A/HRC/55/47/Add.2 14. Sweden has a long-standing and strong engagement with relevant human rights mechanisms, and reports regularly on its human rights record. In concluding observations adopted by treaty bodies between 2016 and 2023 and the outcome document adopted in 2020 in the context of the universal periodic review, concerns were raised about continued reports of racist hate speech, in particular during election campaigns, in the media and online; about racist and xenophobic violence against Muslims, Jews, Swedes of African descent, Roma and the Sami; and incidents of religious intolerance, including physical attacks against persons belonging to religious minorities and attacks on their places of worship. 4 15. Sweden extended a standing invitation to the special procedures of the Human Rights Council in 2001, with eight mandate holders and the International Independent Expert Mechanism to Advance Racial Justice and Equality in Law Enforcement having visited the country since that date. 16. The Special Rapporteur welcomes the Government’s freedom of religion or belief initiatives at home and abroad. In 2021, Sweden hosted the Malmö International Forum on Holocaust Remembrance and Combating Antisemitism, where approximately 60 States and organizations made around 150 pledges to strengthen the fight against antisemitism. Sweden pledged to assume, and subsequently assumed, the Presidency of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance in 2022 and arranged plenary meetings and conferences. The Special Rapporteur also welcomes the 2016 appointment of the Swedish Special Envoy to the Intercultural and Interfaith Dialogue of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. IV. National laws, policies, institutions and practices 17. The Constitution of Sweden includes four fundamental laws with which no other laws or ordinances may conflict: the Instrument of Government, the Act of Succession, the Freedom of the Press Act and the Fundamental Law on Freedom of Expression. The Constitution provides for freedom to practice religion alone or in the company of others, mandates that there be no limitation of rights or freedoms on the grounds of religious opinion and instructs public institutions to combat discrimination based on religious affiliation. It promotes opportunities for the Sami people and ethnic, linguistic and religious minorities to preserve and develop a cultural and social life of their own. No one is obliged to belong to a religious community or divulge religious beliefs in relations with public institutions. 18. Discrimination on the grounds of religion or belief is prohibited in civil law, under the Discrimination Act (2008:567), whose purpose is to combat discrimination and promote equal rights and opportunities regardless of sex, transgender identity or expression, ethnicity, religion or other belief, disability, sexual orientation or age. Hate speech laws prohibit threats or expressions of contempt for persons on the basis of several factors, including religious belief. Penalties for hate speech range from fines to a prison sentence of up to four years, depending on the severity of the incident (see paras. 45–59). 19. Equality, democracy, neutrality, respect of privacy and the independence of institutions are key rights and values in Sweden. Authorities regularly describe freedom of religion or belief as private, separate and discrete. International human rights law, however, upholds rights as integral to, and reinforcing of, one another. Manifestation of freedom of religion or belief often overlaps with the freedoms of expression, assembly and association. Although the Constitution recognizes freedom of religion as absolute, it does not recognize manifestation of freedom of religion or belief as a stand-alone right. Therefore, in all cases where a claimant’s right to the expression (manifestation) of freedom of religion or belief should be upheld in Sweden, under the Constitution the claimant needs to demonstrate that the right has been violated in conjunction with another right, which would suggest restrictions on and possible infringements of manifestation of freedom of religion or belief. The Special Rapporteur draws attention to the obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights that recognize manifestation of religion or belief as key to the protection of that right. Such manifestation can only be legitimately limited in line with article 18 (3) of 4 4 See CRC/C/SWE/CO/6-7, CAT/C/SWE/CO/8, CEDAW/C/SWE/CO/10, CERD/C/SWE/CO/22-23, E/C.12/SWE/CO/6, CCPR/C/SWE/CO/7 and A/HRC/44/12. GE.24-04001