SWEDEN PRESENTS REPORT TO COMMITTEE ON RIGHTS OF CHILD

MORNING

HR/CRC/99/13
22 January 1999


The Committee on the Rights of the Child this morning started its consideration of the second periodic report presented by the Government of Sweden on how that country continued to implement the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Hans Svensson, State Secretary in the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs of Sweden, introduced his country's report, recalling that the economic problems which hit Sweden in the 1990s, and their consequences such as unemployment and spending cuts in the public sector, had had an impact on children. The Swedish Government had now succeeded in restoring balance to the national budget, which provided scope for substantial investments in the areas with the highest priority, and children were a high priority area, he said.

A number of Committee experts queried the members of the delegation on such issues as, among other things, the dissemination of the Convention in simplified version for children and in the language of immigrant children; the condition of decentralization and delegation of power to municipalities; the phenomenon of bullying in schools; the problem of harmful traditional practices such as excision among immigrant communities; measures to combat racist behaviour; involvement of children under 15 years of age in the production and consumption of pornographic materials; and statelessness of children.

The delegation also included Carin Jahn, Legal Advisor, Ministry of Health and Social Affairs; Agneta Karlsson, Political Advisor at the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs; Tarja Saarinen, Senior Administrative Officer in the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs; Catherine von Heidenstam, Ambassador, Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Agneta Bäcklund, Deputy Director, Ministry of Justice; Christina Sandqvist, Senior Administrative Officer, Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Barbara Martin Korpi, Deputy Director, Ministry of Education and Science; and Anne Dismarr, Counsellor, Permanent Mission of Sweden in Geneva.

Sweden, as one of 191 States parties to the Convention, must submit periodic reports to the Committee on the measures it has undertaken to comply with the provisions of the treaty.

When the Committee reconvenes at 3 p.m., it is expected to conclude its consideration of the report of Sweden.

Report of Sweden

The second periodic report of Sweden (document CRC/C/65/Add.3) states that children aged up to 17 make up 22 per cent of Sweden's 8.6 million inhabitants. Seventy-five per cent of children live with both their parents while 16 per cent live with a single parent. It also states that most children in Sweden enjoy favourable living conditions, but many children and their families today are under stress on account of unemployment and financial difficulties. Things are especially difficult for children in families affected by substance abuse, mental illness or domestic violence, and also for many refugee children. Children subjected to sexual abuse are also particularly vulnerable.

The report says that the high quality of preventive child health care is undoubtedly part of the reason why Swedish children, on the whole, enjoy good health. Certain children, however, present health problems which society must tackle more actively. Allergies or other forms of hypersensitivity have become increasingly common and now affect one child in three.

Concerning refugee children, the report says that nearly half the refugees arriving in Sweden were children and young persons under 18. Many of these children have been through traumatic experiences of violence and war. The Government regards it as a matter of urgency to improve the reception and to make special allowance for the needs of these children.

Further, the report says that although the various articles of the Convention have been successfully incorporated in Swedish law, a large proportion of the rights to which it gave expression affected matters at local level. Decentralization measures in recent years have given the municipalities increased responsibility for the planning and implementation of child and youth policy. Implementation of the Convention at municipal level, therefore, has important bearing on the translation of the various articles of the Convention into practice, adds the report.

Presentation of Sweden's Report

HANS SVENSSON, State Secretary, Ministry of Health and Social Affairs of Sweden, said his Government considered the implementation of the Convention to be a continuous process which should be kept alive as society underwent continued changes and more children and adults joined the ranks of the population. The Government's strategy for the implementation of the Convention in Sweden aimed at integrating the child’s perspective into all spheres of activity and policy areas which affected children.

The economic problems which hit Sweden in the 1990s and their consequences such as unemployment and spending cuts in the public sector had also had an impact on children, Mr. Svensson went on to state. Parents' unemployment or the risk of unemployment had affected the situation of children; in many municipalities, one way to save money had been to have larger groups in pre-schools and schools. Also, preventive measures and measures targeted at children with special needs had been affected, for instance, waiting lists for examinations and treatment were now longer.

Mr. Svensson said the Swedish Government had now succeeded in restoring balance to the national budget, which provided scope for substantial investments in the areas with the highest priority, and children were a high priority area. Among other things, the municipalities had been granted additional funding since 1997, which the Government had stipulated should go to medical care, social services and schools.

In conclusion, Mr. Svensson said that in the next few years, the Government would seek to improve the situation of children, focusing efforts on the plight of the most vulnerable groups, in particular those living in distressed urban areas. In order to counteract sexual abuse, the regulations on child pornography had been tightened up, and a Parliamentary committee of inquiry into child abuse had recently been appointed.

Discussion

A number of Committee members raised questions on such issues as the dissemination of the Convention in simplified version for children and in the language of immigrant children; the condition of decentralization and delegation of power to municipalities; the phenomenon of bullying in schools; the problem of harmful traditional practices such as excision among immigrant communities; the role of child psychologists in enhancing the development of children; measures to combat racist behaviour; involvement of children under 15 years of age in the production and consumption of pornographic materials; and statelessness of children, among others.

In response to the numerous questions raised by Committee experts, the members of the Swedish delegation said that in 1995, the Government presented to Parliament a proposal to incorporate the Convention into domestic legislation. However, Parliament rejected the idea. This situation did not impede courts from interpreting the provisions of the Convention in their decisions concerning the best interests of children.

Regarding traditional harmful practices such as genital mutilation, the delegation said that Swedish legislation strictly prohibited such practices and considered them as crimes. Further measures were also envisaged to strengthen the prohibition of excision and other traditional harmful practices.

The delegation said the Office of the Children's Ombudsman was an independent body only accountable to the Government. It was set up in 1993 as part of the observance of the Convention. It had the task of safeguarding the rights and interests of children and young persons. The Ombudsman was required to devote special attention to the compatibility of laws and other statutory instruments and their implementation with Sweden's commitments under the Convention.

With regard to bullying in schools, the delegation said that measures had been taken within the school system to counter bullying and other abusive behaviour. The Government had also decided to set up a national inspection of schools and one of the tasks of the national inspectors during this current year would be to tackle the problem of bullying in schools. More money had also been spent to improve the capacities of school headmasters both in dealing with student behaviour and in implementing educational instructions.

Concerning the problem of children involved in pornography, the delegation said that the Government had taken additional measures to combat the phenomenon. With respect to children aged from 0 to 3 years, the Government had a system in which one of the working parents, with the payment of salary, could remain at home to take care of the child or could confine the child to a day-care institution.

A question was asked about the situation of "hidden children" of foreign origin to which the delegation said that such children only received urgent medical treatment because of their situation. In addition, the Government had set up a working group on citizenship to study and to suggest means on how to regulate the situation of statelessness of foreign children. Once the report was submitted to the Government, it was expected that changes of status might eventually be carried out in favour of those stateless children.