Tech & Rights

Sweden Investigates Ways to More Easily Evict Vulnerable EU Citizens

A simpler eviction process and a more active police force are the best ways to more easily remove unlawful settlements, a government investigation suggests.

by Civil Rights Defenders
The Swedish government is looking to make it easier to evict residents of unlawful settlements.
Vulnerable EU citizens in Sweden are continually evicted from their temporary settlements, as these persons are not regarded as having a right to settle on the land they have claimed. Many of the evicted are Roma from Romania.
The evictions are carried out by police who, among other things, tear down the sheds that have been built, seize trailers, treat personal property as trash, and only in some cases refer the evicted to temporary accommodation where they can spend a few nights.

More active police

The Swedish government initiated in September 2015 an investigation for proposals on how the possibilities to remove unlawful settlements can be improved.

The results of the investigation include suggestions for a simpler eviction process, for example a new removal procedure in which landowners no longer have to identify those who live in a place before they are evicted. In addition, the results propose that the police take a more active role in removing unlawful settlements, regardless of whether they have been established on public property or other land.

Swedish police could take a more active role in removing unlawful settlements. (Image: Patrick Buechner)

The investigator also proposes that interim decisions - decisions about measures that are to be executed immediately without informing the person or persons it will affect and giving them a chance to respond before execution - should be made possible in removal cases, and that the senior enforcement officer should have the possibility to sell or destroy the property that may be found at the place of removal.

Evicting vulnerable citizens

Civil Rights Defenders has, as one of the consultative bodies, sent a statement to the government. We are very critical of the conclusions of the investigation and have rejected the majority of the proposals as the treatment of the persons evicted from their settlements is in conflict with Sweden's international commitments to human rights.

Many of those who are evicted in Sweden are Roma from Romania. (Image: Council of Europe)

Civil Rights Defenders welcomes the government's efforts to uphold a landowner's right to their property, but emphasizes that this cannot be carried out without respect for the rights of settlers in relation to the removals. The organization is critical of the proposals as they, in practice, could lead to evictions becoming more legally uncertain for the vulnerable EU citizens who are affected.

Begging ban

In August 2016, the minister of public administration, Ardalan Shekarabi, declared that the government is considering imposing a ban on begging. A common reason why vulnerable EU citizens must beg in Sweden is systemic discrimination in the home country, which makes it impossible to earn a living and have one's most fundamental rights fulfilled. Many find no other way to make a living than by begging on the streets of Sweden or other countries in Europe.

The Swedish government is considering a ban on begging.  (Image: Sigfrid Lundberg)

Civil Rights Defenders is very critical also of this proposal, and believes that it will force the already vulnerable EU citizens into complete alienation. Instead, the government needs to focus on ensuring that vulnerable EU citizens are guaranteed their rights when they are in Sweden, and it needs to put pressure on the Romanian government to take seriously its responsibility to ensure the rights of Roma at home.

Read the full statement here.

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