156 Global News Post 2

‘Forgotten Girls of Sweden’: Foreign Women Fight for Rights After Domestic Abuse by Keith Moore

Ericsson, M. [Two women sitting at a desk, one in front of a computer]. https://www.thelocal.se/20220215/forgotten-girls-of-sweden-foreign-women-fight-for-rights-after-domestic-abuse/

This article shares the story of Ann, which is not the woman’s real name, from East Africa who moved to Sweden after she became pregnant with a Swedish citizen’s child. The child, however, was not conceived consensually and the father registered her as a Swedish citizen following her birth back in Ann’s home country. He then tricked her into marrying him and moving to Sweden, telling her that if she did not, the Swedish embassy will take her child away. She’s now lived in Sweden since 2017, but her husband has stayed abusive and manipulative. She was alone, away from her family, and in a country where she knew nobody and felt she could not escape the relationship due to her isolation and her fear of being separated from her child due to deportation. Ann has now been able to escape the relationship and lives in a new Swedish city with her daughter.

This article was posted on The Local, a website for news and articles in English about recent events, updates, news, and other information in Sweden. Keith Moore discusses the issues many foreign women face in Sweden when it comes to legal rights, custody, discrimination, domestic abuse, and isolation.

Moore builds his argument’s strengths through a balance of statistics and testimonies. Moore claims that in 2020, Sweden experienced 28,900 accounts, from women, of abuse; however, according to the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention, approximately 96% of domestic incidents may never have been reported. Romila Khan, who is on the board of the non-profit association Somaya, tells her stories of the women she has helped and the issues she has seen in Sweden regarding this issue. Somaya claims that Ann’s situation isn’t unique and that they have been in touch with thousands of foreign women who are experiencing violence. Moore also includes professors Minoo Alinia and Linnea Bruno, who have both researched these issues of domestic abuse, discrimination, and custody issues that foreign women face.