The Swedish Evangelical Alliance (SEA), along with the European and the World Evangelical Alliance (EEA, WEA), submitted a joint report to the UN Human Rights Council for the 49th session of Universal Periodic Review (UPR) on Sweden, scheduled for May 2025.

The report talks about the right to freedom of religion in Sweden, “specifically with regards to the refoulment of Christian converts claiming asylum; conscientious objection in abortion for midwives; the right to religious education; religious slaughter; hate speech law; public funding to religious denominations; and expressing concerns about a proposed ban on conversion therapy”.

Christian asylum seekers

The signatory Alliances denounce that several have shown “a politicized and arbitrary procedure on asylum cases of Christian converts that does not comply with international law and with international standards for refugee status determination”.

Furthermore, many of those converts are “persecuted and harassed” at Swedish asylum centers, but “the national action plan against racism, similar forms of hostility and hate crimes, fails to address the situation of Christian refugees, while specific measures and affirmative action for other vulnerable groups are provided”.

That is why the report recommends to “thoroughly investigate religiously-based discrimination and harassment of asylum seekers”, and “take affirmative action to protect asylum seekers whose conversion is making them vulnerable to attacks by members ofthe religious faith they formerly adhered to”.

Midwives conscientious objection

According to the report, “Sweden is one of the rare countries where conscientious objection for medical personal unable to participate in abortions due to their convictions is not respected”.

They call on the Swedish government to “respect the freedom of conscience by applying a principle of reasonable accommodation with their requests not to refrain from acts that violate their deeply-held convictions, and provide for the right to exercise conscientious objection”.

Religious education

The Evangelical Alliances state that “even though religious education in Sweden is already limited in many ways, politicians regularly propose bans or stricter regulations on independent faith schools”.

“Respect the rights of parents to faith-based education for their children and refrain from restricting religious practices in faith-based schools”, they recommend.

Religious slaughter

The report explains that Swedish legislation does not allow kosher or halal slaughter, but individuals can import meat from other EU countries, so that, “the double standard is that animal husbandry and transport cannot be controlled, and the cost of the imported meat, both to the state and to individuals, is significantly higher”.

Because of that, they ask authorities to “allow religious slaughter, namely kosher and halal slaughter, in light of the right to freedom of religion as enshrined in the Swedish legal framework”.

Hate speech law

The recent incidents that took place in the county, where Qurans have been burned or desecrated, led to a national debate on whether those kind of acts should be criminalised.

For the Evangelical Alliances, “even if Quran burnings and religious satire are seen as vulgar, disrespectful, and derogatory by many, critical expressions about religion and other worldviews are unavoidable in an open and free society. Freedom of religion doesn’t mean freedom from religious criticism”.

That is why they recommend to “refrain from reintroducing new blasphemy laws, or using existing laws to prevent blasphemy, and guarantee both in law and practice freedom of expression and religion”.

Public funding to religious denominations

The Swedish government is in the process of introducing a proposal to deny churches and other religious bodies grants, just because that churches “don’t stand for democratic values”.

The report calls on the state to “grant that public funding to associations affiliated with religious communities that contribute to public good without discrimination or interference with their traditionally held religious beliefs, in accordance with Sweden’s international human rights obligations”.

Conversion therapy

The Evangelical Alliances stress that “all forms of coercion, including violence, abuse and torture, against LGBTQ+ people are reprehensible and must be condemned”.

But they warn that “such legislation would mean that religious representatives would be forced to say no to all LGBTQ+ people who seek their help, including those who on their own initiative wish to talk and pray about their sexuality or sexual identity”.

“Refrain from introducing vague definitions and concepts that could lead to violations of freedom of religion, including the right to have views and practices that are reasonable in a free and democratic society, such as prayer, proclamation and confidential dialogue in a religious context”, said the evangelical entities.