Everyone´s is entitled to basic human rights.

Innocence project for minorities (IPM) believe in a Sweden where every citizen is entitled to a life of security and freedom. A Sweden where the rule of law and justice is the norm for everyone regardless of your gender, ethnic background or religion, we are not there yet.

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Is everyone safe in Sweden today?

We believe in empowering civil society and holding the justice system accountable for the violations that happen in the name of the state. We belive in redemption and vindication for people that have been wrongfully incarcerated in the form of new trials and legal remedies.

About us

Innocence project for minorities is a non profit organization that fights for individual rights against the state. Our longterm goal is to coordinate between relevant actors in Swedish society in order to support individuals that are faced with unlawful and illegal practices.
Sweden today is a country that regularly commits abuses against minorities through agencies such as the police, prosecutors, courts and social services. Most of the abuses are commited by agencies that in many cases operate through indivuals unconcious biases. The issue comes when unconcious biases lead to inprisonment, lack of investigation and human rights violations.

These institutions have been free to commit abuses for years without proper oversight and consequences. The agencies that are charged with supervising the "justice system" have become toothless and as such crimes against humanity is a regular occurence within the system. This is something we want to change.

What we want:

We want to see a shift in how Swedish authorities deal with matters as it relates to anti-racism activities. We want government agencies to work actively to adress grievences and that individuals have clear ways to get vindication & reparation.
We want:

Government agencies such as the police, prosecutors, courts have to go through anti-racism education before they are allowed to serve. Special focus needs to be put on judges and prosecutors, this education needs to be regular.

Agencies such as JO, JK, DO need to coordinate their work more efficiently when it comes to human rights and take a bigger responsability in safeguarding peoples rights.

Agencies need to follow up and document how ethnic background affects likelyhood of conviction and incarceration. Prosecutors behavior when dealing with minorities should also be examined region by region.

Sweden needs an independent body that adresses and approves new trials. The Swedish supreme court is not an independent body and as such is not qualified to make such decisions, this is also their own assessment.

A special unit should be established at the prosecutor´s office that reviews previous cases, decisions and prosecutes individuals who in their government role commited human rights violations and violated peoples right to a fair investigation and trial. Extra focus needs to be put on prosecutors who in the Swedish justice system have enormous unchecked power.

Funding to goverment agencies and civil society working towards safeguarding human rights in Sweden need to be increased significantly.

Justitiekanslern (JK) should start a special damages fund for people that have been falsely incarcerated and make the process more open and accessible.

People´s stories

The american experience differs significantly from the swedish one, however the two countries have many similarities when it comes to how they deal with minority groups. For example, the expansion of the Swedish state to the north of the country lead to the suffering and wealt theft from Samer, an indigenous swedish people, similar to the US. These practises are deep-rooted in the Swedish state and have not been properly adressed. Abuses today are mainly against black and brown Swedes but unlike the US there is no recognition that this is a major problem facing hundreds of thousands of Swedish citizens. Sweden lacks proper mechanism to deal with this issue as it doesn´t correlate with their sense of self and the image of the "gentle swede".

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