Recently, Swedish politicians have talked a lot about a Disclosure Act. Many make their voices heard, not least the professional groups that the law would apply to. And if you’ve tried to find out what the Act entails, you’ve probably seen that there are those that are both for and against it. So what does it mean to have a disclosure law and who will be affected by it? We’ll dig deeper into that below.
The Disclosure Act is a law that the Swedish Tidö parties want to introduce. It would force certain professional groups working in the public sector to report to the police and the Swedish Migration Agency if they were to meet people who are in Sweden without a permit. Professional groups that the Disclosure Act will apply to are, for example, teachers, healthcare staff and staff in social services. Today, these professional groups do not have to report if they come into contact with undocumented people. Many who work within these groups also have a duty of confidentiality, which goes against the Disclosure Act.
What happens if the Disclosure Act is introduced in Sweden?
If Sweden were to introduce a law that forces professional groups within the public sector to report undocumented people, it would affect the individual workers and not the workplace as a whole. In other words, each individual worker will be obligated to report undocumented people. This means that the consequences for those who don’t report undocumented people will also affect workers on an individual level. What those consequences may be has not been determined at this point. What is mainly discussed now is the possibility of introducing or preventing such a law.
Also, there are already other regulations that currently go against the Disclosure Act. In addition to the duty of confidentiality, it’s also against the Convention on the Rights of the Child to indicate children who doesn’t have a residence permit in Sweden. That’s why it’s difficult to predict how an act like this would work in real life. And if it’s even possible without compromising certain democratic rights people in Sweden have today.
