resettlement quota; 1,311 Afghans came to INDIGENOUS PEOPLE’S RIGHTS Projects to extract minerals, increase logging Sweden as quota refugees in 2021. and develop wind power proceeded in the CORPORATE ACCOUNTABILITY north despite, in many cases, having failed to obtain consent from the Sami Indigenous In November, the Swedish Prosecutor people of affected regions. Several projects brought formal charges against two risked devastating effects on reindeer-herding representatives of the oil company Lundin Sami communities. Energy (formerly Lundin Oil AB) for In September, the government presented a complicity in war crimes in South Sudan. The legal proposal on the right to consultation for trial had not started by the end of the year. the Sami people on matters potentially . affecting them. The proposal did not incorporate the principle of free, prior and informed consent and included exceptions to SWITZERLAND the obligation to consult. Swiss Confederation LGBTI PEOPLE’S RIGHTS Head of state and government: Guy Parmelin In November, the government presented a draft bill on legal recognition of gender A government-commissioned investigation identity based on self-identification. The bill, into the ill-treatment of asylum seekers by which separated the process of changing private security staff in federal asylum one’s legal gender from the medical centres found some cases of excessive use procedure, had been revised following of force, and made recommendations for criticism from the Council on Legislation in reform. Parliament tightened control of 2018. arms exports to countries in conflict. MASS SURVEILLANCE Activists protesting with tactics involving civil disobedience faced prison sentences. In November, the government announced Following a popular vote, same-sex couples proposals giving police powers to use camera were granted the right to equal marriage. surveillance, interception and house Another two referendums, however, searches without suspicion of crime. Another confirmed draconian anti-terrorism laws and proposal included provisions expanding the a ban on full-face veils in public. mandate of private security guards to use BACKGROUND force in upholding law and order. There were concerns that this proposal lacked In September, following a 20-year campaign procedural safeguards for individuals and by civil society, parliament accepted a increased the risk of racial profiling. government proposal to create a national human rights institution (NHRI). Details of REFUGEES’ AND MIGRANTS’ RIGHTS the institution’s statute and financing were In July, changes to the Aliens Act entered still to be drafted, and the NHRI is expected into force, imposing new requirements that to take up its work in 2023. greatly restricted the ability of refugees and migrants to exercise family reunification REFUGEES’ AND MIGRANTS’ RIGHTS rights – one of the few safe and legal Amnesty International research exposed pathways to protection in Sweden. abuses by private security staff against Also in July, authorities halted forcible people housed in federal asylum centres, and returns to Afghanistan. In August, the identified systemic failures in the running of government temporarily changed the rules to the centres.1 Fourteen asylum seekers enable people in Afghanistan to be part of the interviewed, including two children, described abuses including beatings and Amnesty International Report 2021/22 351