Blekinge: 20 cases of honor related violence a year

According to the women's shelter in Karlskrona there are 15-20 cases of honor related violence annually in Blekinge, a southern Swedish county. Spokesperson Mia Jonsson says that there are many unknown cases who do not reach out to the social services or the women's shelter.

Jonsson says that honor related violence is cultural and has absolutely nothing to do with religion. It's not always the parents, but sometimes even a high ranking relative, who decides who the girl should marry. The honor of the relatives must be preserved.

The women's shelter in Blekinge meets about 20 cases every year of girls who are married out, where the girls can't live her own life without family control.

Jonsson says that the girls live in Swedish society, but still live like in their home country and can't engage in activities during their free time. The girls live in such a way before the family can find a husband. If they leave the family, they break all relations with the family forever.

Another problem is if the girl is raped. Jonsson says that in many cases the women is blamed for rape, and that she has one case currently abroad where the girl was forced to marry the rapist or 'disappear' from the family. Jonsson adds she doesn't know what that means. The girl is not yet 18.

The Karlskrona women's shelter works together with the social services and other authorities to solve the problem of honor-related violence. They want to get better at integrating and informing people who come to Sweden what is expected of them.

Jonsson says that they've informed asylum seekers of such things, which made for many fruitful discussions, which is what they need.

Source: BLT (Swedish)

See also: Sweden: Honor related violence widespread