Tech & Rights

Roma Register Case Against Sweden Begins in Stockholm

The state is being brought to court over an ethnic register of 4,700 Roma set up by the Skåne Police. This week marks the beginning of the main hearing in the District Court of Stockholm.

by Civil Rights Defenders
Swedish NGO Civil Rights Defenders is representing 11 individuals from the Roma community whose personal information was registered by the Skåne police.
Swedish NGO Civil Rights Defenders acts as legal representatives for 11 individuals from the Roma community whose personal information was registered by the Skåne police.

Civil Rights Defenders filed a lawsuit on March 5, 2015, against the Swedish State. They consequently believe that it is irrelevant to claim that the register as a whole has been set up merely as part of police law enforcement activities.

Their conviction is that these individuals have been subjected to discrimination and that the register constitutes a case of ethnic profiling. On this basis, Civil Rights Defenders believe that their clients deserve redress.

The Swedish state justifies its argument by stating that the register was established "to meet the needs of police law enforcement activities" and not to map ethnicity of individuals.

However, the state does not explain why these 11 individuals – who have no criminal background and of whom three are minors – have been registered. Moreover, the state does not question that the clients have no criminal connections and that they have not been suspected of committing any crimes.

'Kin to criminals'

In September 2013, the Swedish broadsheet Dagens Nyheter revealed that the police administration in Skåne kept a register of Roma individuals. It contained the names of approximately 4,700 individuals of whom the great majority were Roma or people married to Roma.

One thousand of these were minors and 200 were already deceased. Many others lived in other parts of Sweden and were not even residing in Skåne.

Later that year, in November, the Swedish Commission on Security and Integrity Protection stated that the police register was illegal. It pointed out that the purpose of the register was too vague, that too many people within the police had access to it, and that the individuals’ connections to suspected criminality were spurious.

What the Swedish Commission on Security and Integrity Protection did not do, however, was to acknowledge that the individuals had been registered on the basis of their ethnic origin. Instead, it claimed that the reason as to why these individuals had been registered was kinship, however distant, with people with criminal connections. The conclusion consequently specified that it was not merely a register based on ethnicity.

Compensation

Based on the judgment from the Swedish Commission on Security and Integrity Protection, the chancellor of justice subsequently decided that every individual who had been registered by the police had the right to 5,000 SEK (535 EUR) in monetary compensation – regardless of previous criminal records. This means that:

  • None of the legal authorities thus far have analyzed if the register constitutes a case of ethnic discrimination.
  • The monetary compensation has not been calculated on the basis that the people listed in the register have been subjected to ethnic discrimination.
  • The individuals who have sought an explanation as to why their names are in the register have been left without an explanation.

Civil Rights Defenders claims that the police register of Roma constitutes an act of discrimination on ethnic grounds. Therefore, they have filed a lawsuit against the Swedish state.

Q&A – Civil Rights Defenders answers questions about their lawsuit:

Who is filing the lawsuit against the state – Civil Rights Defenders or the people in the register?
We act as legal representatives to 11 of the 4,700 individuals who were registered by the police.

Whom do you represent?
11 individuals, (three of whom are minors) all of whom were registered by the Skåne police. We are filing 11 individual cases against the state, but will ask the court to treat them as one single case since the context and the circumstances are exactly the same.

How long will the process take?
The process can take anything from one to ten years, depending on the result and if we need to appeal or not. Our original hope was that the main hearing in the District Court of Stockholm would take place within a year from when the lawsuit was filed.

Why are you suing the state?
Due to the fact that the register represents a clear case of ethnic discrimination. To register individuals merely based on their ethnic origin constitutes a violation of Swedish law and human rights principles.

The register has already been declared illegal – what makes your case different?
The legal bodies that declared the register illegal (The Swedish Commission on Security and Integrity Protection and The Chancellor of Justice) made their judgments on grounds other than those we bring forth. They did not state that the register is a case of ethnic profiling. Instead they focused on data protection issues and concluded that from an integrity point of view, the dealing with personal data had been inadequate. As a consequence of this, the people we represent do not feel that the biggest violation has been recognized; i.e. ethnic discrimination.

Do any of the individuals in the register have any connection to criminal activity?
It is quite possible that there are individuals in the register with a connection to criminal activity. This is however not the case with the people that we are representing. They have neither any criminal connection, nor any close kinship to anybody who does. There is no other reason for them to have been registered than being Roma.

The register never had any legal consequences for the people who were registered. In fact, they were not even aware of its existence before it was revealed in Dagens Nyheter. Why is the register such a serious infraction?
For centuries, Swedish public authorities have discriminated against the Roma and in particular, the police have discriminated against the Roma community and have a long tradition of acting based on prejudices against this group. When it became public that the police kept this register, it was but one more expression of this century-old discrimination. Many bear witness that they already mistrust the police and other public authorities. Now, this gap is even wider.

Why do you file this lawsuit to the Court of Stockholm instead of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg?
Had we taken the case directly to the European Court of Human Rights, we would face the risk of being redirected back to the national level for failure to exhaust domestic remedies. In addition to this, the legal procedures are longer in Strasbourg than in the national courts and can take up to seven years. We also want to act in the country where the register was set up and test our legal system with respect to what extent our national courts can deal with such a serious case of ethnic discrimination.

Why are you representing only eleven of the thousands of victims?
We have chosen to represent a small number of people since the case would become too cumbersome if more individuals were included. For legal reasons, we decided not to present a class action.

How did you make the selection?
The people we represent are women, men and minors without any criminal connection. They are people with whom Civil Rights Defenders has been cooperating for a long time and with whom we have a strong bond of mutual trust.

What happens with the other people in the register if you win?
If we win our case it is likely that the judgment will set a precedent for coming similar cases. It will then be open to other individuals registered under the same circumstances to bring forth their cases and demand reparation on the same legal grounds.

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