Swedish authorities criticized for ethnic discrimination

There are seven Swedish authorities covered by the review: the Swedish Public Employment Service, the Swedish Social Insurance Agency, the Swedish Prison and Probation Service, the Swedish Enforcement Authority, the Swedish Police Authority, the Swedish Tax Agency and the Swedish Customs Agency.

Previous investigations show that discrimination occurs within the work of the authorities. For example, minority groups are rejected for applications for support and compensation more often than the majority population, the National Audit Office notes.

This also applies to checks and interventions carried out on incorrect grounds. This can involve police or customs checks and checks related to incorrect welfare payments, says Dorian Francis, who is the project manager for the review.

Difficult to detect

The authorities are good at acting on reports. But when it comes to detecting risks and preventing ethnic discrimination, their work is lacking, the Swedish National Audit Office believes.

In the processing of cases, it can be difficult for an individual to discover and therefore report an incident themselves. Therefore, we believe that the authorities themselves need to investigate their operations, says Karin Berg, project employee.

The review also shows that the Discrimination Ombudsman, DO, is not pushing to combat ethnic discrimination in decision-making. Nor does the authority have a mandate to review many of the reports that come in based on current legislation.

The Swedish National Audit Office recommends that auditing authorities regularly investigate and manage risks of ethnic discrimination.

Increase competence

The DO is recommended to use its powers to a greater extent even in cases where there is no individual complainant, and to direct preventive work towards the state authorities through, among other things, training and dialogue.

The government should also monitor how the authorities handle risks of ethnic discrimination and assign an appropriate authority the task of increasing government expertise on discrimination issues.

But the bulk of the responsibility for addressing the shortcomings we have seen lies with the authorities themselves. And the government needs to ensure that they take that responsibility, says Dorian Francis.