The majority of abductions take place in an honorary context, but more and more also in connection with a custody dispute. Most of the children are taken to countries where the Hague Convention does not apply. Then Sweden has little opportunity to get the child back.
Hala's daughter is one of those children, she was abducted to Jordan by her father when she was 8 years old. In a few months, the daughter will turn 18 years old and will marry.
Hear Hala talk about her daughter's abduction in the clip below. Here are parts of the review in Arabic.
Javascript is turned off
Javascript must be turned on to play video
Learn more about browser support
"I wish I could hug her before I die," Hala says of her daughter. Photo: Sara Cosar/SVT
Many abductions stem from custody disputes
Trying to get an abducted child back is not only difficult and time-consuming, it is also costly. Rasoul's three-year-old daughter was kidnapped by her mother at Christmas 2016. Rasoul had just won a long custody dispute and gained sole custody of the child. Then the mother decided to bring the baby to the homeland of Marrocko.
Today, it has been seven years since Rasoul's daughter disappeared.
"The hope that she will come back will never go away," Rasoul says. But after 18 trips to Morocco and hundreds of thousands of dollars that went to lawyers and private detectives, he has temporarily had to pause the search.
Hear him talk about the struggle to get his daughter back in the clip below.
Javascript is turned off
Javascript must be turned on to play video
Learn more about browser support
In the apartment there are many traces of the daughter, her toys remain just like the Christmas gift she would receive from Rasoul's sister Christmas 2016. Photo: Urban Ermling/SVT
Half of the children received no protection – despite the application for an exit ban
One tool that social services have to try to stop children from being abducted is the exit ban law. However, only half of the children have received protection when social services applied for the exit ban since the law came into force in 2021, according to SVT's review.
The new law did not help Sandra's children who were abducted to Saudi Arabia when they were one and three years old, even though she had told of her concerns about it even before the birth.
"If only someone had reported concerns, then I might have understood how dangerous the situation was," she said.
The hospital never reported to social services, even though they wrote in the medical records that they should. When Sandra then asked for protection for her two other children, they too were not given a travel ban.
Hear her talk about the missing of the children in the clip below.
Javascript is turned off
Javascript must be turned on to play video
Learn more about browser support
Hear "Sandra" talk about the day she realized her child had been abducted. Photo: Sara Cosar/SVT
Only a third will return
Over 400 children have been brought to the countries with which Sweden has established cooperation according to the Hague Convention, but there are still major problems when a child is detained, according to SVT's continued review of child abductions. But it goes easier.
"I want more people to know that this can happen," says Lara, who managed to get her children home when her father kept them in a custody dispute in Turkey. There may be different legal systems in other countries, where the husband finds it easier to get sole custody. But there is help to be had.