Afraid of being married off?
If you are worried about being pressured to marry against your will, and are, for example, assaulted, threatened, forced or confined, then this is an emergency situation and you should ring the police on 112. If it is not an emergency, contact the police by ringing 114 14.
Do not hesitate to seek help
If you are abroad, ring +46 77 114 14. You can also contact social services in your municipality. When social services are closed, at night and at the weekends, you can contact the social emergency services. The number for social services and the social emergency services can be found on the municipality’s homepage or by doing a number search, for example via 118 118 or 118 100.
If you are unsure, ring an emergency centre
If you do not want to go to the police or social services, you can contact a voluntary organization direct or an emergency organization which has experience of working with young people who are at risk of being married off against their will. There are organizations for young women, young men and transgender people. You can choose to e-mail, ring or visit the organization in person. You do not need to give your name or state where you live if you do not want to. A voluntary organization can help you further and explain which rights you have and what the police and social services can do to help you. They can also accompany you to the police or the social services.
Ask for advice from your friends and at school
You can also talk to someone you trust and ask them for advice, support and help in making contacts if you need to. This could be a teacher, a friend, parent, school counsellor or staff at a guidance centre for young people. If it is possible, you could try to talk to your parents or relatives and explain how you feel and try to persuade them to wait with the marriage.
You can read more at:
The government’s web page, which has questions and answers regarding forced marriages. The page is available in all languages. Please note that there is no panic button for leaving this page quickly.
You can also order for free the information folder “Can I marry whoever I want to?” which is available in several languages. Follow the link: Can I marry whoever I want to? A pdf file opens. Please note that there is no panic button for leaving this page/file quickly.