Information for those who've been exposed to crime

Everyone has the right to be who they are, and to live their lives as they wish. This is an important right for all people, both children and adults. It applies to everyone, no matter what family they belong to or where they were born and raised.

The freedom to develop into who you want to be

Parents have a responsibility to support and guide their children so that they can cope with life. Parents have the right to an opinion on the choices their children make. What parents think are good choices may differ from one family to another. This may depend on the parents’ background, such as the traditions they themselves have grown up with. It doesn’t matter what your parents’ values and traditions are, as long as you are allowed to develop into the person you want to be.

The older you become, the more freedom and scope you should have to make your own choices. The fact that young people can take more responsibility for their lives and choices than younger children is an important part of the path to adulthood.

In some families, children and young people are not given more freedom and therefore do not have the scope to become the people they want to be. Some children and young people feel that their freedom diminishes as they get older, and that their family prevents them from making their own choices. This can include parents deciding which clothes their children wear, which lessons they can attend at school, and which other children and young people they can socialise with.

Film about honour-based violence and oppression (in Swedish)

Devin Rexvid is a senior lecturer and researcher at Stockholm University. In this film, he explains what honour-based violence and oppression is, what it can consist of, and what violence and oppression can look like. He also explains what support and help is available for victims.

10,34

About honour-based violence and oppression

Transcript

Yes, honour-based violence and oppression is a form of violence and oppression that is carried out to preserve or restore violated honour. And that requires a brief description of what honour is, and why honour is so important that people are prepared to resort to violence and oppression in order to defend it.

My name is Devin Rexvid, and I’m a researcher who specialises in honour-based oppression and violence. I’ve carried out several studies within this field.

In most societies, honour is seen as something positive. However, the positive aspects differ in different societies, and at different times. In contemporary Sweden, for many people honour means being honest, doing the right thing, not taking advantage of the system, and so on. But that’s not the case in other contexts. There, honour is primarily associated with the ability of brothers, fathers and male relatives to control women’s bodies, behaviours and sexuality. And in that kind of context, honour is the highest value. It’s more important than life, and more important than freedom. It becomes a matter of life and death – or of life or death. The most desirable thing in society.

I may be an honest man, and I may be a successful man, but if I can’t convince the rest of the collective – those who share the same concepts of honour and dishonour, shame and shamelessness – I lose my honour. I don’t benefit much from the other positive values, the qualities such as honesty, trustworthiness, hospitality and success in education or employment, and so on. The most important thing is my ability to control the sexuality of the women around me, in order to be considered an honest, respectable man.

Some scholars describe honour culture as an ideal of violence. That it is legitimate – and socially sanctioned – to resort to violence to maintain one’s honour or to restore violated honour.

It is a form of oppression and violence that is used to preserve or restore honour. This is achieved via various so-called control mechanisms. And to put it very simply, you could say that honour-based oppression and violence has two distinct aspects. On the one hand, there is violence and oppression based on the ideal of innocence, which includes unmarried women of any age. An attempt is made to maintain this ideal by separating the sexes at home, during leisure time, at school, at preschool, at work and in public spaces – in other words, there is gender segregation. The ideal of innocence is also upheld through early marriage, child marriage, forced marriage and cousins intermarrying, mainly in order to keep the property of the family, of the relatives, within the group itself.

Alongside gender segregation and marriage traditions, we also have female genital mutilation, which is done to reduce a girl’s sexual desire. It is done to make her associate her sex with pain, with perceiving it as a source of shame, impurity, dirtiness, and so on.

So all these control mechanisms involve elements of oppression, in the form of limitations, constraints and restrictions that prevent the individual from self-actualising, from developing their physical abilities, their cognitive abilities, and their emotional and social abilities, but also acts of violence, ranging from sexual violence in the context of genital mutilation, virginity checks and forced hymenoplasty, to exposure to sexual abuse in the context of child marriage and forced marriage, and – in the most extreme cases – honour killing if a female relative transgresses the norms of honour and brings dishonour upon the family. So then you are prepared to physically kill her to prevent social death, whereby the men in the family die in the eyes of those around them, and they are seen as worthless, as nobodies.

Honour-based violence can take the form of physical violence, mental violence, sexual violence, symbolic violence and material violence.

Let us take physical violence as an example. This can involve forced virginity checks, kicking and punching, or assaults using objects that are usually associated with uncleanliness and dirt: slippers, a dustpan, a broom or a shoe horn. It can also involve acid attacks to disfigure the face. It can involve the forced shaving of women’s hair, genital mutilation, and in extreme cases honour killing – the physical elimination of an individual who has brought dishonour upon the family.

Mental violence can also take many forms. The victim is made invisible. A daughter who has been seen with a boy, for example, or has had a boyfriend, or had sex before marriage, is made invisible. Nobody talks to her. “We never had a daughter by that name.” She is not allowed to sit at the dinner table, or she is made to sit with her back to the TV. She is not allowed to participate in family activities. She is called abusive names. Unlawful threats of various kinds are made: “We’ll send you away” (to her parents’ former home country), or “We’ll make your life hell”. Punishments are threatened, piling enormous psychological pressure on the victim. There are many more examples of mental violence in this context.

Moving on to sexual violence, I’ve already mentioned forced virginity checks, genital mutilation and forced hymenoplasty. But there’s also incest, rape, sexual assault and sexual abuse that may also be perpetrated by men outside the family who can exploit the victim’s vulnerability to honour-based oppression and violence. It could be a former boyfriend: “If you don’t keep having sex with me, I’ll contact your family, your relatives, and tell them that you had sex with me voluntarily. Or I’ll send these intimate pictures to your family and relatives.” A blackmail situation. And what is specific to honour culture is that when women and girls are sexually abused, whether it be incest or sexual assault, it is usually them who are punished, including by their own families. So in some ways, being a victim of sexual abuse in an honour context is a double-edged sword.

Moving on to economic violence, this involves not being allowed to go out and work, for example, and becoming dependent on male relatives: brothers, fathers or husbands. It can involve not being able to use your own financial assets and resources, even if you go out and work. Women’s bank cards are kept in their father’s or husband’s wallets. But it can also involve destroying objects that are important to the victim.

So that’s the kind of violence that can be perpetrated against the victims. That’s the part of honour-based oppression and violence that we call honour-based violence. Then there’s the oppression aspect, which warrants a chapter in itself.

You could say that it takes the form of everyday limitations that ultimately cause the individual to die mentally. For example, when you are not allowed to dress the way you want, when you are not allowed to spend time with any of your friends, when you have no free time after school, when you are not allowed to use your body to dance, or to play sports, when you are not allowed to have sex, be in love or have relationships, to develop emotionally and so on, you die. You wither away as an individual. That’s what I mean by mental death, as opposed to physical death as the result of honour-based oppression and violence.

If you are a victim of honour-based oppression and violence, you can talk to a teacher at school, a school nurse, a counsellor, a youth clinic or social services. In dangerous situations, where you risk being subjected to criminal acts such as assault or unlawful threats, you can also contact the police.

As well as the authorities and officials, there are also several voluntary organisations that can offer help and support.

You have the right to go to school

Children and young people have a right to education. This means that all children should be able to go to school. It also means that all children should be able to attend all lessons, even if their parents do not want them to. Sweden has a concept called ‘compulsory schooling’. Compulsory schooling means that children should attend all teaching at compulsory school level, in other words up to and including year nine. Both schools and parents have a responsibility to ensure that children attend all teaching at compulsory school level.

Some children and young people have parents who do not want to allow them to attend certain lessons. This could involve physical education lessons or sex education teaching at school, for example. However, parents must not prevent their children from attending lessons.

The freedom to love who you want

Everyone has the right to love whoever they want. This also means that you have the right to choose how you want to live you life, and with whom. Your family should not be able to decide who you will marry or live with. Your family must not control who you are together with. Nor may your family tell you who to marry or force you to get married if you do not want to. You have the right to decide for yourself if you want to get married in the future, and – if so – with whom.

Child marriage crimes and forced marriage

If you don’t want to get married but you do so because your parents or someone else wants you to, it is not voluntary. It is not acceptable for someone to pressure or coerce you, whether through threats or violence or by trying to make you feel guilty if you don’t do what they want you to do.

Nor are your parents or other people allowed to take you to another country to marry you off. It doesn’t matter if this is allowed in that country. In Sweden, both child marriage and forced marriage are crimes. It is also a crime to plan and prepare to marry off a child, or to marry someone off against their will.

If you are worried that you or a sibling, a cousin or a friend will be married off, it is good to speak about your worries with someone you trust. Anyone who risks being married off has a right to protection and support from society. Social services and the police can help with protection and support.

If you don’t know who to talk to, you can contact organisations such as Linnamottagningen, Somaya women’s shelter and young women’s shelter, or Terrafem, which work to provide support for people who risk being married off or who live with honour-based oppression. Terrafem can provide support in many different languages.

Website of Linnamottagningen (in Swedish)

Website of Somaya (in Swedish)

Website of Terrafem (in Swedish)

TRIS Helpline (in Swedish)

If the police suspect that a family is planning and preparing to commit forced marriage or child marriage crimes, they must begin an investigation. This applies regardless of who has reported the crime to the police, and even if the victim does not want to report it. The investigation also includes an assessment of what protection the victim may need.

The right to your own sexuality

In families where there is control due to honour norms, it is common for children and young people’s sexuality to be controlled. The family approves who the children and young people in the family can spend time with. This control often means that any sexual orientation other than heterosexual is not accepted by the family. As a result, many people who identify as gay, bisexual, transgender or queer, for example, are forced to hide their sexuality from their family or risk oppression, intimidation and violence.

The family may punish children and young people who act out their sexuality, for example, by threatening to ostracise them from the family, or by planning forced marriage or conversion attempts that may involve sexual abuse. A conversion attempt is when someone forces or influences a person to change their sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression. This is done through so-called ‘treatment’, such as therapy or medication.

People who are not allowed to live out their identity or sexuality because of control from family or relatives may need protection from the police and social services. If you feel threatened, or if you are worried about someone else, you can contact the police. In emergencies, you should call the emergency number 112. If it is not an emergency, you can visit a police station or call the police on 114 14.

If you need support or advice, you can contact the Support Service operated by the Swedish Federation for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Intersex Rights (RFSL). You can also contact Save the Children Sweden’s Love is Free support chat service.

RFSL Support Service

Website Love is free (in Swedish)

Protection against genital mutilation

In some families that live in an honour context, female genital mutilation is used as a means of controlling girls’ and women’s sexuality. In Sweden, planning and performing genital mutilation is forbidden, and anyone who does so can be punished. Not only is it forbidden to do so in Sweden, it is also forbidden to take a child to another country to perform genital mutilation there. It doesn’t matter if genital mutilation is allowed in the country where the family is going.

Female genital mutilation (FGM) involves cutting off all or part of the outer labia, the inner labia or the clitoris from a girl’s genitals. FGM is harmful, and can be dangerous for the person who undergoes it. Those who have undergone FGM can suffer from a wide range of physical problems afterwards, which can last a lifetime.

Children have a right not to be subjected to any form of violence. This is a human right. Genital mutilation is an expression of violence. It is both physical violence, through the procedure itself, and psychological violence, through the trauma that the victim undergoes as a result of the abuse. Genital mutilation can also be an expression of sexual violence when it is carried out with the aim of controlling sexuality.

Examples of problems include:

difficulties and pain when having sex,
problems with pain and unpleasant smells during menstruation,
scars after circumcision chafing and make it difficult to sit, and
difficulties urinating.

Genital mutilation can also lead to psychological distress for the victim, due to fear and unpleasant memories of the procedure.

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

The Convention on the Rights of the Child is an international law that has also been adopted as Swedish law. The Convention applies to all children, regardless of their age, their origin or where they live. Children are all people under the age of 18.

In all actions concerning children, the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration. This is stated in Article 3 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and is one of the fundamental principles of the Convention.

Children who are mature enough to form their own views shall, in accordance with Article 12, have the right to express their views freely in matters that affect them. The child’s views shall have a greater impact on their own life as they grow older and more mature.

Article 19 of the Convention requires State Parties to take all appropriate measures to protect children from all forms of physical or mental violence, injury, abuse, neglect, maltreatment or exploitation, including sexual abuse.

The Convention also prohibits exposing children to harmful practices.

A child who has been forced to leave their home environment for any reason shall have the right to special protection and assistance from the state, and State Parties shall ensure that such alternative care is available. This is detailed in Article 20.

Continue to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

Help is available

Children and young people have the right not to be punished for being who they are. Being punished because their sexuality, the way they dress or their choice of friends, for example, is not accepted by the family’s rules is not acceptable, and can be illegal. If you feel controlled or threatened by someone in your family or by relatives, or if you are worried about someone else, it’s a good idea to share your concerns with someone you trust.

If you can’t or don’t want to talk to someone close to you, you can contact an organisation that works to help people who are controlled or threatened by their families. You can find contact details for various organisations that can provide support and help below.

If you are the victim of something you think may be a crime, you can report it to the police, either by calling 114 14 or by visiting a police station. If you are in urgent danger, you should call the emergency number 112. You do not need to know that what has happened is a crime – it is up to the police to investigate what you report.

You can always contact the police or social services in your municipality for help and protection.

Anyone who has been the victim of a crime has the right to compensation, and this also applies to victims of honour-based crimes. With the tightening of the law in recent years, it is possible to obtain more compensation for crimes committed with an honour motive than if the crime is not found to have been committed in an honour context.

Find out more about compensation

Getting help and support

The Swedish Police Authority

The police receive reports of crimes and then investigate the reported crimes. They can also refer you to other services if you need someone to talk to about what you have experienced. If you are threatened or subjected to violence, the police can offer you protection.

114 14 (call 112 in an emergency situation)

Website of the Swedish Police Authority

Social services

The social services in each municipality are responsible for providing help and support to victims of crime and their families. Below is a link to the website of the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions, which has contact details for your municipality.

Website of SKR (in Swedish)

GAPF Support Line

The national association Glöm Aldrig Pela och Fadime (‘Never Forget Pela and Fadime’, GAPF) offers support and advice via its support line. It is open 24 hours a day, every day of the week, all year round. Victims, relatives and professionals can contact the support line for help. The support line is staffed by people with experience of dealing with those who are restricted by honour norms. Calls are free, you can remain anonymous, and support staff have a duty of confidentiality.

+4670-000 93 28

Website of GAPF (in Swedish)

Linnamottagningen

Linnamottagningen is a centre for young people who have been victims of honour-based violence and oppression, or who have been married off or are at risk of being married off against their will. The centre can provide both emergency and long-term help. The centre has expertise in LGBTQI and cultural issues, and can also provide advice to professionals who come into contact with victims. The centre has a national hotline.

+468-728 00 55

linna@kvinnonet.net

Website of Linnamottagningen (in Swedish)

The "Love is free" support chat service

Save the Children Sweden operates a support chat service called ‘Kärleken är fri’ (‘Love is Free’). The service is run by volunteers, for children and young people who need support and advice on a wide range of honour-based issues. Children and young people can ask questions about rights, honour-based violence and oppression, restrictions and forced marriage, among other issues.

stodchatt@rb.se

Website Love is free from Save the Children Sweden (in Swedish)

RFSL Support Service

The Support Service operated by the Swedish Federation for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Intersex Rights (RFSL) provides support for LGBTQ people who have been subjected to harassment, threats or violence. Relatives and friends of LGBTQ people who are victims of violence and professionals who come into contact with the target group can also get in touch. Calls to the support centre are free, and can be made anonymously.

+4620-34 13 16

stod@rfsl.se

Website of RFSL

Somaya women's shelter and young women's shelter

Somaya women’s shelter and young women’s shelter is a non-profit organisation that supports girls, women and LGBTQI people with a foreign background who are victims of intimate partner violence or who live in an honour context. Somaya’s operations are multilingual and include a support line, a support chat service, sheltered accommodation and an activity centre. The staff have extensive experience of helping people who need protection or to escape from violence and oppression.

+4620-81 82 83

kvinnojouren@somaya.se

Website of Somaya (in Swedish)

Terrafem

Terrafem is a non-profit organisation that works to ensure girls and women have the right to live their lives free from men’s violence. Terrafem operates a national hotline for girls and women of foreign origin, and has contact with victims from different countries and in different languages. Terrafem also operates a legal hotline and a women’s helpline.

+4620-52 10 10

info@terrafem.org

Website of Terrafem (in Swedish)

Tjejers Rätt i Samhället ("Girls' Rights in Society"), TRIS

TRIS is a non-profit organisation that works to combat honour-based violence and oppression. TRIS offers help to adults, children and young people who are subjected to or at risk of being subjected to honour-based violence and oppression. TRIS has specific expertise in dealing with children and young people with intellectual disabilities. TRIS operates a support line, and can also offer temporary or sheltered accommodation for victims.

+4610-255 91 91

info@tris.se

Website of TRIS (in Swedish)

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs' support line

+468-405 55 88

Website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Sweden (in Swedish)

Information campaign and materials

A national information campaign focusing on legislation and tools to combat honour-based violence and oppression was launched in June 2022. The information material is aimed at children and young people who are at risk, their families and friends, and professionals who come into contact with children and young people. The material can be downloaded from hedersförtryck.se, and is available for various different channels and entities. The campaign has been advertised on social media, digital billboards and public transport in major cities.

Continue to the information material (in Swedish)

Information for those who've been exposed to crime

The freedom to develop into who you want to be

Film about honour-based violence and oppression (in Swedish)

You have the right to go to school

The freedom to love who you want

Child marriage crimes and forced marriage

The right to your own sexuality

Protection against genital mutilation

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

Help is available

Getting help and support

The Swedish Police Authority

Social services

GAPF Support Line

Linnamottagningen

The "Love is free" support chat service

RFSL Support Service

Somaya women's shelter and young women's shelter

Terrafem

Tjejers Rätt i Samhället ("Girls' Rights in Society"), TRIS

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs' support line

Information campaign and materials

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