Summary of the Report of the Swedish Law Commission:Strengthened Protection against Forced Marriages and Child Marriages (Statens Offentliga Utredningar 2012:35)

THE PROBLEM AND THE PROPOSALS

How extensive is the problem of forced marriages and child marriages? It would be good to have some figures. How many people are married off against their will, how many are afraid that this will be the case, how many child marriages are there?

However, it is the stories of individuals that really convince us regarding the need for enhanced protection against forced marriages and child marriages. The story of the 15-year-old girl who was sent to Iraq, married off to a considerably older cousin and ever since has been informing the world around by means of a hidden computer of the abuse she is subjected to. The story of the young woman who wanted to get an education in Sweden but became part of a barter transaction between two families, protested but was threatened, assaulted and finally married off. Or the story of the girl who escaped from a forced marriage and had a child with the man she loved, a child whom the family subsequently killed.

As the inquiry neared completion, a nineteen-year-old woman was stabbed to death. Her sixteen-year-old brother is a suspect and is at present in police custody. As a child the victim had been taken to another country and there been married off against her will at the age of fourteen. After a while she succeeded in fleeing back to Sweden. As we write, a police inquiry has just been initiated and a discussion is ongoing concerning why the young woman was not given the protection she needed to survive.

There are many of these stories, each one more gripping than the other. They bear witness to a widespread lack of freedom and young people who are not aware that they themselves have the right to decide over their lives.