[2][3][1] Life in a family from an honor culture means putting the will of the collective before the will of the individual, for example regarding the choice of partner, divorce, work outside the home or getting an education.
[3][1] Besides being expected to monitor their sisters and other female relatives, boys and young men can also subjected to threats and limitations in their life choices such as forced marriages.
[1] HRV first received public attention due to the honor killings of Sara Abed Ali in 1996, Pela Atroshi in 1999 and Fadime Sahindal in 2002.
[4] Honor cultures exist worldwide but are more common among people originating in regions spanning from North Africa via the Middle East to Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent.
Lacking strong government institutions, society is frequently structured along clans or bloodlines, for example as in Afghanistan, Albania, Eritrea, Iraq, Kurdistan, Libya, Palestine, Pakistan and Somalia.
[5] According to a 2012 government survey, in a single year the Swedish Tax Agency handled 70 registrations of child marriages abroad where one spouse had either residency or citizenship in Sweden.
[14] The prevalence of FGM among immigrant groups in Sweden is unknown, but there have been 46 cases of suspected genital mutilation since the law was introduced in 1982, and two convictions, according to a report published in 2011 by the National Centre for Knowledge on Men's Violence against Women.
This calculation is based on UNICEF estimates on prevalence rates in Africa, and refer to FGM carried out before arriving in Sweden.
[12] In 2014, a Somali-born national coordinator at the County Administrative Board of Östergötland said the problem is not actively being pursued by authorities and the issue is avoided for fear of being perceived as racist or as stigmatising minority ethnic groups.