National Centre against Honour-based violence and oppression

Responsibility to report concern applies for professionals

If you work at an agency whose activities concern children and young people, you must immediately file a report with the social services if you suspect that a child is being harmed or is at risk of harm. This includes those employed in health care, dental care, nursery school, school, social services or correctional services.

Link to the National Board of Health and Welfare’s website specifying reporting obligations.

Are you being subjected yourself?

For advice, support and help – turn to social services in your municipality. This also applies in emergency situations. In case of an emergency or ongoing crime, call the police at 112.

There are also non-government organisations that can give you help and support. Organizations that can help.

Why a national helpline?

The background to setting up the helpline is that the County Administrative Board of Östergötland, through previous activities, has become aware of the substantial and varied needs for advice and guidance among professionals around the country, regarding matters concerning honour-based violence and oppression.

The need for a helpline for professionals has been identified in the context of knowledge dissemination and other previous efforts. Moreover, even before the start of the national helpline, the County Administrative Board of Östergötland received calls from all over the country on a daily basis through the network of contacts established throughout the country based on national government missions. Read more in the County Administrative Board’s report on the Swedish Expert Team and the National Helpline.

The phone is not something that has been added instead of, for example, educational efforts, but is to be seen as a complement. There is still considerable need for education and training.

Statistics on helpline cases

Based on the cases received by the helpline, certain statistics have been compiled. These statistics give an overall picture of the cases and the vulnerability that have come to the attention of the County Administrative Board of Östergötland, but do not give a complete picture of the occurrence of honour-based violence and oppression, child marriage, forced marriage and female genital mutilation in Sweden. The statistics are updated once each quarter. You find the statistics here under the section ”Statistik över ärenden till stödtelefonen”.

Many received calls concern cases that are very serious and the situations more or less of an emergency nature. Those the calls refer to have been subjected to violations of their human rights and often criminal acts. These are, above all, girls and young women who are being subjected to many different types of violence, abuse, restrictions and control. There are often several perpetrators, including parents, siblings and other relatives. It can also be a matter of a person who inflicts violence while others in the environment support or allow it to happen. The calls may also involve vulnerable boys and young men, or adult women and men. In almost all cases, it is a matter of repeated abuse and not of isolated acts.

Abuse includes:

• Child and forced marriages
• Children and young people taken abroad
• Severe physical violence
• Sexual violence
• Serious psychological violence and threats, including death threats
• Extensive control and limitations in everyday life of those abused
• Consequences of genital mutilation or concern about genital mutilation

Read more in the annual reports of the County Administrative Board of Östergötland.

Common call topics

The calls to the national helpline provide a picture of the difficulties faced by various professionals, what they need further guidance on and what needs to be further developed to better meet the needs for support and protection of the vulnerable target group.

Most calls to the helpline come from social services professionals. The second most common are calls from school staff. Here are examples of common topics taken up in the calls:

Social services

• Lack of support from management
• Children’s vulnerability and ambivalence, as well as the consequences of violence
• Child perspective versus parental perspective
• Threat and risk assessments
• Removal and placement
• Abducted children and the transnational perspective
• Initiatives for guardians and other family members
• Support for adults and young people

School

• Signs of abuse
• Reporting concern
• Contact and cooperation with social services
• Children absent from school
• To uphold the basic values of the Education Act

Police and prosecutors

• Threat and risk assessments
• Safety planning
• Support in criminal investigations
• Need for experts

Health and medical care

• Signs of current or past abuse
• Treatment, initiatives and support that can be offered
• Questions about the hymen and certificates of virginity

For more information, see the County Administrative Board’s annual reports.