The normalization of Islam and its demand for submission in all aspects of life continues in Sweden. When the Östergötland County Administrative Board this week was going to advertise for a lawyer to drive Sweden’s work against honor-related violence and oppression, they chose to illustrate the ad with the image of a woman in a hijab…

In 2022, the Östergötland County Administrative Board was commissioned by the government to create the National Center against honor-related oppression and violence (NCH). The purpose was to coordinate and streamline resources in order to more effectively counter the honor-related violence and oppression that has become part of Swedish society.

Honor culture common among young people

In 2017, the National Board of Health and Welfare was tasked with investigating how many young people are limited by the norms of the so-called honor culture. At the same time as the finished final report Ett liv utan våld och förtryck (A life without violence and oppression) states that there is a large number of dark figures, it is written in the summary that:

“Surveys in Gothenburg, Malmö and Stockholm where students in grade nine have been asked to answer questions show that between 7 percent and 20 percent of young people live with honor-related norms and oppression. A survey in Uppsala shows that 20 percent of girls and 10 percent of boys in grade nine have a virginity requirement. Of the girls, 26 percent and seven percent of the boys answer that it is the family that decides their future partner. The County Administrative Board in Östergötland, which is responsible for the national helpline that provides support and advice to professionals working against honor violence, reports that the number of cases increased from 600 to 959 in one year.”

So it is this authority, NCH at the Östergötland County Administrative Board, that meets the drastically increasing need for support for young people by showing them that they will meet exactly the same standards that they are trying to free themselves from, at the authority that is supposed to help them.

That a Swedish authority wants to attract individuals to work against a type of violence and oppression that is intimately associated with religious coercion, through an image that shows an individual who has chosen to submit to religious coercion is remarkable.

Does the County Administrative Board of Östergötland really believe that a girl or woman who is trying to fight to free herself from the grip of honor culture, can or will be represented by a lawyer who is a hijabista? Do they think that the vulnerable will gain confidence in the authority and its work then?

Have we been naive again?

Of course, you can play down the whole thing. Maybe they just wanted to be inclusive, in the typically Swedish way where inclusion is equated with inviting Islam? Or maybe they were just naive? Or is it the Islamophobic, far-right Russian trolls who are whining? Well, maybe so.

Or you can be more realistic and instead claim that the ad was a Freudian slip, which shows that the County Administrative Board has not understood its mission, or does not take it seriously. That they are extremely poorly educated. That they focus more on being politically correct than on fighting honor violence. That they are anxious and worried about appearing as Islamophobes. Or can we simply state that we have now reached a point where it is impossible to illustrate the struggle against honor-related oppression, without relativizing the oppression..?

The text of the ad reads in translation:

“Are you a lawyer with experience of working in the public sector? Do you have experience in project management, strategic work and collaboration with various actors? Do you want to use your academic legal education in the fight against honor-related violence and oppression? Become part of our national work. Read more about the service:”

“RIP old Competence team”

One of those who have reacted to the ad is Devin Rexvid, who is a senior lecturer at Stockholm University and who researches issues related to honor-related oppression and violence (HRV). Rexvid has written a number of publications on honor violence and cultural relativism, and he is often called upon as an expert when the subject is debated in the media.

In 2021, Rexvid’s research report Resurscentra mellan idé och verklighet: en följeforskningsrapport om fyra pilotläns arbete med att stödja utvecklingen av regionala resurscentra mot hedersrelaterat förtryck och våld (Resource centers between idea and reality: a companion research report on four pilot counties’ work to support the development of regional resource centers against honor-related oppression and violence) was published. If there is something that Rexvid can comment on, it is the handling of this type of oppression and violence by Swedish county administrations.

Rexvid now goes so far as to claim that what used to be the “National Center against honor-related violence and oppression” has now turned into a “National Center for honor-related violence and oppression”. On his Facebook page , Rexvid writes:

“RIP old National competence team against honor-related violence and oppression!

There was once a National competence team against honor-related oppression and violence at the County Administrative Board in Östergötland that produced t-shirts and bags with the message “F**k honor-related violence and oppression”, “F**k genital mutilation” and “F**k child marriage”. This team was later transformed, in 2022, into a National Center Against Honor-Related Oppression and Violence (NCH). This center now gives the impression, and after mass dismissal of its competent cadre, of having become a National Center FOR honor-related violence and oppression. Today, this center advertises FOR HRV positions with a veiled woman on the ad (During the afternoon LS seems to have taken down the ad as it has attracted attention).
So if you are for gender discrimination, for a view which means that two women count as one man in matters of inheritance, testimony, if you believe that a woman with shame in her body should avoid premarital sex, not use contraception, tampon, not dance, avoid socializing with the opposite sex, go to the bathhouse during male-free times and do not shake hands with male clients, patients, etc. then you are welcome to apply for a job as a lawyer at the National Center FOR Honor-Related Oppression and Violence.

RIP the old Competence team against honor-related violence and oppression!

The government should dismantle this center FOR honor-related violence and oppression if it is serious about countering HRV.”

It’s words and not rhymes. But if there is anyone in Sweden who has the right to speak out on the matter, it is Devin Rexvid, and he is right: The ad shows with all desirable clarity that it is time for the government to shut down NHC. The authority that chooses to carry out its mission in such a tone-deaf way needs to take a break and think about its mission.

However, the ad did not last long. During Tuesday afternoon, it was taken down from social media.