The number of young people, mainly women, seeking help for honour culture violence has dramatically increased over the last several years with a support worker claiming a 50 per cent increase since 2015.
Dilek Baladiz, a manager at Onigo, a Swedish centre designed to help young people suffering honour violence get support, claims that the number of young people coming forward to the centre has dramatically increased, TT reports.
Sara Mohammed from the anti-honour violence nonprofit GAPF claims the violence is becoming far more elaborate, as well. She described an honour killing in Årsta, Stockholm, where a man mutilated a woman’s face.
“He cut off her nose, lips, and ears. It has symbolic significance in the culture of honour. The cutting of the ears means that you have not listened to the norms and values,” she said.
Honour culture tends to be the most prevalent in heavily migrant-populated suburbs, according to Baladiz. “In some areas there is repression. The more compatriots in an area, the more pressure there is to live according to the norms of honour and the more watchful eyes,” he said.
The true scope of honour-related violence is unknown in Sweden though Stockholm University research has claimed that every third student from an immigrant background likely lives under some form of honour culture.
The Swedish government is currently conducting a new survey to determine the pervasiveness of the problem which will be released next year.
Violence against women is increasing in general across Sweden. In the district of Skaraborg, 1 in 5 women say they have been the victims of crimes and police are currently investigating 30 rape incidents that have occurred in the last six months.
Many have speculated on the backgrounds of sex attackers in Sweden as ethnic criminal data is not released to the public. Lawyer Elisabeth Fritz has claimed that the vast majority of suspects in cases she has dealt with have come from migrant backgrounds.