Solidarity with Swedish protests against Informant Law

Dear Friends,

We stand side by side with the Swedish workers and civil society at large as they oppose the proposal for the immigration reporting law. Public service workers, teachers, doctors, social workers are there to tend to patients, to teach students, to help citizens, not to be informants of the authorities.

This proposal, which would require these workers to denounce to the police people in a suspected irregular situation (undocumented individuals, including children), is a perversion of their role in society. Moreover, this will make reaching for social and health services a risk for migrants. The result will be divisions and increased racism, and could result in a severe increase in social emergencies due to an insufficient social or health care provision by certain collectives.

The law, which threatens basic fundamental principles of human dignity and the ethical commitments of public workers, is morally wrong, and will be ineffective. Undocumented individuals will avoid public services, therefore worsening whatever situation they are in. We call on the Swedish government to reconsider this course of action: human dignity cannot be ignored and public service workers shall not be forced to do the dirty work of extremist politicians, regardless of their weight in parliament.

We fully support the protest and its call for a fair society where everyone is treated with dignity and respect.

In solidarity,

Lucie Studničná

President of the Workers' Group of the EESC