Honour-related violence in the Nordic region

The project was initiated by the Swedish Presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers in 2024 with the aim of providing an overview of efforts to combat honour-based violence and oppression in the Nordic region.

NIKK was commissioned to produce an overview of the main actors, mandates and initiatives, and to examine how the concept of honour-based violence and oppression is defined, which challenges are identified, and how efforts to address these challenges are organised. The overview was also to include a review of national legislation relating to honour-based violence and oppression. This includes criminal legislation that explicitly addresses honour-based violence and oppression, as well as legislation considered to be honour-related, such as female genital mutilation, child and forced marriage, and conversion practices. The assignment also included incorporating the exposure of LGBTI persons to honour-based violence and oppression.

The assignment has resulted in a publication consisting of three parts:

• A mapping of the strategic work, focusing on how the concept is defined, which problems and challenges are identified, and how efforts to address these challenges are organised.
• An overview and analysis of national policy documents and other relevant material addressing violence against LGBTI persons.
• A review and analysis of national criminal law legislation concerning honour-based violence and oppression.

The first two parts of the publication are written by Alexandra Lebedeva, PhD in ethics and researcher at the National Centre for Knowledge on Men’s Violence Against Women (NCK), Uppsala University. The third part is written by Johan Rosquist, PhD in sociology and senior lecturer in criminology at Linnaeus University.

The parts of the publication are intended to be read as complements to one another, in order to clarify the interaction between policy guidelines and legal regulation in the Nordic countries. The results create conditions for exchange at the policy level and enable strengthened and expanded Nordic cooperation. One hope is that the publication will contribute to the development of efforts to combat honour-based violence and oppression in the Nordic region.

As a complementary part of its mission to provide a comprehensive overview of efforts to combat honour-based violence and oppression in the Nordic countries, as well as in the Faroe Islands, Greenland, and Åland, NIKK has also been tasked with gathering experiences and lessons learned about what can be considered successful efforts. The focus has been on identifying effective methods in both preventive work and support measures. NIKK has gathered data by consulting relevant actors in the Nordic countries and in the autonomous regions.

This has been done through:

• A questionnaire sent to national authorities and key actors, as well as to organisations working with LGBTI rights.
• A network meeting with national authorities responsible for work related to honour-based violence and oppression. The results of the survey responses and documentation from the network meeting are summarised in the report Framgångsfaktorer och lärdomar i arbetet mot hedersrelaterat våld och förtryck i Norden (Success factors and lessons learned in the work against honor-based violence and oppression in the Nordic region), (pdf, only available in Swedish).

The purpose of the compilation was to identify common experiences and lessons learned, but also to highlight challenges that characterise Nordic efforts to combat honour-based violence and oppression. The compilation can serve as a basis for decisions on the direction and initiatives for Nordic cooperation.

NIKK will regularly share the results of the project, including through a webinar organised in collaboration with the Nordic Welfare Center in March 2026.

Project timespan
2024 – 2025

Commissioned by
Nordic Council of Ministers

Contact
Deepati Forsberg

Project budget
1 300 000 DKK

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