Hate crimes directed against Sweden's black population have increased in recent years, according to a report published on Monday, prompting grave concern from Sweden's integration minister.
Afrophobia, defined as hostility towards people with a background from sub-Saharan Africa, is soaring in Sweden, according to the researchers who compiled the government-commissioned report.
They wrote on Monday in the opinion pages of the Dagens Nyheter newspaper (DN) that it was time society took these statistics seriously.
Between 2008 and 2012, the number of reported hate crimes against Afro-Swedes, defined as anyone with African heritage living in Sweden, rose by 24 percent, while hate crimes in general during the same period decreased by six percent. Between 2011 and 2012 alone, the number of Afrophobic hate crimes rose by 17 percent, the researchers explained.
A prominent and recent example includes that of a 32-year-old Ghanian man who was
attacked with his toddler son on a bridge in Malmö. The unprovoked incident was labelled a hate crime because the attackers used racial slurs as they dangled the man over the bridge.
Sweden's African community is also discriminated against when it comes to housing and employment opportunities, the researchers noted.