This coming autumn ICJ-Sweden will examine questions about the rule of law concerning children in Sweden. Within the project “Swedish children today – a group of exceptions from procedural safeguards?” two panel discussions will be organised where matters concerning this topic will be discussed. The first discussion will take place on the 7th of October and focus on punishment of children within closed juvenile care. The second debate will take place on the 2nd of December and concern children’s right to damages and legal redress for children who have had their rights violated. Both discussions will be arranged in cooperation with the Swedish Improvisational Theatre (Improvisationsteatern) which will present a theatrical performance during each debate.
For about five years ICJ-Sweden has organised well-attended and popular seminars and debates at a theatre in central Stockholm. The most recent seminar was held in May 2010 and concerned the so called IPRED, (Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Directive) law which is based on the EU directive 2004/48/EG. In April 2009 new legislation on file sharing and downloading on the internet was adopted in Sweden. This gave rise a great deal of criticism, as some consider personal integrity to be at stake. With the new legislation one is allowed to ask internet providers for information about their customers’ internet activity. ICJ-Sweden arranged a seminar on this topic in May 2010. The main questions were: surveillance of downloading – an issue for the prosecutor or a dispute between the involved parties; and will our right to privacy be protected? Representatives from the Swedish Pirate Party and ICJ-Sweden, together with a public prosecutor, a federal lawyer and a PhD student participated. It was a very interesting and rewarding debate where all views on the law were expressed. In the end everyone agreed on the fact that an ongoing and close supervision on the implementation is needed.
The next planned debate will take place on the 7th of October and will concern children’s rights in Sweden today.
