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Girls in Sweden who are at risk of being taken abroad for forced marriage or female genital mutilation (FGM) have been advised to tuck a spoon into their underwear as a last-ditch method of alerting authorities to their plight.

Katarina Idegard, who is in charge of tackling honour-based violence in Sweden’s second biggest city Gothenburg, said girls should hide the spoons so that they would be taken off for questioning in private room where they could raise the alarm.

The spoons would trigger metal detectors as a last chance to get help, Ms Idegard said.

She said: “The spoon will trigger metal detectors when you go through security checks. You will be taken aside and you can then talk to staff in private."

"It is a last chance to sound the alarm.”

Ms Idegard also said that a national hotline received 139 calls last year about child marriage or forced marriage, and that activists are encouraging other cities to use the spoon initiative.

British charity Karma Nirvana came up with the idea, revealing the tactic had already saved a number of girls in the UK.

According to US charity Care’s website, 64 million girls are forced into marriage before the age of 18.

They also claim that if trends continue, 142 million children will be married by 2020.

The charity also revealed that almost 39,000 girls become child brides every single day and are often married to much older men.

Forced marriage and FGM are illegal in Sweden, punishable by prison terms. The minimum age required to enter into marriage in Sweden is 18.

According to a paper by the Government Offices of Sweden, “luring someone to travel abroad with the purpose of forcing them to enter into marriage” comes with the penalty of two years imprisonment.

In 2016, a father was convicted of forcing his daughter to marry against her will after tricking her into making a trip to Afghanistan.

Ms Idegard said a 2015 study found that 38,000 girls living in Sweden may have undergone FGM. The victims included women born in Somalia, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Gambia.

One well-known case of FGM was that of Yemeni former child bride Nujood Mohammed Ali, pictured top.

She who was granted a divorce in 2008 at the age of eight after her unemployed father forced her into marriage with a man twenty years her senior. She is now a central figure in Yemen’s movement against forced marriage and child marriage.