The notion of an eight-year-old girl being compelled to marry a man decades older by her own family feels like a relic of a distant past. Yet, in modern Britain, the harrowing stories of survivors like Dame Jasvinder Sanghera, Shafilea Ahmed, and Banaz Mahmod expose a brutal reality. So-called 'honour'-based abuse (HBA) – encompassing forced marriage, rape, beatings, and even murder – persists behind closed doors, perpetrated by families against those deemed to have brought 'dishonour'.
A Hidden Epidemic: The Shocking Scale of Abuse
Official figures reveal the alarming prevalence of this crime. In the year ending March 2024, police in England and Wales recorded 2,755 HBA-related offences – nearly five every single day. Campaigners and survivors speaking to the Daily Mail insist the true number is far higher, with many cases going unreported. The areas with the highest recorded prevalence last year were Leicestershire, Greater Manchester, and the West Midlands.
Survivors describe a system where children are deliberately removed from school on days dedicated to raising awareness about forced marriage and female genital mutilation (FGM). Others vanish from education entirely, following older siblings who were married off and forgotten by the system. This insidious abuse, they argue, continues to thrive due to a critical failure by those in authority to confront it.
The Paralysing Fear of Being Labelled 'Racist'
At the heart of the problem, campaigners say, is a debilitating reluctance among professionals to identify and call out HBA for fear of being branded racist or culturally insensitive. Dame Jasvinder Sanghera, who was promised in marriage at eight and padlocked in her room at 14, has dedicated her life to combating this abuse.
'It is a sad indictment when you have professionals who are very worried about upsetting cultural toes and being called a racist,' she stated. 'All you're doing is giving the perpetrators more power by not doing so.' She revealed that nearly half the calls to her charity Karma Nirvana's helpline come from teachers and doctors unsure how to act on signs of HBA.
This fear creates 'evidential gaps' and leads to victims withdrawing from cases. Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) statistics show that just one in two HBA and forced marriage cases results in a conviction, giving it the lowest conviction rate of all flagged crimes in England and Wales.
Survivors Demand Action and Clarity
Campaigner Aneeta Prem, founder of Freedom Charity, warned against letting cultural stigma prevent action. 'The majority of cases come from Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Indian families,' she said, emphasising that HBA occurs where integration into British society has failed, affecting both deprived and wealthy families alike.
Payzee Mahmod, a British Kurd and child marriage survivor, is campaigning for a legal statutory definition of HBA. 'When we avoid naming HBA for fear of stereotyping, we allow abuse to go unchecked and survivors to remain invisible,' she argued. She stressed the need for a definition covering not just physical violence but emotional control, surveillance, and coercion.
The government has established a Forced Marriage Unit and made FGM illegal, but with cases rising, campaigners plead for more robust action. Minister for Safeguarding, Jess Phillips, said: 'So called 'honour'-based abuse has no place in our society.' She highlighted increased funding for the national helpline and a forthcoming strategy to halve violence against women and girls.
Assistant Chief Constable Emma James, the national policing lead for HBA, acknowledged the complexity of the crime and stated forces are working with charities to improve officer training. However, she admitted inconsistency in recording ethnicity data remains a 'key barrier' to identifying risks and safeguarding victims effectively.
The fight continues against an abuse justified by a twisted concept of honour, with survivors urging society to see it not as culture, but as a serious crime demanding justice.
