Some 200 delegates from around the world met in Stockholm from Tuesday for an international conference to explore ways of combating so-called "honour killings".

"Drawing attention to honour-related violence is one aspect of our efforts to combat all forms of violence against women across abroad front, nationally and internationally," Swedish Foreign Minister Laila Freivalds and Gender Equality Minister Jens Orback, the hosts of the conference, said in a statement.

"Patriarchal violence against women, including violence in the name of honour, is a threat to women's lives and mental health and to equal conditions between women and men, both in Sweden and in other countries," the statement said.

"By convening an international conference, Sweden wants to combat all forms of patriarchal violence against women," it added.

The international conference, which is co-sponsored by the Left Party and the Green Party, was held in Stockholm on 7-8 December.

The general aims of the conference are to emphasise the importance of women��s rights for combating and preventing patriarchal violence against women, to exchange experience and to promote cross-border dialogue and joint working.

The intention is also to take the outcomes forward nationally and internationally and to strengthen the work being done in arenas such as the EU, the Council of Europe and the UN with regard to patriarchal violence against women, including violence in the name of honour.

The UN estimates 5,000 women are killed in the name of honour each year, mainly in the Middle East and Asia.

The honour killing of a woman is usually carried out by her own relatives, when they believe she has brought shame on the family.

This conference gathers key politicians from countries where such violence is thought to occur on a regular basis, and from other countries where patriarchal violence against women is perhaps less visible.

They will try to map the extent of the violence and come up with ways to prevent it from happening in the first place.

The Swedish government organising the conference admits that it is a tough task.

Honour killings are not only a crime committed in less developed countries.

Sweden was shocked three years ago when a 26-year-old girl, Fadime Sahendal, who was originally from Kurdistan, was murdered by her own father.

He said she had brought shame on her family by going out with a Swedish man.

Since then, youth shelters here say the number of young women fleeing violent men has been on the increase.

In 2004, Sweden changed its laws to strengthen women's rights by raising the marriage age to 18 and refusing to recognise child and forced marriages.

The organisers of this conference are keen to underline that patriarchal violence does not belong to any one religion, and that it is wrong to perceive it to be a problem mainly in the Islamic world.

Source: Xinhua