Hate crime declines in Sweden: report
Published: 30 Jun 11 15:04 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/34664/20110630/
The number of hate crimes committed in Sweden decreased in 2010 compared to the year before, according to statistics from Sweden’s National Council of Crime Prevention (Brottsförebygganderådet - BRÅ).
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In 2010 there were 5,140 confirmed hate crimes, compared to 5,800 in 2009 and 5,900 in 2008.
However, within these figures, the share of islamophobic hate crimes increased with 40 percent while anti-Semitic and homophobic hate crimes went down.
“The increase in islamophobic hate crimes could partly be explained by a series incidents in Skåne County that generated a large amount of reports,” said Klara Klingspor of the council in a statement
Assault and harassment were the most common types of crimes reported in 2010 and the most common motive was xenophobia or racism.
Although Ekman fears that there are probably large numbers of unreported cases that don’t make the statistics, he says that police see a noticeable decline in hate crimes.
“Hopefully this means that something is getting better in society. Hate crimes work like a thermometer, an increase indicates societal disquiet in general. You get more intolerant if you feel badly treated yourself,” Ekman told TT.
Few reports lead to prosecution and Mikael Ekman thinks that the Swedish judicial system lacks knowledge of that type of crime.
“Police have got much better at this but the prosecutors and courts haven’t kept up with the development,” he said to TT.
According to Ekman it is ignorance that is behind it. Hate crimes are more complicated and require more work and deeper investigations.
“More questions need asking by both the police, the prosecutors and by the courts. And they need to be the right questions,“ he said.
What do you think? Leave your comment below.
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You must really be joking.
Are you sure you live in Sweden?
It is no secret that ethnicity, race, skin color and a non Swedish name are exactly the reason why many are not hired or given rental leases.
Don't take my word for it, read some reports.
Sweden and Swedes have many, many good qualities, however; they have a long way to go to reach the US and UK levels of social equality.
Come on man, wake up.
I hate it when people say that organizations are refusing them because they don't want to hire foreign students! First of all, Sweden needs to think first about it's own citizens. Of course they would prefer to hire their own if in competition they find a Swed and a non-sweden of equal ranking.
Secondly, fluency in local language is necessary for your own good. If you don't gain the trust of other team members in your team, you would not be able to be productive in the long run. A person WILL BE considered alien, if team members are unable to trust him deeply. Here with TRUST i don't mean, like literal trust, but like considering someone as a close friend or something!
3rdly, come on , all of those of us who say it's racism that organizations in Sweden refuse job to non-sweds on language basis. Then why not look at other countries like S.Arabia and other gulf countries? A non-arab can not even get a job without taking some sort of surety from a local guy!!! It's the biggest racist act I have known! Sadly, we muslims are at the forefront to claim some country is racist!
I can't get one single interview after 45 applications in just under 6 mnths, except for McKinsey. I can't even get in the door to have a discussion ABOUT my Swedish (which I know).
So all this bs about "Swede's don't discriminate" - you can all suck it because it is 100% true. I'll see you all back on the other side of a pond shortly after a few more months of this baloney.
Its truly a shame that someone like you cannot get a job which would undoubtedly benefit Sweden and its economy.
I have friends here in Sweden who are Dutch. Well qualified and educated like you. They are also in the same boat as you, unfortunately.
Like I said, Sweden is good, not yet great.
And for the immature poster here: there must obviously be reasons why some cannot "go back to where they come from". Maybe they have family ties, children, bills, expenses, etc..
I did a funny experiment for those of you who still doubt the process. I have 12 years BD (business development) experience and speak Spanish, French, and intermediate Swedish and Mandarin. I don't list these on my resume usually, however after getting stonewalled I started to add languages. I added Swedish as one of the primary ones. Guess what?
Crickets.
i don't like it and i am not leaving!!! what are you going to do about that?
Having studied the contents of this forum, the information I find here leads me to suspect that other than ethnicity and countries is origin, there might be more serious reasons why Swedish employers are refusing to accept that foreign skilled persons should be offered an employment.
#7 has just confirmed a very disturbing attitude that I have suspected in the past was responsible for the above stated. Many people here are not happy about foreigners coming here to get education and skills, one way they can react is by ensuring that these skilled persons are unable to find a job after graduation. This is another way of asking students or skilled persons to leave their country. The introduction of Tuition fees is only a surface manifestation of this attitude.
However why they continue to embrace unskilled people such as cleaners and other unskilled professions remains a mystery, hopefully another LOUD fellow such as #7 would help us to unravel this mystery.
Of course I live in Sweden. I struck out about 200 times over the course of 2 years because of my Swedish. I am employed now, because I can now communicate in Swedish. Claiming bigotry on the part of Swedish employers is an easy out for foreigners in Sweden. It places the cause of unemployment soley on the hosts. That is unbelievably unfair to Sweden.
Now, does bigotry exist in Sweden? Yes, of course. I would venture that poor Swedish and being unknown is the reason for high foreigner unemployment pecentages though. Swedes are a cautious people. Look at what happens when a northern Swede applies for a job in southern Sweden. They strike out big time in comparison to applications in their own region. We foreigners need to realize the rules of the game in Sweden. Claiming bigotry is just childish and frankly inaccurate.
Thanks for sharing your thought and I hope you are employed in skilled position that matches your interest. Otherwise think twice before casting away your certificates and settling for an unskilled job just because you want to stay in Sweden.
It is no secret that there are are thousands of professional jobs (IT) out there that require only good English and not even an iota of Swedish is required. This is the kinda job that is being referred to on this forum.
It is unfair to assume that every one should be employed in Sweden, but reading the experiences of foreign skilled persons such as Canam raizes concerns about why this kinda stuff happens here when there are tonnes of English jobs advertised here on the local. Comments such as Canuks, may lead one to suspect that a majority here think that you are not entitled to get both education and a job.
Keep ya head up.
Having said that, my story is like this: I have sent out 100+ CVs. I got approximately 70 canned replies, probably due to the fact that i don't speak Swedish or i don't have a Swedish last name - no idea
I got 20 phone calls, "discussing" on how i could work for a company and not be able to understand Swedish. It didn't work
I got 10 interviews, with 5 of them failing from the first meeting. From the last 5, i got 3 job offers and picked the one i liked
Having said that, i need to say:
1) Keep trying, eventually you will find a job you like
2) I strongly believe it's the employer's right to hire who ever he wants. Crying "i am not hired cause i am not Swedish" is lame
It is a skilled job that was similiar to the work that I did before I came to Sweden. Continuing a career path in the same vein post arrival to Sweden, requires Swedish unless one has the fortune to live in a large metro area and can find a company that conducts business in English. I live in the willy wags of Sweden where English speaking companies do not exist.
I just get tired of hearing how bigoted Sweden is, when it is not. Life in Sweden as a foreigner is tough, but we have to integrate. Swedish will open a lot of doors that were closed because of "bigotry."
Does this mean that all the jews and gays have been driven out of Malmo?
Judging from thelocal's forum section, one can conclude that most Islamophobic hate speeches are coimg from non-Swedish western countries who happen to be deeply influenced by their home country media propaganda over the last decade. Sweden surely doesn't have any influence on these institutionalized Islamophobia supported by the governments and the media in North America and Western Europe but they can at least expose these brainwashed immigrants to fair and liberal approaches which may stop them from hating others in a long run.
How do you unemployed support yourselves in Sweden - you must either be going through your savings quite quickly or sponging of your sambo or the Swedish welfare state?
That said, this forum has been very rich in knowledge and I'll take with me two major lessons;
1.) We now have individuals in our Milky way galaxy who (for some reasons) have not been raised to put themselves in other peoples shoes or at least empathize with others for a second. This is true except an A.I. (Artificial Intelligence) posted comment #7.
2.) More complex reasons such as the willingness of the Arbetsgivare AND place or origin (originating from outside the EU) are responsible for the tough luck being experienced by foreign people as they search for skilled jobs in Sweden.
But what influences the willingness of the Arbetsgivare??
Seriously I don't understand why people here are talking about employment. I hardly see any concrete connection between hate crime and employment rate. Hate crimes are those action stems from some the comments we see here from some members like wendiver, Uncle, and many others.