Amnesty international has previously criticised Sweden’s treatment of vulnerable EU citizens and is concerned about what the Supreme administrative court decision could mean.
– It is liable to affect a specific group of roma from eastern Europe, very hard, ” says Johanna Westeson, who is an expert on discrimination at Amnesty.
Read more: Vellinge may have tiggeriförbud
– We see the risk that they will be forced even further out in the vulnerability and exclusion, and find it even more difficult to make a living.
just taken part of the judgment and be surprised by the content.
” It is astonishing that it does not take into människorättsdimensionerna at all.
Even at the Crossroads in the Malmö – Skåne Stadsmissions activities to EU citizens- is the disappointment was great.
” We do not see that a tiggeriförbud is the solution to anything. This is about people who live in extreme poverty, which need some way to make a living, ” says the head of unit Life to the Palm and continues:
– the Debate around the ban has led to a harsher climate. It is harder to get money and there are those who systematically verbally and physically attacking those who are sitting and begging. When this stuff has an impact, it can burn at such behavior, because it is legitimized.
is national coordinator for work with vulnerable EU citizens at the county administrative board in Stockholm. He does not want to evaluate the content – but says that the issue of the ban is difficult.
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“We have identified a number of serious consequences that can be linked to the vulnerability associated with begging, but there is no general prohibition of begging in Sweden and it is what we relate to,” he says.
– Many municipalities have asked for national guidance, but has been forced to pursue this on your own.