Racism and xenophobia: difficulties facing the courts in Ireland and Sweden in dealing with ethnic minorities

• Author: Clare Leonard
• Position: Judge of the District Court
• Pages: 110-124

RACISM AND XENOPHOBIA:

DIFFICULTIES FACING THE COURTS

IN IRELAND AND SWEDEN

IN DEALING WITH ETHNIC MINORITIES

JUDGE CLARE LEONARD*

I. INTRODUCTION

In May 2001, six judges from the Irish District Court1

travelled to Sweden to meet with their Swedish counterparts

and to visit the Chief Prosecutor's office, the Bar Association

and the Ministry of Justice. This project began as an initiative

by the Judges of the District Court in Ireland, organised with

the co-operation of both the National Courts Administration

and the Ministry of Justice in Sweden and established under

the auspices of the Grotius programme of the European

Commission, with the support of the Irish Judicial Studies

Institute. It is proposed to commence this report by the

provision of comparative data relating to the two countries. A

brief aperçu of both country’s experiences of immigration

will be recounted. Each stage of the initiative will then be

detailed, before concluding by issuing a number of

recommendations.

II. OBJECTIVE

The specific focus of the project was to examine the

difficulties confronting courts in dealing with ethnic

minorities and the issues of racism and xenophobia, by

comparing social and judicial trends and discussing proposals

for reforms of existing legislation, and the report will focus

110 Judicial Studies Institute Journal [2:1

1 For a list of all participants in this project, see Appendices I, II and III.

* Judge of the District Court. This is the report of a Grotius Programme visit to

Sweden by the judges of the Irish District Court organised by Judge

Leonard, 28 May-1 June, 2001.