Scope of the Discrimination Act

The plan gives Sweden a special task to strengthen national minorities' rights to specifically identity, language, cultural heritage and religion, and requires active work against various forms of discrimination. Investigating language as a ground for discrimination is a direct application of that commitment. The plan furthermore places a special responsibility on government agencies to treat everyone with equal respect.

• minorities' linguistic rightsdecisive»Sverige har en särskild uppgift att stärka urfolks och de nationella minoriteternas rättigheter till identitet, språk, kulturarv och religion« (party programme ↗)“Sweden has a special task to strengthen indigenous peoples' and national minorities' rights to identity, language, cultural heritage and religion”
• active work against discrimination»Det kräver ett aktivt arbete med att förebygga och hindra olika sorters diskriminering i samhället.« (party programme ↗)“It requires active work to prevent and stop various forms of discrimination in society.”
• government agencies' equal treatment»Myndigheter har ett särskilt ansvar att möta alla människor med samma respekt.« (party programme ↗)“Government agencies have a special responsibility to treat all people with equal respect.”
• stop discrimination»Diskrimineringen och rasismen på arbetsmarknaden måste stoppas.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Discrimination and racism in the labor market must be stopped.”

The plan takes no explicit position on what the committee actually decided — often because the committee's reason was procedural. The stance is derived and fully cited, but it does not show the party broke a commitment.

The plan establishes rights for national minorities and strong protection against discrimination as goals, and wants to combat discrimination systematically. That investigating language as a ground for discrimination strengthens minorities' ability to use their language without harassment and therefore lies along the plan's line. The plan, however, does not list language among the grounds for discrimination.

• minorities' rightsdecisive»Rättigheter för nationella minoriteter.« (party programme ↗)“Rights for national minorities.”
• strong anti-discrimination protection»Lika rättigheter och skyldigheter för alla medborgare och starkt skydd mot« (party programme ↗)“Equal rights and duties for all citizens and strong protection against”
• combated discrimination»Bekämpande av rasism och diskriminering.« (party programme ↗)“Combating racism and discrimination.”
• linguistic diversity»Kulturell mångfald med aktivt utbyte över språkliga, nationella och kulturella gränser.« (party programme ↗)“Cultural diversity with active exchange across linguistic, national and cultural boundaries.”

The plan takes no explicit position on what the committee actually decided — often because the committee's reason was procedural. The stance is derived and fully cited, but it does not show the party broke a commitment.

The plan requires that anti-discrimination legislation be strengthened and that the rights of national minorities to language, culture and influence be safeguarded. An inquiry into language as a ground for discrimination is a direct means to that, since current grounds do not capture discrimination that affects the right to use one's minority language. Therefore the plan supports the counter-proposal's requirement.

• strengthened anti-discrimination legislationdecisive»stärka lagstiftningen mot diskriminering och se över rätten till rättshjälp i diskrimineringsfall.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“strengthen anti-discrimination legislation and review the right to legal aid in discrimination cases.”
• minorities' language rights»minoriteternas rätt till språk, kultur och inflytande.« (party programme ↗)“minorities' rights to language, culture and influence.”
• strengthened minority rights»stärka nationella minoriteters och urfolket samernas rättigheter« (2022 manifesto ↗)“strengthen the rights of national minorities and the indigenous Sámi people”
• strengthened work against racism»Arbetet mot all typ av rasism måste stärkas.« (party programme ↗)“The work against all forms of racism must be strengthened.”

The election manifesto wants to strengthen minority protection and the position of minority languages and states that more must be done against discrimination, including adding new grounds to hate-crime protection. Investigating language as a ground for discrimination to protect national minorities' right to use their language is the same kind of strengthening. However, the plan does not explicitly mention the grounds in the discrimination law.

• strengthened minority language protectiondecisive»Vi vill stärka bland annat äganderätten, diskrimineringsförbudet, minoritetsskyddet och minoritetsspråkens ställning« (2022 manifesto ↗)“We want to strengthen, among other things, property rights, the prohibition on discrimination, minority protection and the position of minority languages”
• expanded grounds for protection»Mer måste göras mot diskriminering. Vi vill stärka myndigheternas arbete mot diskriminering och höja ersättningen till dem som utsatts, samt lägga till kön och funktionsnedsättning som hatbrottsgrunder.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“More must be done against discrimination. We want to strengthen the authorities' work against discrimination and increase compensation for those affected, and add gender and disability as grounds for hate crimes.”
• all discrimination is countered»Vi bekämpar alla strukturer, formella och informella, som förtrycker eller diskriminerar människor.« (party programme ↗)“We combat all structures, formal and informal, that oppress or discriminate against people.”

The plan takes no explicit position on what the committee actually decided — often because the committee's reason was procedural. The stance is derived and fully cited, but it does not show the party broke a commitment.

The election manifesto wants to modernise discrimination law, and the party programme establishes that the individual's opportunities to use minority languages in contact with authorities should be strengthened and that the national minorities' position should be maintained. Investigating language as a ground for discrimination is a way to realise precisely this. The plan mentions no such discrimination ground, so support is derived.

• modernised discrimination lawdecisive»Vi vill modernisera diskrimineringslagen, prioritera polisens hatbrottsverksamhet och säkerställa att alla skolor står upp för alla människors lika värde.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“We want to modernise discrimination law, prioritise police hate crime work and ensure that all schools stand up for all people's equal worth.”
• strengthened minority language rights»Individens möjligheter att använda minoritetsspråk i kontakten med myndigheter ska stärkas.« (party programme ↗)“The individual's opportunities to use minority languages in contact with authorities should be strengthened.”
• national minorities' position»Samernas, sverigefinnarnas, tornedalingarnas, judarnas och romernas ställning som nationella minoriteter och samernas ställning som urfolk ska upprätthållas.« (party programme ↗)“The position of the Sámi, Swedish Finns, Tornedalians, Jews and Roma as national minorities and the Sámi position as indigenous people should be maintained.”
• redress for discrimination»Den som drabbas av diskriminering ska kunna få hjälp att få upprättelse och det ska kosta att diskriminera.« (party programme ↗)“Those who suffer discrimination should be able to get help to receive redress and it should cost to discriminate.”

The plan takes no explicit position on what the committee actually decided — often because the committee's reason was procedural. The stance is derived and fully cited, but it does not show the party broke a commitment.

The plan wants to secure minority languages a strong position through legislation and establishes that linguistic and ethnic rights for Sámi, Swede-Finns, Tornedalians, Roma and Jews strengthen their identity. Investigating language as a ground for discrimination is a means for precisely this protection. The plan also requires that these groups' needs are taken into account at all levels in the public sector and that legislation against discrimination exists.

• statutory protection for minority languagesdecisive»detta är att tillförsäkra minoritetsspråken en stark ställning genom lagstiftning.« (party programme ↗)“this is to secure minority languages a strong position through legislation.”
• minorities' linguistic rights»samer, sverigefinländare, tornedalingar, romer och judar språkliga och etniska rättigheter« (party programme ↗)“Sámi, Swede-Finns, Tornedalians, Roma and Jews linguistic and ethnic rights”
• minorities' needs at all levels»intressen beaktas i alla delar av landet och på alla nivåer i den offentliga sektorn.« (party programme ↗)“interests are taken into account in all parts of the country and at all levels in the public sector.”
• legislation against discrimination»lagstiftning mot diskriminering.« (party programme ↗)“legislation against discrimination.”

The plan takes no explicit position on what the committee actually decided — often because the committee's reason was procedural. The stance is derived and fully cited, but it does not show the party broke a commitment.

The plan asserts the individual against collectivism and explicitly opposes a politics where background and group affiliation explain a person's position. Rights and opportunities should apply equally to everyone without new group-based categories. Adding language as a ground for discrimination to protect national minorities as collectives therefore does not follow from the plan.

• rejects identity politicsdecisive»Denna identitetspolitikens kollektivism strider mot« (party programme ↗)“This collectivism of identity politics conflicts with”
• the individual before the collective»hävda individen mot kollektivismen« (party programme ↗)“assert the individual against collectivism”
• equal rights for all»Sverige ska vara ett fritt och öppet samhälle där rättigheter, skyldigheter och möjligheter gäller lika för alla.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Sweden shall be a free and open society where rights, responsibilities and opportunities apply equally to all.”

The plan explicitly exempts the national minorities from general assimilation efforts and grants them far-reaching cultural autonomy, and wants to protect indigenous peoples' status and cultural values. An investigated protection against discrimination based on language supports precisely the minority language autonomy the plan promises. The plan does not take a position on the grounds of the discrimination law as such, so the conclusion is derived from the minority commitment and the principle of equality before the law.

• cultural autonomy for minoritiesdecisive»ges långtgående kulturell autonomi« (party programme ↗)“given far-reaching cultural autonomy”
• protected indigenous values»Urfolkens ställning och kulturella värden ska värnas i den utrikespolitiska inriktningen.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Indigenous peoples' status and cultural values shall be protected in foreign policy direction.”
• equality before the law»medborgare skyddas av, och är lika inför, lagen« (party programme ↗)“citizens are protected by, and are equal before, the law”
• no special treatment»Vare sig negativ eller positiv särbehandling på basis av kön, ålder, sexuell läggning,« (party programme ↗)“Neither negative nor positive special treatment on the basis of gender, age, sexual orientation,”

The plan takes no explicit position on what the committee actually decided — often because the committee's reason was procedural. The stance is derived and fully cited, but it does not show the party broke a commitment.