No Spare Change

The Swedish government is facing a backlash after announcing plans this week to ban begging nationwide, with critics accusing it of trying to “outlaw poverty” and questioning the legality of such a measure, reported the Guardian.

The center-right coalition government and its far-right supporters said such a ban is necessary to restore peace to Sweden’s streets.

At a press conference on Monday, the far-right Sweden Democrats’ leader, Linda Lindberg, said people were coming to Sweden from other European Union countries “to beg outside our shops.”

“Begging had been rare in Sweden until the early 2010s when many EU citizens came from other countries to Sweden to beg,” Lindberg said, adding that this phenomenon leads to increased crime.

The government has appointed an official to determine how to legally implement the ban without violating human rights laws and will present their findings to the Swedish parliament in June 2025, according to Politico. If deemed legal, the government will implement the ban, said Lindberg.

A ban on begging was one of the promises of the Sweden Democrats in the national 2022 election, which along with the country’s three governing right-wing parties won a slim majority. The Sweden Democrats party provides outside support to the current government.

Fanny Stilberg, a spokesperson from the Stockholms Stadsmission, an organization that works with vulnerable people in the capital, argued that the ban would essentially make poverty a crime and would not address its root causes.

Meanwhile, human rights organizations said the government would likely face legal action if the proposal moves ahead.

Aida Samani, the deputy director of Civil Rights Defenders, said that banning begging would violate rights to self-determination and freedom of expression enshrined in European human rights law, according to the Guardian.

The proposal would have to be approved in parliament before becoming law, and already faces criticism from members of the governing coalition.