The following text belongs to a campaign launched on 21 August 2026 on Skrivunder.com. The petition can be signed there.
The goal of this petition is twofold:
1. To put an end, as soon as possible, to the suffering of children in preschools who have faced insufficient food, and to prevent this situation from continuing.
2. To establish why the administrative, supervisory, political and judicial mechanisms failed, over more than a decade, to bring this issue to an end, and to correct the flaw that made this situation possible.
What is the problem?
In 2014, the investigative programme Uppdrag granskning broadcast a report in which, based on staff testimony and complaints from parents, children at some private preschools were at times given nothing but crispbread and water for breakfast.
In 2023, further reports were published about food shortages affecting children in preschools linked to the same owners.
When such reports reappear almost a decade apart, this is a clear sign of a structural flaw.
Why must this demand be made public now?
Because the revelations by the Swedish media, complaints from parents, and the efforts of human rights and children’s rights activists have yielded no results since 2012.
Under these circumstances, public pressure is the only remaining means of putting an end to the children’s suffering. Public pressure is necessary because violations of children’s rights are a matter of public concern, and society has both a duty to protect children’s rights and a right to know why the responsible institutions have failed to fulfil their duties.
How can these two goals be achieved?
An independent and impartial commission of inquiry must be established to determine why children continued to be kept hungry for years, and what reforms are necessary to correct the flaws.
However, the mistreatment of children is a problem facing society today. Resolving this issue cannot and must not be delayed until the conclusion of a lengthy inquiry. The children’s suffering must be brought to an end as soon as possible.
What makes a commission of inquiry effective?
To carry out its duties effectively, a commission must:
- Be chaired by a retired judge from the Supreme Court (Högsta domstolen) or the Supreme Administrative Court (Högsta förvaltningsdomstolen) so that it remains independent of the institutions it must examine;
- Be able to examine all relevant institutions within the supervisory, administrative, political, legal and judicial spheres;
- Not assign responsibility to any individual or institution in advance, yet ensure no relevant institution is excluded in advance from the scope of the inquiry;
- Have effective access to the necessary documents and information, and be able to obtain information from relevant individuals;
- And make the findings of the inquiry and its recommendations for reform public.
Call for signatures
If you too believe that the children’s suffering must not disappear into silence, and that a failure spanning more than a decade requires an answer and reform, please sign this petition.