State Redress for Involuntary Sterilization in Sweden
Arvidsson, Malin LU
(2026)
p.95-111
- Abstract
In the context of an international trend of claims for historical justice, several aspects of Swedish contemporary history were re-evaluated in the 1990s. One of the most well-known examples is the heated political and scholarly debate on involuntary sexual sterilization, sparked by a series of critical newspaper articles in August 1997 that attracted international media attention and resulted in a political crisis for the Social Democratic government. In response, a Sterilization Committee was created to investigate different aspects of the former sterilization laws, and in 1999 the Swedish Parliament enacted a law that entitled victims of involuntary sterilization to a lump sum payment of 175, 000 SEK. This sum was not only to... (More)
In the context of an international trend of claims for historical justice, several aspects of Swedish contemporary history were re-evaluated in the 1990s. One of the most well-known examples is the heated political and scholarly debate on involuntary sexual sterilization, sparked by a series of critical newspaper articles in August 1997 that attracted international media attention and resulted in a political crisis for the Social Democratic government. In response, a Sterilization Committee was created to investigate different aspects of the former sterilization laws, and in 1999 the Swedish Parliament enacted a law that entitled victims of involuntary sterilization to a lump sum payment of 175, 000 SEK. This sum was not only to compensate for the physical injury-becoming sterile-but was also intended to have a symbolic value, a form of personal recognition. Before the law was passed, legal experts voiced concern that it might be used in the future as a precedent to make similar claims; the compensation was thus explicitly framed as an exception to Swedish legal standards. Despite this, it was immediately used to sustain an unsuccessful campaign to provide redress for victims of lobotomy. Such claims for state redress are often met by the counterargument that today’s politicians and taxpayers are not responsible for past decisions. The aim of this chapter is to provide an analysis of how different visions of time were mobilized by politicians and experts involved in commenting on and drafting the first compensation law. I will show that the decision to provide redress was not based on the acceptance of a legal liability for past injustices. Redress was granted ex gratia, i.e. as an act of grace, through temporary laws, rather than as an admission of legally established wrongdoing.
(Less)
- author
- Arvidsson, Malin
LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2026-01-01
- type
- Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
- publication status
- published
- subject
- host publication
- Times of Global Injustice : Temporalities of Power and Community Beyond Disciplinary Boundaries - Temporalities of Power and Community Beyond Disciplinary Boundaries
- pages
- 17 pages
- publisher
- Taylor & Francis
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:105033757273
- ISBN
- 9781040525289
- 9781032873770
- DOI
- 10.4324/9781003537571-6
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- additional info
- Publisher Copyright: © 2026 selection and editorial matter, Paolo Amorosa, Ville Erkkilä, and Karolina Stenlund; individual chapters, the contributors.
- id
- 66b9dd4f-2b33-4380-a152-d0ecd9b0d336
- date added to LUP
- 2026-05-26 13:46:41
- date last changed
- 2026-09-03 03:53:38
@inbook{66b9dd4f-2b33-4380-a152-d0ecd9b0d336,
abstract = {{<p>In the context of an international trend of claims for historical justice, several aspects of Swedish contemporary history were re-evaluated in the 1990s. One of the most well-known examples is the heated political and scholarly debate on involuntary sexual sterilization, sparked by a series of critical newspaper articles in August 1997 that attracted international media attention and resulted in a political crisis for the Social Democratic government. In response, a Sterilization Committee was created to investigate different aspects of the former sterilization laws, and in 1999 the Swedish Parliament enacted a law that entitled victims of involuntary sterilization to a lump sum payment of 175, 000 SEK. This sum was not only to compensate for the physical injury-becoming sterile-but was also intended to have a symbolic value, a form of personal recognition. Before the law was passed, legal experts voiced concern that it might be used in the future as a precedent to make similar claims; the compensation was thus explicitly framed as an exception to Swedish legal standards. Despite this, it was immediately used to sustain an unsuccessful campaign to provide redress for victims of lobotomy. Such claims for state redress are often met by the counterargument that today’s politicians and taxpayers are not responsible for past decisions. The aim of this chapter is to provide an analysis of how different visions of time were mobilized by politicians and experts involved in commenting on and drafting the first compensation law. I will show that the decision to provide redress was not based on the acceptance of a legal liability for past injustices. Redress was granted ex gratia, i.e. as an act of grace, through temporary laws, rather than as an admission of legally established wrongdoing.</p>}},
author = {{Arvidsson, Malin}},
booktitle = {{Times of Global Injustice : Temporalities of Power and Community Beyond Disciplinary Boundaries}},
isbn = {{9781040525289}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{01}},
pages = {{95--111}},
publisher = {{Taylor & Francis}},
title = {{State Redress for Involuntary Sterilization in Sweden}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781003537571-6}},
doi = {{10.4324/9781003537571-6}},
year = {{2026}},
}