Lives would be saved and much suffering averted if ministers
dropped the term ‘honour abuse’ from all official documentation
because it inadvertently legitimises violence among closed
communities and deters victims from seeking help, according to a
report from a leading think-tank.
With eight in ten victims of domestic abuse failing to report
their trauma – of which honour abuse is part – the Centre for
Social Justice found that a range of horrific practices, such as
female foeticide, forced marriage and abortion, rape, 24/7
monitoring, and bans on higher education, are going unreported.
The report, No Honour In Honour Abuse: harnessing the health
service to end domestic abuse, highlights the way the term
"honour abuse” keeps victims from disclosing their abuse, out of
fear of breaking a traditional moral code, and ‘disrespecting’ a
cultural legacy.
Lead author Cristina Odone said: “There is no honour in honour
abuse. The label protects the perpetrator because it makes
powerless victims feel guilty, even treacherous, about seeking to
escape their tormentors and go to the police, doctors or social
services. Changing the language would relieve many people, mostly
women, of much pain and anguish.”
During their research, the CSJ interviewed victims from a variety
of different faith and ethnic groups. A key finding was that many
victims are being failed by practitioners, including health
workers, who fear accusations of racism, bias, and prejudice for
probing 'honour’ issues.
For example, one survivor who went to see her GP twice for her
symptoms of depression told the CSJ that “I could see the GP
didn’t want to go there. He wasn’t Asian, he didn’t know my
context. He wanted me out of there as quickly as possible. He
just wrote a prescription without asking me anything about my
home life.”
Yehudis Fletcher, co-founder of the Nahamu think tank to address
domestic abuse in the Jewish community, reported “a nervousness
around antisemitism among police and health workers” unfamiliar
with Jewish practices.
Similarly, Janie Codona of the One Voice 4 Travellers charity
told the CSJ of fearing “prejudice that paints all Travellers as
dirty roamers who bring trouble wherever they go”.
This means victims are afraid the police will be unsympathetic if
they report abuse, while other services including GPs may take
their children away.
A separate problem is that many victims do not recognise that
honour abuse applies to their own situation. “The term is wrong
because in our community it denotes one thing only – honour
killing,” Shaila Pervez of Roshni Birmingham told the CSJ.
Victims who call the charity’s 24/7 helpline are appealing for
help to escape their domestic abuse, or forced marriage – but
“they never talk about honour abuse. The term is wrong, because
in our community it denotes only one thing – an honour killing.
These victims do not identify with the government definition of
their suffering and we should change it.”
With only 2,275 ‘honour abuses’ officially recorded by police in
the year end March 2021, the CSJ recommends that the Government
remove the term ‘honour abuse’ from all official documentation,
including police and medical records and correspondence.
The CSJ report also calls for more spending on services,
currently scarce and patchily distributed, to address the
particular barriers to reporting abuse faced by victims in these
closed communities. Barriers include language, racism, fear of
being ostracised, and dietary requirements.
Former Conservative minister , Ministerial Champion for
Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls Overseas, who has
written the foreword to the report said: “Getting rid of the term
does not erase domestic abuse. It will however recognise that
abuse is abuse. There can be no sensitivities around calling it
exactly what it is - no matter who perpetrates it or why.”
