Honour-based violence and oppression constitute violations of people’s fundamental freedoms and rights. These types of violence are based on strongly patriarchal and heteronormative ideas and constitute an obstacle to both gender equality and the rights of LGBTI people. The 2024 Swedish Presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers took the initiative to conduct a study to provide an overview of the work being done to combat honour-based violence and oppression in the region. The task was assigned to the Nordic Council of Ministers’ cooperation body Nordic Information on Gender (NIKK), which was commissioned to study work being done in the Nordic countries, the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Åland.
The brief included producing an overview of key actors, assignments and initiatives, investigating how the concept of honour-based violence and oppression is defined and studying identified challenges and how work to address them is organised. The study was also to include a review of national legislation on honour-based violence and oppression. This includes criminal legislation explicitly targeting honour-based violence and oppression as well as legislation considered to be honour-based, for example with regard to genital cutting, child and forced marriage and attempted conversion. The assignment also encompassed LGBTI people’s vulnerability to honour-based violence and oppression.
The assignment resulted in this publication, which consists of three parts:
A study of strategic efforts to combat honour-based violence and oppression, focusing on how the concept of honour-based violence and oppression is defined, what problems and challenges have been identified and how efforts to address these challenges are organised.
An overview and analysis of national steering documents and other relevant material dealing with LGBTI people’s vulnerability to violence.
A review and analysis of national criminal legislation relating to honour-based violence and oppression.
The first two parts of the publication were written by Alexandra Lebedeva, who holds a PhD in Ethics and is a researcher at the National Centre for Knowledge on Men’s Violence Against Women at Uppsala University. The third part was written by Johan Rosquist, who holds a PhD in Sociology and is a senior lecturer in criminology at Linnaeus University. The report was originally written in Swedish and subsequently translated into English. In accordance with the assignment, the writers' work was based on national steering documents, laws and the mandates of key actors as well as their implementation. In addition, experts at government agencies and ministries were consulted. The collection of material for the first part of the publication was carried out from January to August 2024, for the second part of the publication in spring 2025 and for the third part of the publication from February to May 2025. Material collected or changes made after the respective collection periods are not included in the report.
The publication aims to provide an overview of efforts to combat honour-based violence and oppression in the Nordic region. The sections of the publication are intended to be read in conjunction, to clarify the interaction between political guidelines and legal regulations in the Nordic countries. The result provides conditions for exchange at the policy level and enables strengthened and expanded Nordic cooperation. It is hoped that the publication will contribute to the development of efforts to combat honour-based violence and oppression in the Nordic region.