More needs to be done in Sweden to counter violence in young couples’ relationships.

This is evidenced by a new report prepared by the Swedish Gender Equality Agency.

The agency also notes that Sweden lacks sufficient knowledge of methods to prevent violence among children and young people, not least when it comes to boys and young men in an honor context.

“We think it is important to pay attention to violence in young people’s couple relationships as a societal problem. It is a prerequisite for being able to develop and carry out preventative efforts, ”says Berit Jernberg, a department chief at the agency.

The government assignment that the agency has now reported on has been about violence prevention.

It has also emerged that many who work with children and young people lack sufficient resources to work long term in preventing violence from happening.

“During the assignment we have clearly seen that knowledge about methods and working methods that give effect is still limited in Sweden. One reason may be that the preventive work against violence has primarily been done in project form with uncertain resources, so that it is difficult to work systematically and evaluate what works,” says Jernberg.

The assignment has also included compiling, disseminating and developing effective working methods for young men and boys in honor context.

Even there, the agency sees the importance of spreading knowledge about the problems, so that it is possible to develop new preventative methods.

“These boys and young men can both be subjected to violence and oppression. We see a need to look further at the link between honor-related violence and oppression, gang crime and radicalization in order to be able to break harmful development early,” says Jernberg.

Swedish Gender Equality Agency