Yes. There are both civil and criminal legal remedies.

Civil law remedies

Victims can make a tort claim against the perpetrator. In these cases, the applicable law is the Swedish Tort Liability Act (1972:207) (Skadeståndslagen). According to the Swedish Tort Liability Act, one can get economic compensation for harm that is followed by injuries caused by violence, e.g., compensation for hospital bills and income loss as well as any permanent or temporary physical and/or psychological harm. According to the same act, the victim also has a right to compensation for the violation itself if the crime involves a personal attack on the victim, his/her freedom, peace or honor. According to SOU (Governments Public Investigations) 2002:71 p. 64, domestic violence is covered by the provision and also grants this kind of compensation.

If the offender is unable to pay and the victim does not have insurance that fully covers the injuries, she/he can sometimes get compensation from the state. Such compensation is known as criminal injuries compensation (brottsskadeersättning). This compensation is granted on the basis of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Act (1978:413) (Brottsskadelag), which includes compensation for injuries that the victim suffers, including clothes, glasses and other similar objects the victim wore at the place and time of the injury. The compensation is calculated according to the rules in the Swedish Tort Liability Act. Compensation is granted by the Swedish Crime Victim Authority (Brottsoffermyndigheten).

Criminal law legal remedies

Sweden does not explicitly consider "domestic violence" as a human right. However, since Sweden has made the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) part of Swedish law, some acts of domestic violence may be considered as a human right through Article 3 and the ban against torture. According to CEDAW General Recommendations no. 35, some violations of women's sexual and reproductive health and rights, such as forced abortion, forced pregnancy or abuse and/or mistreatment of women and girls seeking sexual and reproductive health information, may amount to torture. Sweden has criminalized all domestic abuse acts in the Istanbul Convention with prison as a consequence of violation. 

According to the special investigation initiated by the Swedish government about Sweden's compliance with the convention, which was followed up by a government-assigned expert group, Sweden already had most of the articles in the Istanbul Convention covered by existing legislation. However, there were some gaps consisting of Sweden not having appropriate legislation for forced marriage, double criminality for Swedish jurisdiction relating to crimes committed abroad and prolonged limitation periods for certain crimes. These gaps were summarized by the group in the following report (DS 2012:52), in which Sweden made reservations and explained the gaps instead of revising its laws.^[1]

In the following years, Sweden has tried to fill these gaps with appropriate legislation and these solutions will be accounted for below.

Criminalization of forced marriage and related issues regarding attempting such crime, jurisdiction without the requirement of double criminalization and extended statutes of limitations

As mentioned above, Sweden has criminalized forced marriage in the Swedish Penal Code. Since 2020, the regulation on forced marriage has also specifically covered crimes regarding children under 18. The provision regarding children under 18 is also exempt from the otherwise applicable principle of double criminalization, which makes forced marriage in another country were such marriage is legal still illegal according to Swedish law.

Since 2018, the recognition of marriages that have been entered into abroad in accordance with foreign law is not valid according to the Swedish Act (1904:26 s. 1) in relation to some international judicial relationships concerning marriage and guardianship in certain situations. A marriage is not valid in the following situations:

• if any of the parties were under 18 at the time of the entry
• if at the time of the entry there existed some other obstacles against the marriage according to Swedish law
• if one of the parties was a Swedish citizen or permanently lived in Sweden
• if it is likely that the marriage was forced
• if both parties were not present at the time of the wedding
• if someone is a Swedish citizen or permanently lived here

Only if both parties are over 18 and there are special reasons will such marriage be accepted.

Since 2020, Sweden has had legislation in place that enables authorities to put a child under a travel prohibition if the child is in risk of being married abroad against their will.

Extended statutes of limitation, counted from the day the plaintiff turns or should have turned 18 years of age, in cases of assault due to forced abortion or sterilization

Sweden does not have forced abortion or forced sterilization as individual crimes. Such abuse is instead considered as assault ⁠— or aggravated assault. Furthermore, Sweden does not have a separate statute of limitation for assault crimes including forced abortion or forced sterilization. This issue was addressed by the special investigators appointed by the government in 2012. However, a solution has not yet been found. Sweden's assault laws are general for both children and adults, and the statutes of limitations are general as well. This means that a change of the limitations for assault would have an impact not only on assault in the form of forced abortions and sterilizations, but also on regular assault cases, which would change the entire political standpoint for how severe an assault is seen.

Sweden does, however, have such special statutes of limitation in cases of genital mutilation against children under 18, which is ⁠— in line with the convention – counted from the day the victim turns or should have turned 18.

Sweden has addressed and implemented most of the recommendations. However, Sweden has struggled in implementing effective strategies at a state level to ensure that authorities and state bodies work adequately against discrimination (against women) and domestic abuse. In Appendix I to its Baseline Evaluation Report published on 21 January 2019,^[2] GREVIO^[3] made 41 recommendations on measures to strengthen the implementation of the convention. In proposing such measures, GREVIO has adopted the use of different verbs that correspond to different levels of urgency. These are, in order of priority, "urges," "strongly encourages," "encourages" and "invites." GREVIO uses the verb "urges" where it considers that immediate action is required to bring the party's legislation or policy into compliance with the Istanbul Convention, or to ensure its implementation. GREVIO has urged Sweden to take measures as described below.

• Paragraph 17: Measures to ensure that the provisions of the Istanbul Convention are implemented without discrimination on any of the grounds listed in Article 4, paragraph 3.
• Paragraph 55: Measures to conclude the ongoing work on introducing case management systems that would enable cases of violence against women to be tracked from reporting to indictment and beyond in relation to all criminal offenses required by the convention. GREVIO further urges the authorities to use such data to analyze attrition rates, clarify underlying causes of attrition, follow trends in this area and use the findings to create evidence-based policies and/or make changes to legislation. In this manner, the well-established practice of the Swedish authorities to rely on sound evidence-based policymaking would be confirmed and further strengthened.
• Paragraph 125: Step up efforts to enhance and formalize cooperation structures in relation to cases of all forms of violence against women within and across local authorities, government agencies and women's specialist support services.
• Paragraph 149: GREVIO is concerned at the situation of children who accompany their mothers to domestic violence shelters but recognizes that remedies are being proposed. GREVIO urges the Swedish authorities to swiftly implement the proposals made by the Committee of Inquiry on a strengthened "child rights perspective" in sheltered accommodation to ensure that the necessary support and counselling, including for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), as well as continued access to education, can be provided to children residing in domestic violence shelters with their mothers.
• Paragraph 171: GREVIO is concerned that not all actors are fully aware of the possible negative impact on the safety and protection of abused women and their children, of decisions taken on child custody, residence and visitation rights. GREVIO therefore urges the Swedish authorities to ensure that in the determination of child custody decisions, the family law sections of social services and courts take all appropriate measures to ensure that such decisions do not jeopardize the safety of abused women and their children. In this context, GREVIO stresses the need for more effective training and support to be provided to family law judges.
• Paragraph 204: GREVIO urges the Swedish authorities, in particular the law enforcement authorities, to reinforce their investigative capabilities significantly to reduce the backlog of domestic violence and rape cases, and to take immediate measures to ensure a prompt and appropriate response by law enforcement agencies in all cases of violence against women, as required by Article 50, paragraph 1 of the Istanbul Convention (paragraph 204 in Appendix I).
• Paragraph 229: GREVIO urges the Swedish authorities to revamp their system of protection orders and equip the competent authority with the power to specifically expel a perpetrator of domestic violence from the joint residence that he shares with the victim in situations of immediate danger and as an emergency safety measure, and for this expulsion to remain in force for an appropriate length of time to allow the victim to feel safe and to take other measures to ensure safety. Moreover, GREVIO strongly encourages the Swedish authorities to end the practice of allowing for exceptions to prohibitions on contact.
• Paragraph 245: GREVIO encourages the Swedish Migration Agency to continue the practice of recognizing the particular hardship that the revocation of a residence permit may result in for foreign women abused by their sponsoring spouse or partner. GREVIO invites Sweden to assess the requirements that the violence be the "primary" cause of relationship breakdown and that the violence be "serious" and/or repetitive in nature in the context of actions that enable an abuser to control a woman and limit the likelihood of her leaving a violent situation for immigration reasons.

Lastly, GREVIO urges the Swedish authorities to lift any exceptions set out in the Law on Temporary Restrictions to obtaining a residence permit in Sweden in as far as they limit women's right to a residence permit in accordance with Chapter 5, Section 3 of the Swedish Aliens Act.

Sweden has criminalized all gender-based violence violations mentioned in Section 18 of General Comment No. 35, for example by way of the so-called consent act, which transforms any form of nonconsensual sex, where the offender should have realized the lack of consent, into a version of rape. Appropriate statutes of limitations are in place with some cases never being run down by time, for example child rape cases and genital mutilation cases.

Sweden has not implemented any specific measures with regard to the recommendations part of General Comment No. 35. However, Sweden reports periodically to the CEDAW regarding Sweden's compliance with the 1979 Convention.^[4] The recommendations by the CEDAW in General Comment No. 35 are fulfilled by way of various legislations. An example is the Swedish Discrimination Act (2008:567) (Diskrimineringslag), which prohibits discrimination from an employer (also the state) against, e.g., women. In the Swedish constitution, there is a regulation stipulating that the state must be unbiased and objective in all its work (The Constitution of Sweden (1974:152) (Regeringsformen), Chapter 1 Section 9). Sweden has also been using different kinds of handbooks to ensure that all authority is practiced the way it should be in theory.^[5]

Sweden has also implemented preventive methods when women may be at great risk of domestic violence, including keeping an old address when moving to ensure that the perpetrator does not have the possibility of seeing the victim's address (Swedish Act on Civil Registry (1991:481) (Folkbokföringslag) Section 16). This measure can be taken for a three-year period at the time (Section 17).

Victims can also get fictitious personal data, (Swedish Act about fictitious personal data (1991:483) (Lag om fingerade personuppgifter), Section 1), which is a solution for individuals at risk of being exposed to serious crimes such as assault or rape. Individuals also have the right to change their name according to the Swedish Name Act (2016:1013) (Lag om personnamn) in order to ensure that perpetrators cannot find them via name searches, etc., which is especially applied in combination with moving to other cities. As children are also victims of domestic violence, directly as well as indirectly, we can also include some solutions for the child. An example is Chapter 14, Section 5 in the Swedish Marriage Code (1987:230) (Äktenskapsbalken), which allows the court to try the question of custody if found appropriate in a case of divorce. Further or potential violence is also protected by the acts mentioned below, e.g., the Restraining Orders Act (1988:688) (Lag om kontaktförbud).

Lastly, victims do not pay court fees when a criminal case is introduced and all cases on domestic violence are handled by general courts and are not subject to alternate dispute resolution proceedings.