The government is going ahead with the proposal that municipalities and authorities should be obliged to report undocumented people to the police. The plans receive sharp criticism.
The Liberals’ party leader Johan Pehrson assumes, however, that certain activities will be exempt from the notification obligation.
– I don’t want to preempt it, but the Tidö agreement states that exceptions can be made. Healthcare is then mentioned, but it is also mentioned in the plural context.
– I assume that it is not the municipal garbage disposal that is intended, says Johan Pehrson.
Obligation to register, or obligation to provide information, is an issue where the Sweden Democrats’ and Liberals’ attitudes differ, with SD wanting a stricter line and L wanting to see exceptions for certain businesses.
“The Convention on the Rights of the Child Central”
The Tidö Agreement states that a proposal must be drawn up for how authorities and municipalities must be obliged to inform the Migration Agency and the police when they come into contact with people who are staying illegally in Sweden.
It also states: “There may be situations where a report would conflict with cherished values, for example in healthcare.”
Sweden’s Radio’s Ekot recently reported that the directives for the investigation have been completed. According to the radio, the investigator does not receive any instructions in advance about which activities are to be excluded.
But there will likely be exceptions, according to Johan Pehrson – not just in healthcare.
– For the Liberals, the Convention on the Rights of the Child is central, it is also a Swedish law. It is an international convention that we are bound to respect, I assume that it will also be done in this work, he says.
“Authoritarian system”
Migration Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard (M) has said that the obligation to provide information is “a genuinely difficult issue” but that she is convinced that it is required to reduce the shadow society.
The government’s plans have been met with sharp criticism from the opposition, and on Wednesday the Social Democrats’ member of parliament Morgan Johansson wrote on X, formerly Twitter: “An inhumane proposal, foreign to Sweden and taken from extreme authoritarian systems.”
The Center’s party leader Muharrem Demirok has also stated: “In the Sweden of the Tidö government, teachers will be forced to report their students, healthcare workers must report people in need – and be punished if they refuse. An insult to teachers, nurses and social workers. The Tidö boat steers closer and closer to the abyss of decency.”
Trade unions such as the Medical Association and Sweden’s teachers have also criticized the plans and said that it is not part of a teacher’s professional role to report students.