The Swevic project was a collaboration between the Swedish Police Authority and Victim Support Sweden. The project ran between January 1st, 2019, to December 31st, 2020, through funding by the EU Commission and The Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme. Leading party was the Swedish Police Authority.

Many hate crimes are never reported and victims often describe a low level of trust in the police. Few victims of hate crime contact traditional victim support services. But victims of crime have the right to recieve victim support – regardless of making a police report. The project aimed to contribute to an increased number of victims reporting the crimes to the police and also receiving victim support.

Another goal of project Swevic was to increase the public awareness of what constitutes a hate crime and what kind of support is available. This could be emotional support, help understanding the legal process, and information what happens after making a report.

Despite some difficulties to implement certain activities because of the covid-19 pandemic, the project has been deemed successful and reached its goals.

• The project has designed and adjusted best practice methods for meeting victims of crime, and the best practie has been disseminated throughout the organisations through a wide range of training activities.
• The project has resulted in reported increased knowledge about the organisations, and increased cooperation between the police and victim support, both at a local and national level. Through increased cooperation and knowledge about hate crime, victims can recieve a better, and more suitable, support.
• Part of the project included a campaign on social media. The campaign reached 1.8 million unique viewers and had the message ”Together against hate crime”. Surveys found that the public had seen the campaign and had increased awareness on hate crime and the support Victim Support Sweden can offer.

The final report of the project will be published in 2021.

Press here to look at some of the videos produced by project Swevic.

An e-learning course is available for both police and victim support, regarding hate crime victim support. This has been part of the training material produced within the project. The e-learning is in Swedish and available at Victim Support Sweden e-learning portal. To gain access to the course, or if you have other questions regarding the project, kindly contact Victim Support Sweden at info@boj.se.