Farida was looking forward to a fun and exciting first holiday to Egypt. 

- They said we were going to visit a relative and it would be a holiday, she says. 

No one had ever talked about FGM before, not even in sex education.

Had she known what it was, perhaps her situation would have been different today, she believes. 

-I didn't really understand that there was such a thing as FGM or that it was being carried out, so it would have been difficult to stop something that I wasn't aware of.

You get brainwashed, she says.  

When she got home, she was like a different person.

She had changed from a happy and lively girl, to a quiet and introverted one.

The school should have reacted to that, thinks Farida, who today dreams of becoming a doctor to help others who have been genitally mutilated.

Travel ban never applicable

Since 2020, social services can apply for an exit ban when it is suspected that girls are to be kidnapped for genital mutilation.

But only half of the children that the social services wanted to protect with an exit ban were protected, SVT's review shows.

Farida is one of the children in the darkness, in addition to the 916 children who have been abducted in five years.

She was abducted during the holiday - a travel ban was therefore never an issue for Farida - because she was never on the authorities' radar.

Despite the fact that the law on genital mutilation has existed for over 40 years, only one case has led to a conviction in the last four years.

The police estimate that the crime rate is high and the crimes are difficult to investigate as there is usually no crime scene and technical evidence, combined with the age of the victims.

Almost no children report their own parents.

There is also a lack of knowledge among the police investigators, which is largely due to the fact that there have been so few cases.

Dreaming of helping others

Farida has not reported her family to the police.

Today she has left the family and lives with a protected identity and in protected accommodation. 

- I didn't want anyone to find out, I didn't want my parents to end up in prison, she says.   

Not a day goes by without Farida being reminded of what happened to her.

Her trust in society and in adults is completely destroyed.

Nevertheless, she chooses to share her story to prevent more people from experiencing the same thing.

Farida is actually called something else.