Help if you have been subjected to threats or violence
Last updated: 11/9-2024
Everyone has the right to live a life free from violence. If you are a victim of violence, it is not your fault. You are entitled to protection and support. Here, you can learn about what types of behaviour are considered to be violence and where you can get help and support. For example, there are organisations you can contact. You do not need to tell them your name.
What is violence?
There are many different kinds of violence. Examples of violence include:
- hitting, kicking or pushing someone;
- taking a stranglehold on someone;
- throwing things at someone;
- threatening or terrorising someone;
- calling someone mean or offensive names;
- forbidding someone from meeting whoever they want;
- breaking somebody’s belongings;
- having sex with someone against their will, such as by using force or threats or doing so while they are sleeping; and
- controlling someone’s private finances, such as refusing to allow them to have their own bank account and debit card or forcing them to take out a loan.
Girls and women all over the world are subjected to violence. Much of this violence takes place within the family. Threatening, coercing or hitting someone is a crime, even when it takes place within the family. This violence is usually perpetrated by men.
What help and support is available?
You can contact social services, the police or any of the organisations that offer support and assistance. If you need to leave the family home, there are women’s shelters where you can go.
Tell a friend
If you are subjected to threats and violence, tell a friend or someone else you trust about your situation. They can listen to you and help you find out where you can get help and support.
Helplines you can call anonymously
Helplines are telephone numbers you can call for help and support if you are subjected to threats and violence.
Calls are free of charge. You do not need to give your name when you call. Your call will not appear on your telephone bill. The people who answer calls to helplines have a duty of confidentiality. This means that they are not allowed to discuss anything you say with someone else.
Helplines have access to interpreters who can translate into many languages. Tell the person who answers your call which language you want to speak and stay on the line while they contact an interpreter.
Kvinnofridslinjen, is the national women’s helpline that you can call if you have been subjected to threats and violence and need support. The helpline is open 24 hours a day.
The telephone number for Kvinnofridslinjen is 020 50 50 50.
If you are a transgender adult who has been subjected to domestic abuse or sexual violence, you can get support by calling Stödlinjen för transpersoner, the national support line for transgender people. The support line is open every day between 11:00 and 19:00.
The telephone number for the national support line for transgender people is 020 55 00 00.
Stödlinjen för män, the national support line for men, helps men who have been subjected to threats and violence. The support line is open every day between 07:00 and 21:00.
The telephone number for the national support line for men is 020 80 80 80.
Organisations you can call anonymously
A kvinnojour is an organisation that offers support and shelter to women and children who have been subjected to domestic violence or honour-related violence and oppression. There are also similar support organisations for girls and young women. Anyone contacting one of these organisations can choose to remain anonymous. They do not record who you are or what you tell them.
Most of the support organisations for women and girls are non-governmental organisations. There are support organisations for women and girls all over Sweden.
Municipalities and government agencies have a duty to provide support and shelter
Contact social services in your municipality
Municipalities have a responsibility to protect victims of domestic violence. For example, they may offer a place in a women’s shelter.
Municipal social services have a duty to support and assist children, women and men who live with domestic violence and honour-related violence and oppression.
You can find contact details for social services on your municipality’s website.
Contact a health centre
Healthcare providers can help you if you have been subjected to threats or violence. If you have been subjected to threats or violence, you can contact a health centre.
They can help you in various ways, such as by documenting your injuries even if you are not yet ready to go to the police.
Contact the police
If you or someone you know has been subjected to violence, you can report the matter to the police. The police can offer protection if you need it.
To contact the police if it is not an emergency, you can:
- telephone 114 14; or
- visit a police station.
Injuries and threats are important evidence. If you have any visible injuries, photograph them or ask someone else to do so. If you receive threats – in a chatroom, text message or voicemail for example – save the message. If you are unable to save evidence yourself, ask someone else to do so.
Always call 112 in an emergency.
Your identity can be protected
If you have been subjected to threats or are at risk from violence, you may be eligible for a protected identity. This means that access to personal data such as your name and address is restricted and does not appear in the Swedish Population Register. This makes it more difficult for someone to find out where you live.
Questions and answers
Social services has a responsibility to offer support to all victims of domestic violence. They will investigate your situation if you want them to in order to ensure that you receive the support you need.
Social services can help in a number of ways, including:
- making a report to the police;
- contacting other public authorities such as healthcare providers, the Swedish Social Insurance Agency and Swedish Tax Agency;
- applying for a restraining order;
- finding a place in a women’s shelter; and
- applying for financial support.
When necessary, social services can also provide children with protection and support. If social services believes that a child needs protection or support, it is their task to investigate the situation and decide what is best for the child and family. This will usually involve reaching agreement on the most suitable support. For example, you and your child may move into a women’s shelter together. Your child can also speak to a psychologist or meet other children in a similar situation.
Anyone who is concerned about a child’s welfare can report their concerns to social services. Making a report of concern does not mean that you are informing on an individual, such as a parent, but simply that you are reporting that you are worried about the child. People in certain occupations – such as teachers, police officers and healthcare professionals – have greater responsibility to inform social services if they are concerned about a child’s welfare. If they are worried about a child, they have a legal duty to report the matter to social services.
You can change the bank account into which child allowance is paid on the Försäkringskassan website. If you and your partner cannot agree, you can register the change yourself without your partner’s consent. Försäkringskassan will then investigate the child’s living arrangements. If the child lives with you most of the time, you are entitled to the entire child allowance.
If you and your partner do not live together and your child lives with both of you, child allowance can be split between you.
Försäkringskassan will contact your partner and inform them of the information you have supplied. Your partner then has two weeks to submit their opinion before Försäkringskassan reaches a decision.
If you live alone with your child, you can apply to Försäkringskassan for maintenance support. Maintenance support is money that Försäkringskassan can pay you if you are not receiving any maintenance from the other parent. Försäkringskassan must inform the other parent that you have applied for maintenance support. Försäkringskassan will send a letter to the other parent when they begin to process your application.
If you are worried, you can call Försäkringskassan before you send your application. You can also write in your application that you have been threatened. If you do not wish to include information about being threatened, you can write in your application that you would like Försäkringskassan to contact you by telephone when they begin processing your application.
In certain cases, it may be possible to extend your residence permit if your relationship has ended because you or your child were abused by your partner. In such cases, you or your child must have been the victim of violence or some other serious offence.
If you wonder what applies in your case, you can contact a lawyer who specialises in migration issues. One organisation that can help is the Swedish Refugee Law Center.
Other websites with useful information
Words and terminology explained
Kvinnojourer and tjejjourer
Kvinnojourer and tjejjourer are organisations that offer support, advice and assistance to women and girls who are subjected to threats and violence.
Women’s shelters
Women’s shelters provide safe accommodation for women who need to leave the family home due to domestic violence. Most women’s support organisations can arrange places in shelters. Many women who live in shelters have their children with them.
Men’s violence against women
Girls and women all over the world and in all cultures are subjected to violence. Much of the violence against girls and women takes place within the family. This violence is usually perpetrated by men.
Domestic violence
Domestic violence is violence that takes place in a close relationship. This includes violence committed by a husband or wife, cohabitee, civil partner, parent or other close relative.
Honour-related violence and oppression
In certain families, extended families and communities there are strong beliefs about how women and girls should behave. The family may impose rules on who female members can socialise with or forbid young women to have sex before marriage. If someone is subjected to violence or is otherwise punished because they break the rules imposed by the family or community to protect its honour, this is called honour-related violence or oppression. Honour-related violence is often meted out by multiple people acting together. The perpetrators are not necessarily the partners of victims. They may be parents, siblings or other relatives, or acquaintances of the family.
LGBTQI
LGBTQI is an umbrella term for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex people.
Transgender person
A transgender person is someone who does not identify with or express themselves as the sex assigned to them at birth. Transgender is not a sexual orientation.
