To prevent and combat honour-related violence and oppression against people with disabilities

Description

Honour-related violence and oppression is considered a global public health issue and is recognized by several world health organizations. UN’s population fund UNFPA estimates that around 5,000 girls and women are murdered every year as a result of honour-related violence.

A group that is getting increasingly more attention within Swedish social services is children and young adults who live under the threat of being exposed to honour-related violence and oppression (HRV). To grow up and to be raised in an honour context, where honour plays a key role in the daily lives of the family, has a large impact on an individual’s opportunities to independently and on equal terms create their own life. HRV in this project follows the government’s definition, building on strong patriarchal and heteronormative beliefs, where specific expressions regarding the control of girls and women’s sexuality are central and strongly bound to the collective. The family’s reputation and standing are seen as dependent on the virginity and chastity of the girls and women. Young victims of violence often describe life as marked with control and limitations, where sexuality and love before marriage can have serious consequences.

The project’s overarching purpose is:

1. To investigate professionals’ experiences of working with people with disabilitieswho have experiences of living in an honour context.
2. To investigate how children and adults with disabilities who have experiences of living in an honour context account for the exposure, as well as experiences of support and relief efforts by society.

The origin of the project is a government assignment to the Swedish agency for participation (MFD) to implement an in-depth survey of honour-related violence and oppression against people with disabilities.

The goal is to, through interviews, capture experiences both from professionals who, through their work, come into contact with the target group and people with disabilities who have experiences of living in an honorary context. Around 40 interviews are carried out with social workers, LSS supervisors, and staff from residential care, shelters, a day centre, and sheltered accommodation, and 10 interviews will be conducted with people who are part of the target group. The interviews will be analysed using quantitative content analysis to detect patterns and develop themes, as well as thematic analysis to get a deeper understanding of the target group’s experiences and need for support. With the result as a starting point, methods for preventing, discovering, and investigating, as well as giving adequate support for victims of honour-related violence and oppression, can be developed.