SVT maps - at least 900 children have been taken out of Sweden in five years

In Sweden, no national statistics are currently kept on how many children are abducted or forcibly detained abroad.

However, SVT has been able to map the abductions that have resulted in an active case at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 

Since 2018, when the Ministry of Foreign Affairs began to produce such statistics, it has been noted that at least 1,151 people were abducted or unlawfully detained in another country.

Of these, 235 are adults – often young adults – and 916 are children.

Fewer than a third of all people who are abducted return.

Relatives do not dare to report

The number of child abductions in Sweden is largely unknown, which makes it difficult to estimate the extent of the problem.

Lawyer Ia Sveger's experience is that many affected parents or relatives of abducted children do not dare to report because they do not trust that the authorities will be able to help.

- This applies above all in abductions that take place to countries that are not affiliated to the Hague Convention - so-called non-convention countries.

There, the help you can get from the Foreign Ministry is very limited, says Ia Sveger.  

SVT's mapping shows that most child abductions, close to 60 percent, take place precisely to non-convention countries.

Approximately 48 percent of all children abducted in an honorable context in 2021 and 2022 were taken to Iraq and Somalia, where the Hague Convention does not apply.

Kenya and Syria are also high on this list.

- I always recommend my clients to hire a lawyer on the spot - otherwise the possibilities of getting their child back in a non-convention country are very limited, says Sveger.

Increase in emergency calls to helpline

The National Center Against Honor-Related Violence and Oppression also does not keep any statistics on the number of children who have been abducted.

On the other hand, the number of emergency calls about suspicions, concerns or alarms about abductions that take place in an honorable context is noted.

Last year, the organization recorded over 210 such emergency calls, which is the highest since the helpline was established in 2014.

The statistics only reflect the information given in the conversations, when, for example, police officers or social service workers consult the organization about honor abductions.

It thus does not provide a complete picture of either the occurrence or extent of honor-related child abductions.

In addition, it says nothing about those abductions where honor is not the main factor, which in our survey turned out to be close to 40 percent of all child abductions.

In these cases, it may be an abduction that is rooted in a custody dispute or an attempt to avoid an authority decision or filing.

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