CAT/C/SWE/CO/5
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The State party should call for prompt and impartial investigations if it receives
information indicating that there are reasonable grounds to believe that acts of
torture or ill-treatment have been committed while conducting its international
operations. The State party should also ensure that Swedish troops are instructed to
report such incidents and take other measures, as appropriate.
Compensation and rehabilitation
20.
While noting information on treatment and social rehabilitation services provided to, inter
alia, victims of torture and ill-treatment, the Committee is concerned that, as these services are
conducted in many different ways, it is difficult to get an overview of the actual situation,
including possible regional discrepancies. In this respect, the Committee regrets the lack of
aggregate information on how often these different kinds of services have been utilized or on what
resources are allocated to victims of torture or ill-treatment for psychiatric services. Furthermore,
the Committee is concerned that there has been no case decided by or is currently pending before
any Swedish courts concerning claims for compensation or other kinds of redress to victims of
torture. (art. 14)
The State party should continue to strengthen its efforts in respect of compensation,
redress and rehabilitation in order to provide victims with redress and fair and
adequate compensation, including the means for as full rehabilitation as possible.
Rights of vulnerable groups and discrimination
21.
The Committee notes that the 2001 action plan against racism, xenophobia, homophobia
and discrimination has been incorporated in the new human rights action plan for the period 20062009 and it welcomes the recent initiative of the Government to merge the current antidiscrimination legislation into one single Anti-Discrimination Act that will cover seven grounds of
discrimination.1 However, the Committee expresses its concern at reports of continued
discrimination of vulnerable groups, in particular the Roma. The Committee is also concerned at
reports of hate crimes in the State party, including a high number of racial hate crimes. (arts. 2, 12,
13 and 16)
The State party should intensify its efforts to combat discrimination against
vulnerable groups, including the Roma. In this respect, the State party should take
further steps to combat racial discrimination, xenophobia and related violence as
well as hate crimes, to ensure prompt, impartial
and thorough investigations into all such motivated violence and
prosecute and to punish perpetrators in all cases with appropriate
penalties which take into account the grave nature of their acts.
Prohibition of any statement obtained under torture from being invoked as evidence
22.
The Committee takes note of information provided that the Swedish penal and procedural
system, which is based on the principle of free examination of evidence, contains several
provisions, including procedural safeguards, to prevent public officials from using torture in
criminal investigation. The Committee, however, expresses its concern at the fact that Swedish law
does not contain specific provisions ensuring that any statement which is established to have been
1
Discrimination on the grounds of sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, ethnic background, religion or other
religious beliefs, disability, and age.