Swedish girls advised to put a teaspoon in their underwear when they fear being taken

According to Reuters, Katarina Idegard, who works for the Swedish city of Gothenburg and tackles honour based violence, says the spoon will trigger metal detectors when going through security and the young lady who sounded the alarm will then be taken aside and be able to speak to staff privately.   

The airport staff have been told how to respond in such conditions and know how to handle the situation. 

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There is no data for how often women get taken abroad for forced marriage or female genital mutilation (FGM), but Idegard told Reuters that their national hotline received 139 calls last year about forced marriage. 

W24 also spoke to Idegard who said that the “trick” was actually first used by a British charity organisation called Karma Nirvana, who have already seen a number of girls being saved from forced marriage by this tactic. Idegard simply mentioned this method to the press and, in her words: “it went global”. 

Idegard said this initiative started “before the [Swedish] summer, when the risk of these girls being taken abroad for FGM or forced marriage increases. So we have done a couple of things to mobilise before the summer.”

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Those things for example include different kinds of skills enhancing activities for employees in the City of Gothenburg and spreading a national campaign in schools, aimed to young people, on the theme “to be worried about a friend”.

“We haven't heard of any girls using this method yet in Gothenburg, but maybe there won't be that many girls coming forward. The main thing is that we show them we care, we have knowledge and resources and that they can come and talk to us. That's the most important thing,” says Idegard.

Forced marriage in South Africa or ukuthwalwa often happens with the knowledge of the girl’s parents. Like this story of a young girl who was kidnapped and forced into marriage when she was just 19.

According to Girls Not Brides, the legal age of marriage in South Africa is 15 for girls and 18 for boys, but exceptions can be granted. According to numbers from UNICEF, 1% of child marriages occur before the girl is 15, while 6% occur before 18. 

This article from eNCA quotes The Commission for Gender Equality’s chair, Lulama Nare, as saying that there are about 91 000 child marriages in SA and the children’s ages range from 12 to 17 years of age.