Sweden fights misinformation about “kidnappings” of Muslim children
Swedish authorities retaliate against allegations that their social services “kidnap” Muslim children and condemn a “disinformation campaign” with viral videos that spread distrust among immigrant families.
Videos began appearing on Arabic-language social media in late 2021 of real-life intervention by child welfare services, showing crying children being separated from upset parents.
With a limited context around the situations depicted, the videos accuse Sweden of being a fascist state where the social services place Muslim children in Christian homes with pedophiles or where they are forced to drink alcohol and eat pork.
After the media from the Middle East reported on the allegations, Swedish government officials and the social services have come out in force to deny the accusations.
– We absolutely do not do that, says Minister of Migration and Integration Anders Ygeman to AFP and emphasized that the main goal was to support families.
Ygeman said the campaign was partly fueled by “frustrated parents who have failed in their parenting” and projected their anger at the authorities.
– “malicious forces” –
“There are also malicious forces that want to exploit these parents’ frustration to spread mistrust and division,” he said.
Sweden’s newly created Psychological Defense Authority has described many of the films as old, and presents a false context with a “purpose to polarize”.
Magnus Ranstorp, terrorism expert at the Swedish National Defense College, tells AFP that the campaign was primarily based on a Facebook group called “Children’s Rights My Rights”, where parents share experiences of having their children “unfairly” removed from their care.
Radical imams in Sweden and abroad intercepted the stories, as did a new political fringe party, Nuance, which has made the forced abduction of children a cry for the general election in September.
Muslim online influencers with millions of followers also joined the fight, as did the Arab site “Shuoun Islamiya” (“Islamic Issues”), which has published about 20 videos.
Several protests have also been held around Sweden.
Ranstorp said that although there may be some legitimate criticism of the social services, the harsh rhetoric in the media posts was “inciting”.
Julia Agha, head of the Arabic-language news media Alkompis based in Stockholm, has followed the campaign closely.
– To begin with, it was probably intended as a campaign where families of those whose children have been taken care of have felt unfairly treated and wanted to criticize the social services, she tells AFP.
“What has happened is that this campaign has fallen into the hands of forces abroad that have put a religious filter over it and spread disinformation, which now looks more like a hate campaign against Sweden and Swedish society.”
– ‘Integration challenges’ –
The National Board of Health and Welfare, which supervises the social services, insists that it is always a last resort to remove children from their homes.
It is only done “when voluntary measures are not possible and there is a significant risk that the child’s health or development is harmed”, the agency tells AFP in an email.
In 2020, a total of 9,034 children were in state care without the parents’ consent, official statistics show.
Researchers and social workers have noted that although more immigrant children are removed from their homes than ethnic Swedes, immigrant families are also less likely to accept earlier stages of help from social workers.
Sweden is often hailed as a pioneer in children’s rights and was the first country to ban corporal punishment of children, including beatings, in 1966.
But critics say that dismissing the issue as disinformation ignores real problems with the social services.
Mariya Ellmoutaouakkil, 35, who immigrated to Sweden 12 years ago from Morocco, organized a protest outside the social services office in her hometown of Gallivare last year, after two of her three children were taken out of her care.
She told AFP that her son, 10, and daughter, six, were taken after the social services alleged domestic violence.
She said the decision was not based on evidence, only on social workers’ interviews with the children she has never met.
The social services do not usually comment on individual cases.
Ellmoutaouakkil said she understood that her children had not been “kidnapped”, but that she understood why some people use the term.
“It can start to feel like a kidnapping for me as a mother,” she said. “When we as parents do not get an answer, I can understand that they call it that.”
Sweden has fought for years to integrate immigrants.
The rich country with 10.4 million granted asylum and family reunifications to more than 400,000 people from 2010 to 2019 – more per capita than any other European country.
– Sweden still has many integration challenges, not least when it comes to segregation, says Agha to AFP.
She said that many immigrants struggle to learn Swedish, live in areas where they only interact with other immigrants and do not feel part of Swedish society.
vk-jll / po / bp