Children´s rights and Swedish family policy

People in Sweden live together in different ways.
A man and a woman live together,
A man and another man live together,
A woman and another woman live together.

Some people live alone, or
in a small family with not many children,
in a large family with many children,
where not all of them have the same parents,
and some people live in families that have
children, parents and grand-parents.

Children´s rights

(Barns rättigheter)

The UN  Convention on the Rights of the Child (FN:s barnkonvention)


The United Nations, UN
has a convention about children´s rights
The UN said yes to it in 1989.

All countries in the world have said yes
except the USA and Somalia.

Swedish policy often follows the UN convention.
The Convention gives each child rights.
It protects the child and says:

  • No child must be discriminated against because of where it was born its sex or religion, or if it is handicapped.
  • When public authorities decide something about a child, they must always think what is best for the child.
  • Children and young people have the right to life to grow up at their own speed and do what they can do.
  • Children and young people can say what they think about things that have to do with them.

The Convention on the Rights of the Child says
that the state must make sure that each child gets
its rights.
The state must support families,
make it easier for them and
look after their children in the best way.

Swedish laws (Svenska lagar)


The Social Services Act in Sweden
(socialtjänstlagen)
and the Parent Code (föräldrarbalken)
give protection
to children in our society.

The Social Services Act and the Parent Code
say that people younger than 18 years old
are children.

Parent Code (Föräldrabalken)


The Parent Code says that
all children have the right to care, security,
education, food, housing and training.

The person in charge of the child
is responsible for making sure
that the child gets the things
it has the right to.

You are not allowed to hit children.
Parents must not do wrong things
to their children.

Social Services Act (Socialtjänstlagen)


The municipality must make sure
that all children in the municipality
are well looked after.

The Social Office in the municipality must
do something if a child is not well looked after
or suffers from violence
or if the person caring for it can not give the child
the things the child has a right to.
This is what the Social Services act says.

If the parents do not give the child food
or if a parent hits the child,
does violence or other bad things
the Social Office in the municipality
can do something.

If a child is not well looked after,
the Social Office will work together
with the family to make sure that the child
gets the help and protection the child needs.

What is best for the child decides (Barnets bästa styr)


It is always whqt is best for the child that decides
what the Social Office does.
The Social Office can give the family
advice and support.
They can give treatment and medical care.

Sometimes the child can fell better if it
gets to live and have care outside the home.
If the Social Office and the parents or
the person who cares for the child can not
agree about what they will do,
the Social Office has see what the child
needs and give it to the child, even if
the parents or the person who
cares for the child do not agree.

Sometimes the Social Office will say
that the child needs to be looked after
outside its home, even if the family
does not want this.

Then the Care of Young People Act (LVU)
says that The Social Office can
ask a court to decide.
Both the family and the child are
given legal help, usually by a lawyer.
The court (Länsrätten) will then decide
if the child should be taken away
for care outside the home or not.

The Social Services Act says
that all grown ups must say if
they think a child has problems.

Everybody who works with children
in a municipality for the county
council or state must say if
they think a child is badly treated.

Honour-related violence (Hedersrelaterat våld)


Honour-related violence and repression
are found in societies or groups where
the fathers lead the families strongly and
other people in the outer family want
to keep up the family honour.

Girls and young women suffer from
honour-related repression but boys also
suffer if they go against family traditions

When fathers lead strongly
and a woman is pushed down,
her honour is tied to her sexuality.

It is important for the family to control
the young women´s sexual behaviour.
The family want to protect their honour together.
Brothers and male cousins are forced
to control their sisters.
If the boys do not to this, they will
also be punished.

Both parents protect the honour (Båda föräldrarna skyddar hedern)


The woman in the family has to bring the
children up and gets the blame if a child
does something that hurts the family´s honour.

This means that both men and women in a family
push down the family´s girls and young women,
and also the boys.

Honour-related violence and repression is
not allowed in Sweden.
People who hit, threaten, force or murder
in the name of honour
will be punished by Swedish Law.

If people who work in a school, child care,
Social Office and other public authorities
meet children they think are not happy
they must say so.

Swedish society does a lot to protect
people who have been affected
by honour-related violence
and repression in Sweden.

Female genital mutilation (Kvinnlig könsstympning)


Female genital mutilation is a
crime against human rights
and it is not allowed in Sweden.

It is also not allowed to
travel to another country
to do the mutilation.

The law which bans female genital
mutilation came into force in Sweden on
1 July 1998. Anybody who breaks the
law can be put in prison for 4 years.

If you help somebody else to do
the damage in another country,
you can also be punished for the crime.

Female genital mutilation is when
somebody cuts away small or large
parts of the woman´s sexual organs.
It is dangerous for the woman´s health,
both for her body and her mind.

Right after female genital mutilation,
the woman can bleed a lot, she can
loose a lot of blood, come into
shock and get infections.

Other organs and nerves can be
damaged. Sometimes, girls die.

When the girl is grown up, she
can find it difficult to have sex
and give birth to children,
her mind can also be damaged.

Male circumcision (Manlig omskärelse)


Male circumcision is permitted in Sweden,
if it is done the right way
and in a safe situation.

Male circumcision is when somebody
cuts away the foreskin on the penis
by a surgical operation.

Boy´s parents must say yes
and they must be given information
about what circumcision means.

A boy who is old enough to say
what he wants must not be
circumcised if he does not want to.
Even if the parents want to,
the law says they must
not go against what the boy wants.

Marriage (Äktenskap)


In marriage, both people will look after
the home and their children together.
The marriage code says that they must
share what everything costs and both
must help each other in the home.

In Sweden, nobody is allowed to be
married before they are 18 years old.
If you are under 18 years, you can ask
the County Administrative Board
to let you get married.

A man and a woman can be married to each other,
two women can be married to each other,
and two men can be married to each other.

Parents must not marry their children or grandchildren.
Full brothers and sisters must not marry each other.
Half brothers and sisters must ask
the County Administrative Board
to let them get married.
You are not allowed to be married to
two people at the same time in Sweden.

Consideration of impediments to marriage (Hindersörövning)


Before you get married, the Tax Office will look
to see there is nothing to stop you from being married.
This is called consideration of impediments
(hindersprövning). The Tax Office will see
if the are any things that the law says
you must not be married to each other.

During the actual marriage ceremony,
both people have to be there together
and both must say Yes
to being married.
After both of them have said Yes,
the marriage official says that they are now married.

Not everybody is allowed to do marriages.
The people who are allowed to do marriages are:

  • Priests in the Swedish Church
  • Priests in other churches who have been allowed by the County Administrative Board
  • Judges at the District Court
  • Other people who the County Administrative Board have allowed, like representatives from political parties.

Marriages can also be celebrated in other countries, at Swedish Embassies.

Divorce (Skilsmässa)


Marriage ends when one of the married
people dies, or after a divorce.
If you or your partner wants the marriage to end,
you have to ask the District Court for a divorce.

Most times, you have to think about it for 6 months.
You must have time to think about it if you have children
under 16 years or if one of you wants time to think.
After the six months, one of you
must say to the District Court
that you still want a divorce.
If there are no children,
and both want to,
the County Court will end the
marriage as soon as possible.

Care of children after a divorce (Vårdnad om barn vid skilsmässa)


In marriage, both parents have care
of their children.
If they ask for a divorce, both parents
must say if they want to care for the children
together, of if only one of the parents will
care for the children alone.

If one of the parents says no to caring together,
the Court will decide if one
or both parents will care for the children.

When the Court decides, then must
think what is best for the children.
The Court must specially think if there
is a chance the child can be hit, badly
treated or be hurt in other ways.

The Court must also think about the
child´s need for close and good contact
with both its parents.

If the child is older, they can think about
what the child wants itself, but the child
must never be made to choose.

Cohabitation Act (Sambolagen)


Two people of the same or different sex
who live together in a relationship but
are not married to each other, but who
have the same household, are said
to cohabit.

The Cohabitation Act says what each
of them has the right to take,
from what they own together,
if they want to move apart.

The couple can ask for their property
to be divided. One of them can ask the
District Court (Tingsrätten) to give them
somebody to distribute their estate
(decide who gets what).
The Estate Distributor looks and decides
what each person has the right to take
after a separation.

Women´s shelter (Kvinnojour)


Men´s violence to women is a difficult problem
for all of society.
There are women´s shelters all over Sweden
which help women who have been hit or threatened.

You can talk to somebody who can give you support
and get answers to your questions about police reports
or who has the care of your children.

Many women´s shelters can give women emergency
help with a protected place to live.
All women´s shelters have an emergency
telephone number you can ring.
You do not have to say your name
and they do not register the calls.

Sexuality (Sexualitet)

A question of health and freedom (En fråga om hälsa och frihet)


Sexuality is important for many people
and it is important for many people´s health
that they can be safe and secure with their sexuality.

For this reason, there are lessons about sexuality
and living together in Swedish schools.
Society gives help with family planning
and health care for mothers.

In Sweden, we think that sexuality is
a natural part of a loving relationship
even if the people are not married
or do not live together.

Men and women have equal right
to fall in love
and be with the person
they are interested in.

Men and women can decide themselves
who they want to be together with.

Nobody is allowed to use force (Ingen får tvinga)


Nobody has the right to force somebody else to have sex.

The law does not allow you to use force
to have sex with another person
This is called rape.

Most rapes in Sweden do not happen when somebody
is attacked by a person they do not know.
They happen in a relationship with a
husband or boyfriend.

Women often do not want to report this sort of rape.
But being raped by your husband
or boyfriend is just as wrong
as being raped by an unknown man.

Men can also be raped.
Either by a woman or by another man.

A woman´s or a man´s No
is always a No.
Each one of us decides
about our own body.

Sexually transmitted diseases (Könssjukdomar)


Having sex with somebody can
give you a sexually transmitted disease, STD.

STDs can infect you through your sexual organs,
through the mouth or the anus,
and in some cases through blood.

STD´s sometimes only give small
or no problems.
But they can cause reactions
they can make you sterile, so you can not have children,
and you can be infected by HIV.
HIV is the virus that leads to AIDS.

So it is important to ask
a doctor to examine you if you
believe you have been infected.

Where to go? (Vart ska du gå?)


You can be examined at a young person´s clinic,
other clinics, skin or venereal disease clinic,
maternity clinic or women´s clinic.

The Swedish Law for Communicable Disease Control
requires that you have yourself examined if you believe
you are infected. You must also inform those that you
have had sexual relationships with that you are infected.

One way of protecting yourself against venereal diseases
is to use condoms.
Condoms protect both against venereal diseases and against
becoming pregnant.

Contraceptives (Preventivmedel)


Women can use contraceptives such as
birth control pills, coils, implants or
diaphragms to avoid pregnancy.
But these contraceptives do not protect
against venereal diseases.
Only condoms provide this protection.

You can receive help and support in choosing
the contraceptive that suits you best at youth
clinics, district health centres, gynaecology
clinics and maternity clinics.

Homosexuality (Homosexualitet)


Homosexual relationships between adults
have been legal in Sweden since 1944.
In 1979, the Swedish Board of Health and
Welfare stopped terming homosexuality as a disease.

Nonetheless, there are still many biases against
homosexuals. Homosexuals risk being subjected
to violence and threats of violence, and discrimination.

To stop this, there are now several laws to protect
the rights of homosexuals.
 
Homosexuals may marry in Sweden.
In 2002, the Swedish Parliament gave homosexual
couples the right to become adoptive parents.

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