följer Mänskliga rättigheter och arbetet mot diskriminering. Vi har blivit inbjudna till FN för att dela med oss av erfarenheter från ett av jordens rikaste länder!

Under snart ett decennium har vi i KISAM-Världens mammor kunnat följa utomeuropeiskt födda mammors vardagsliv och deras svårigheter med att få sina basala rättigheter tillgodasedda. Med allt från rätten till mat, boende och utbildning.

Vi har under snart 10 år arbetat med att vara en röst för förändring i det lokala, en röst som annars sällan hörs! Vi har många gånger lyft frågor som handlar om mänskliga rättigheter, om diskriminering och om rättvisa!

Vi i Sverige är väldigt snabba på att anklaga andra länder att inte följa Mänskliga rättigheter. Men hur ser det ut i

To the ICCPR Human Rights Committee State review procedure concerning Sweden. From Civil Society Organisation KISAM Mothers and Youth in the World, Östergötland, Sweden. (Ladda ner PDF)

United Nations Human Rights Treaty Bodies Database. ( Läs mer)

To the ICCPR Human Rights Committee State review procedure concerning Sweden From Civil Society Organisation KISAM Mothers and Youth in the World, Östergötland, Sweden www.varldensmammor.se and www.varldensungdomar.se

KISAM Mothers and Youth in the World is a civil society organisation, working with creative activities to include and integrate women from segregated areas in Sweden.

Our values are equality, an egalitarian approach and everyone’s equal value.
Our purpose is to break isolation and enable all women, mothers and children and youth, an as good future as possible.

Discrimination of Refugees, Asylum Seekers and Immigrants

Sweden is one of the countries in the world that has received many refugees in relation to its population. Sweden’s population is 10.6 million persons.
Sweden is, in international comparisons, one of the 25 richest countries in the world.
Sweden has stood for a principled approach to public life and has advocated for the fulfilment of human rights across the world. ¹

In our organisation’s daily work since eight years, in socioeconomically and ethnically segregated areas in two of Sweden’s approximately 60 such areas ², we have received information which raises our serious concerns over fundamental needs and human rights, not being enabled or protected in the areas where we work. Similar difficulties may exist in similar situations across Sweden.

We have chosen to focus on three areas of our profound concern, relating to new laws and existing policies aiming to restrict protection and rights of refugees, asylum seekers and immigrants. Many human rights are interdependent in these topics.
Especially our questions concern rights to protection of needs of refugees and their children, the rights to life, food, health, well-being and housing, work, education and a reasonable standard of living.

1. The new law 2024, Hyreslagen, JB 12:42, pt 12, allows forceful evictions of the whole family, if one family member has committed a serious crime in or near the apartment where the family lives. This is collective punishment in violation of ICCPR Article 16, about the right of everyone to recognition everywhere as a person before the law, as well as a violation of Childrens’ rights to a home, according to the Children’s Convention.

1 Impartial, independent rule of law is vital to sound societies, Finland, Sweden and Norway in multilateral cooperation. The rule of Law, Keynote speech by Michelle Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for Human
Rights, Helsinki, 6 February 2020
2 List of socioeconomically vulnerable areas by the Swedish Police, reported by Swedish news SVT Nyheter, 1 December 2023: Här är polisens nya lista med utsatta områden

2. Legal changes abolishing the former law about own housing for asylum seekers (Lagen om eget boende, EBO) forces all asylum seekers who receive social welfare, to instead move to asylum housing, also children who are born in Sweden and have lived all their lives in their homes and attend school, are through this new law change by the end of August, 2025, becoming forced to move to wherever the Migration Office decides, if their parents receive social welfare. This violates the Childrens’ Convention and ICCPR
Article 12, pt 1: “Everyone lawfully within the territory of a State shall, within that territory, have the right to liberty of movement and freedom to choose his residence.”

3. Increasingly conditioned social welfare for asylum seekers, refugees and immigrants from other regions of the world, based on language and status as asylum seekers and dependent on social welfare, is discrimination and a form of undoing of equality and human rights in violation of ICCPR Preamble and ICCPR Article 2, pt 1 and Article 5, pt 1 and Article 6 and General comment No. 36 (2018) on article 6 of the ICCPR, on the right to life. These changes created by the Swedish Government through new laws concern large groups of peoples.

Unemployment and Social Welfare in Sweden relating to Refugees

Sweden has, in comparison with European countries, high unemployment, the highest unemployment numbers in Europe 2024, 8.4% and for youth 24.2%.³
It is difficult to find work for youth, women with children and for persons with no education.
Persons having come from regions outside of Europe, have the highest unemployment numbers in Sweden, especially, persons having come from Africa, with 28.7% unemployment and Asia, 21.9 % unemployment, and foreign born 16.2% unemployment.⁴

Many have arrived from regions outside of Europe and have received asylum, residence and work permits after having fled war and persecution.
Many have not received their first job in Sweden, after years of living in Sweden.

Foreign born women are the group with the highest unemployment, compared with foreign born men, according to the Swedish Gender Equality Agency.⁵

A requirement by most employers, for receiving work in Sweden, is to speak Swedish, and to have an education, and experience relevant to the work.
Many, who have fled war and persecution, have not received education. In many countries education is not offered to everyone and especially not to women.

3 ec.europa.eu/social, EU unemployment in April 2024, Sweden 8.4% and EU youth unemployment in April 2024, Sweden 24.2%.
4 Ekonomifakta.se, Arbetslöshet efter ursprung, 2024, källa: SCB via Macrobond
5 Jämställdhetsmyndigheten, Utrikes födda kvinnor behöver mer anpassat stöd för att få arbete, Stärkta möjligheter genom samverkan – insatser för att underlätta utrikes födda kvinnors inträde påarbetsmarknaden, (2022:13), 31 mars 2022, jamstalldhetsmyndigheten.se

When fleeing war and persecution, education can become interrupted and can be lacking for years.

For some, Swedish Language Classes for Immigrants (SFI), can be the first contact with education, in their whole life experience.
The official Swedish language classes (SFI) are important because they verify the progress and level of learning of Swedish that someone has achieved, and can enable the receiving of a first job in Sweden.

All written information from authorities in Sweden is in Swedish.
According to the Administrative Procedure Act (2017:900), section 13, communication by authorities shall be translated if needed, to enable rights, when the authority is in contact with someone who does not have a command of Swedish.
It is also possible to book an appointment with authorities and have an interpreter during the meeting. This service is cost free.

The Municipality decides on the rights to economic support, welfare, in the case of unemployment of someone living in the Municipality.

Welfare in the form of economic support is never unconditional, but the conditions can be adapted to the individual situation of the applicant, and a child’s perspective should be included in the decisions.

To be active and progress in language classes, is one requirement evaluated, when municipal authorities, on a monthly basis, decide on the right to welfare. Active participation in job seeking programmes, internships and education, like Swedish for immigrants, is looked at alongside economic information about all incomes during a month.If someone does not provide all information for decisionmaking, or deviates from requirements made in relation to their application, social welfare can be denied.

Families apply as one household, and if one parent does not do good in relation to the authorities, the whole family can lose their economic support for the month.The child’s perspective is to be weighed into the decisionmaking, but in the practice of municipal authorities, social welfare is being denied families with children, if one parent does not hand in all informations on time, for example due to language difficulties and not understanding which informations among many were the most important to prioritise.
Parents, local authorities explain, should plan their economy, for unforeseen events, such as rejection of their applications for aid.

There is also a possibility to apply for acute emergency economic aid for food and rent, if welfare is denied.

In Sweden, costs for food and rent are now higher than ever before. Prices for food have increased in remarkable ways. Welfare levels have not increased to match the rises in costs of living. The stress it creates for families, having fled from war and persecution, to lose the economic support for the month, retraumatises and brings back memories from having experienced famine and homelessness during war, and during being forced to flee.

Real risks of becoming homeless emerges, because paying the rent is the basis of having the right to live in the apartment, in the home. Real risks for health emerge, since food for the month might not suffice for the needs of the family and the children.

Therefore, our organisation voices profound concern over this treatment of vulnerable migrant and refugee families, mothers and children, in the socioeconomically fragile areas, where many live in relative poverty.

One question, municipal authorities ask, and can ask, according to Swedish law and practice in deciding emergency aid, is whether the family can borrow money from friends for rent and food for the month.