One way of acting is to send a letter or e-mail to event organizers and inform them that it is illegal to discriminate children and treat them in an offensive way due to the recommendation from authorities to require vaccination passes from their parents.
The text below is an example of such a letter or e-mail. Please customize the text according to your situation. Replace the text in parentheses with the name of the event organizer and activity which applies for your situation. Also think of a suitable phrase as e-mail subject or headline in your answer to the event organizer in question. It could be for example the name of the activity that the child will participate in.
Letter: Our Christmas Entertainment
To (organizer name)
Hello,
We are looking forward to (the reason for the event) and when you start planning the upcoming (event) I would like to remind you of a few things for the sake of the children.
The security and well-being of children are to a great extent dependent on how the adults act and behave. Therefore, children are granted a strong legal protection. Events involving children are controlled by more laws than events for grown-ups. When organizing an (event), (the/our organization) is obliged to comply with these laws for the children’s own good.
Children may not be subject to discrimination or special treatment due to circumstances concerning the child or its family members. These are regulations as given in Swedish law. To exclude the family members of some children from (event) violates this law. (the activity in question).
To request that family members show private, medical documents to enter a (activity) for children violates the children’s right to integrity as we have statutory privacy for citizens’ individual and private health and vaccination status. (See the privacy and secrecy legislation, Offentlighets- och sekretesslagen, provisions on children’ right to integrity.)
Do not give children special treatment with reference to their family members’ individual choices as regards optional medical treatment. This violates the school law. Do not let them have their private and family life exposed in front of the group. This violates both European and Swedish laws. (European Convention on Human Rights and Convention on the Rights of the Child.)
Together, we can create a secure and including (event) a memorable event for ALL of the children.
Yours sincerely
Your name
Letter: Do not give children discriminating or offensive treatment
To (organizer name)
Concerning your requirement for valid vaccination pass for participating family members at (name of event), we want to inform you of the following.
All children have equal rights. All children need encouragement, support, happiness and the feeling of being included with the rest of the group.
According to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, all children in Sweden are entitled to have their rights. The child must not be subject to discrimination due to circumstances concerning the child or its family members. Children may not be discriminated in relation to grown-ups or other children.
The protection against discrimination is one of the basic principles in the Convention on the Rights of the Child as expressed in Article 2. This means that every child living in Sweden have the same rights regardless of colour of the skin, gender, language, religion, political or other way of thinking, national, ethnic or social origin, property, disorder, descent or position in other respects. To discriminate children is also an action violating the child’s/pupil’s dignity according to the school law chapter 6 § 3. By excluding certain children’s family members from (the activity in question) you value children differently with reference to their family member’s personal choice or circumstances.
According to Swedish law, children have rights, and here the right to their integrity is included, which is stated on the web site of the government, for example paragraph 9.5 ”Right to integrity” Article 16:
1. No child must be subject to arbitrary or unlawful interventions in their private and family life, their home or their correspondence and neither for unlawful aggressions on their honour and reputation.
2. The child has the right to be protected by law against such intervention or aggression.
According to chapter 21 § 1 in the privacy and secrecy legislation (2009:400), a citizen’s individual and private health and vaccination status is classified as secret. By requesting that family members show private and medical documents in order to enter a (activity) for children, you violate the children’s right to integrity. In front of the group, they will have their private and family life exposed, in addition to being treated separately because of their family members’ individual choice concerning optional medical treatment. The respect for private and family life is also incorporated in the European Convention on Human Rights (in line with the established practice of the European Court of Human Rights) and EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.
A citizen feeling offended may claim damages from you in your role as event organizer. Here the burden of proof lies with the organizer. If the person or organisation requiring a vaccine pass cannot prove that this measure is not discriminating, they will be obliged to pay out discrimination damages (compensation for damages) to the discriminated person, according to Chapter 5 in the Discrimination law (Diskrimineringslagen).
On 27 January 2021, the Council of Europe signed its resolution 2361. In this resolution, it is decreed in item 7.3 that all 47 member states ensure that all citizens are informed that the covid-19 vaccination is not mandatory and that no one is in any way an object of pressure to be vaccinated, as long as it is not of the person’s own free will. In the same item, it is also expressed that “no one must be discriminated for not having taken the vaccine due to possible health hazards, or because the person simply does not want to be vaccinated”. (Source: Council of Europe: Resolution 2361 (2021).)
By deciding to demand vaccination passes for a (children’s activity), (name of organizer) when other provisions are possible, you infringe human rights and freedoms. But above all: You make children underage subject to discriminating and offensive treatment.
The interests of the children should be decisive for how events are arranged.
Yours sincerely
Your name
