Swedish workplace magazine Arbetarskydd has highlighted an unusual weakness in the position of Sweden’s conscripts: although Pliktrådet represents them nationally, it is not a trade union and conscripts are not employees of the Armed Forces. Conscripts do not automatically receive every protection attached to employee status. Most strikingly, the Swedish government confirmed in 2025 that […]

Mohammad Rezai, 20, says fellow conscripts at Sweden’s Skaraborg Regiment P4 subjected him to repeated racist abuse, ostracism and ultimately death threats during his military service, Borås Tidning reports. Rezai, who has lived in Herrljunga since arriving aged five, says racial slurs were used as nicknames even over military radio. One night in May, drunken […]

More than 2,000 Swedish conscripts are injured annually. The armed forces claim the number rises as progressively larger conscript cohorts go through training, but based on data from previous years, the injury rate is increasing much faster than the number of soldiers. Julian Strömbäck from Umeå developed tinnitus after an automatic rifle was fired during […]