SVT has reviewed the sentences for the 102 children that the social services applied to protect by giving them an exit ban, so that they cannot be taken out of the country against their will.

Since the law was introduced on July 1, 2020, 54 girls have been banned from leaving, SVT Nyheter's review of the judges shows.

Last year there was a decrease, from 20 protected children to 17.

During the same period, at least 447 children were taken out.

"It's about protecting children"

The law must protect children from being taken abroad for the purpose of entering into child marriage, marriage-like relationships or being sexually mutilated.

Several critics believe that the law should be tightened, and there is a proposal to extend the law to also apply to, for example, "educational trips" on the government's table.

Temporary travel bans should be able to be applied to all suspicions of child abduction - regardless of whether it is about honor violence or a custody dispute, say professionals who meet vulnerable children who spoke to them.

- In the end, it's about protecting a child, says Maria Nylander, head of unit at Social Services in Sigtuna. 

FGM sister is not enough

SVT's review of the judgments between 2020 and 2023 shows that today's interpretation of the law is not enough to protect the group it was intended to protect.

Among other things, it is not enough that a sister has already been genitally mutilated or married off abroad for the other children to be banned from leaving.

In December, a man was convicted of forced marriage after he was recorded planning to abduct his daughter.

Yet the sisters receive no protection.

Different courts make different interpretations, especially when the girls have recanted their testimonies.

Some believe that there is no longer enough concrete evidence if the girls changed their story, while others see the risk that the children received pressure from the parents. 

- We see in our material that in some cases the impact may have occurred after socializing or telephone conversations with the parent, says Sara Bäckström, who investigated the abduction of children and young people for the Equality Authority.

No exit ban even though the child was missing

In four court cases last year, no exit ban was issued even though the girls had already disappeared from the family homes, and social services suspected that they were being hidden by the families somewhere.

When another of the cases was appealed to the Court of Appeal, two judges thought the opposite, that since the girl could still remain in Sweden, an exit ban should be imposed.

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