Activists say victims are too often forgotten, their deaths kept secret by their family
LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - “The view in my community was it was better for my sister to take her life than divorce her husband,” says Jasvinder Sanghera, a British activist leading the campaign for a day of memory for victims of ‘honour’-based violence.
She carries her cause with her every day, having been disowned by her family after she resisted being sent to India for a forced marriage as a teenager. Her sister Robina later killed herself to escape an unhappy marriage.
Sanghera wants victims like her sister and 17-year-old schoolgirl Shafilea Ahmed, murdered by her parents in 2003, to be remembered every year on July 14, Ahmed’s birthday.
So far 115,000 people have signed two online petitions supporting the idea, which was advocated at Tuesday’s ‘Girl Summit’ in London called to promote a drive to end Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and child marriage around the world by 2030.
It has the support of high-profile UK politicians such as deputy prime minister Nick Clegg and shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper.
THREATS TO KILL
“There is an absolute lack of remorse in these cases. No one remembers the victims. Normally in a case of domestic violence, there is mourning and outcry in the community,” Sanghera told Thomson Reuters Foundation.
“We need to wake up to this happening in Britain - British women are being murdered.”
She established the Karma Nirvana Foundation in 1993. It runs a helpline which supports victims of forced marriage and ‘honour’ violence.
The hotline receives over 800 calls a month on average, and most girls who ring in are between the ages of 14 and 18.
“We are dealing with threats to kill on a daily basis,” Sanghera said, adding that “dishonour” can come from something as seemingly minor as wearing makeup or being tagged in a Facebook photograph in the company of a boy.
The UK made forced marriage a criminal offence in June. “Since criminalisation, and since the prime minister announced the new law, calls have increased significantly.”
Aneeta Prem is founder of the Freedom Charity, which also runs a hotline. She told Thomson Reuters Foundation she often speaks directly to British girls taken abroad to be forced into marriage, who are often at risk of serious violence.
"I think we're unique in being quite forward thinking," she swaid. "I am texting people all the time. At the moment, Whatsapp seems to be the big thing."
UNMARKED GRAVES
According to official figures, there have been 12 ‘honour’-based murders since Ahmed’s death 11 years ago, but the real figure is likely to be much higher.
Nafir Azal, chief prosecutor for northwest England, told a parliamentary committee in 2010: “I prosecuted recently in the case of Tulay Goren, the 15-year-old girl who went missing 10 years ago. It took us 10 years to bring her father to justice because of the wall of silence that surrounded that family.
“We never found her body. I keep asking myself how many other unmarked graves are there around this country where people who are supposed to be protecting their child have not even reported the fact that their child is missing?”
Sanghera told Thomson Reuters Foundation: "This crime is under-reported because of the nature of the victim. There are multiple perpetrators, from the immediate and extended family, and just one victim."
(Editing by Tim Pearce; timothy.pearce@thomsonreuters.com)
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