Swedish inquiry calls for official state apology to international adoptees
Sweden should ban international adoptions, set up a national centre to provide resources for adoptees and provide up to 14,700 kronor for them to travel to their country of origin, an inquiry has proposed.
Advertisement
The inquiry head, civil law professor Anna Singer, told a press conference that there have been 'irregularities' in international adoptions to Sweden.
'There are confirmed cases of child trafficking in every decade from the 1970s to the 2000s, for the most part in private and individual adoptions,' she said. 'There are confirmed cases from Sri Lanka and Colombia in the 70s and 80s, Poland in the 90s and China in the 90s and 2000s.'
She added that children were 'in a number of cases' adopted without voluntary and informed consent from their biological parents.
'Children have been declared dead, given up for adoption by someone other than their parents, and in some cases handed over by parents who have not understood the consequences of consenting to international adoption.'
Even in cases where the documentation has been correct, Singer said, an adoption to Sweden was not always necessarily the best solution for the child.
Advertisement
Singer called for Sweden to ratify the UN's International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, which despite being signed by Sweden in 2007 is still being processed by Swedish government offices.
In addition to this, the inquiry called for Sweden to issue a public apology, admitting the human rights violations which occurred as a result of international adoptions as well as apologising for the consequences these have inflicted on adoptees and their families.
It also proposed setting up a national resource centre for adoptees, offering therapy, support for adoptees wishing to find out more about their origins, support in cases where the adoptee or their adoptive parents suspects that 'irregularities' have occurred, and advice online and by telephone with issues surrounding archives, DNA testing and legal questions.
On top of this, the inquiry proposes offering up to 14,700 kronor to adoptees wishing to travel to their country of origin.
'When it comes to international adoptions in the future, my proposal is that the practice of mediating children for adoption to Sweden is stopped,' she added.
International adoptions in cases where there is already an existing relationship between the adoptee and their prospective adoptive parents would still be permitted, she said.
International adoptions have taken place in Sweden since around the 1950s, and the number of currently living people in Sweden who were adopted from other countries is estimated to be just under 60,000. This includes adoptions which took place abroad and people who were not adopted as children. International adoptions were most common in the 70s and 80s, with the number falling significantly in recent years.
Adoptions to Sweden have taken place from most countries worldwide. The country with the most adoptions is South Korea, followed by India, Colombia, China, Sri Lanka, Chile, Thailand, Vietnam, Poland, Ethiopia and Russia.
If Sweden were to ban international adoption, it would be the latest in a series of countries that have gone down a similar path, including Norway, the Netherlands and Denmark.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Local Sweden
3 hours ago
- Local Sweden
Sweden could send up to 600 convicted criminals to Estonian prisons
A new agreement between Sweden and Estonia means that up to 600 criminals convicted in Sweden could serve time in prisons in Estonia, in what Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson has described as a "historic" deal. Advertisement The new agreement, which is designed to partly solve Sweden's problem with a lack of prison space, is the result of negotiations which began this spring. The two countries have agreed that Sweden can rent 400 cells in a prison in Tartu – the entire prison – in the southeastern part of the country, which would house up to 600 convicted criminals. Prisoners eligible to be placed in Estonia would be men over the age of 18 who are convicted for crimes in Sweden. Both Swedish and foreign criminals would be eligible, with the exception of Estonian citizens. Under the deal Sweden would only be able to send prisoners who do not pose a major security risk, roughly equivalent to convicted criminals classed at security level two in Sweden, on a three-point scale. Staff in the prison in Tartu would be Estonian, but they would be able to speak English, and prisoners would have the right to interpreters. Estonian laws would apply, but some rules have been put into place to make sure that prisoners in Estonia have the same rights they would have had in Sweden. This includes rules around occupational activities, visitational rights and communication with the outside world. Advertisement The Swedish Prison and Probation Service would also have staff on site to assist with training Estonian staff. Sweden would also save money by sending prisoners to Estonia. According to Swedish Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer, an Estonian prison stay would cost the state around €8,500 a month per person, compared to €11,500 per month in Sweden. A government-appointed inquiry which presented its findings late last year concluded there were no barriers in the Swedish constitution or European conventions which would bar it from renting prison spaces abroad. The deal requires a parliamentary vote with a three quarter majority before Sweden can start sending prisoners to Estonia. This means that the government and its Sweden Democrat allies will need the support of the Social Democrats, currently in opposition, to approve it. The law has a suggested implementation date of July 1st, 2026.
Local Sweden
3 hours ago
- Local Sweden
Will Sweden's central bank lower the interest rate this month?
Sweden's central bank, the Riksbank, lowered the country's key interest rate to 2.25 percent back in February, where it has remained since. The next interest rate announcement is scheduled for June 18th. How likely is it that the bank will choose to cut the rate? Advertisement Anders Wallström, head of forecasting at Swedbank, thinks that we could see two more cuts to the policy rate this year. "At the moment we think there will be a cut now and another one in September," he told the TT newswire. The policy rate is the central bank's main monetary policy tool. It decides which rates Swedish banks can deposit in and borrow money from the Riksbank, which in turn affects the banks' own interest rates on savings, loans and mortgages. If bank interest rates are high, it's expensive to borrow money, which means people spend less and as a result inflation drops. Susanne Spector, Danske Bank's chief economist, had a slightly different prediction. "We think that the bank will wait until August to cut the rate, but that they'll open up slightly to a cut now while waiting for more information," she said. Previously, the bank thought there would be no cut at all. Advertisement Spector added that opening up to a cut in June would lessen the pressure on Swedish households. "There are still some risks, price plans are high and inflation is above the target," she added. Swedbank and Danske Bank both believe that Sweden's weak GDP figures from the end of May are a sign that the central bank will need to stimulate the economy further by cutting the rate from the current level. The question, however, is how quickly it will do so. "It's not set in stone and it's a very uncertain situation," he said of a cut in June. "What's weighing into the decision is not really inflation right now, but rather a weak economy. Those [GDP] figures are low and that would support a cut." Inflation figures for May are scheduled to be released on June 5th. Swedbank expects the figures for CPIF inflation, the measurement Sweden's central bank uses, to be 2.7 percent, well above the 2 percent target set by the central bank, while Danske Bank predicts a figure of 2.7 percent. CPIF inflation represents the consumer price index with mortgage fluctuations taken out of the equation. If the inflation figures for last month are lower than expected, that would increase the chance of a cut to the key interest rate.
Local Sweden
a day ago
- Local Sweden
Reader question: Do I have to attend a ceremony to get Swedish citizenship?
Swedish municipalities up and down the country host ceremonies for new citizens on National Day, June 6th. Do you have to attend one of these before you can officially call yourself Swedish? Advertisement The Swedish government and its allies, the Sweden Democrats, are currently in the process of tightening up the rules for citizenship and permanent residency, with an inquiry in January this year proposing extending the residency requirement for citizenship from five to eight years, introducing a self-sufficiency requirement and requiring that applicants pass language and civics tests. The government and the Sweden Democrats also asked the inquiry to look into introducing some sort of mandatory oath of allegiance or other ceremony for prospective Swedish citizens, in part to raise the profile of citizenship and make it mean more to applicants. The inquiry decided against this, arguing that the voluntary ceremonies that each Swedish municipality holds for citizens each year are sufficient and that organising extra mandatory ceremonies would be too much of an administrative headache. That might not always be the case. The government has already hinted it may overrule the inquiry on citizenship ceremonies. But for now at least, ceremonies held by municipalities – which you may have received an invite for if you became a Swedish citizen in the past year – are just that: voluntary. Advertisement The Migration Agency recently brought in a mandatory requirement to attend an in-person ID check for citizenship applicants, but these are unrelated to the ceremonies organised by municipalities, which you're only invited to once you already have citizenship. So feel free to attend the ceremony on National Day if you want, or do something else with your extra day off if that suits you better. READ ALSO:
