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•Forced Marriage and Honour Based Abuse

•Charity Of The Year

•Jasvinder Sanghera CBE

•Karma Nirvana 2013. All rights reserved.

Karma Nirvana Timeline

1993Established by current

Chief Executive Jasvinder Sanghera

1993 - 2008Community based project

Based in East MidlandSupporting women only

2008Development of national Honour Network Helpline

Providing support inc. men

2008 - 2013National helpline

International PlatformCharity of the Year 2012 Award

(awarded by CWN)Forced Marriages becoming a

criminal offence

BRIEF TIMELINE

2013Jasvinder honoured

with CBE

The presentation will provide:

• Information on the services of Karma Nirvana

• An insight into the prevalence of Forced Marriage and Honour Based Abuse in the UK

• Gain an understanding on how honour systems operate within family dynamics

• Insight into how FM/HBA affects Vulnerable Adults

• Guidance on how professionals can empower victims and survivors to come forward

Forced Marriage:Arranged Marriage

• A marriage that takes place without the full and free consent of one or both parties. The coercion can include physical, psychological, financial, sexual and emotional pressure.

• A marriage in which families take a leading role, but the parties have the free will and choice to accept or decline the arrangement.

Forced, Arranged or Grey?

GREY AREA A marriage may begin here (arranged) but end up here (forced)

GREY AREA A marriage may begin here (arranged) but end up here (forced)

A mother holds down the legs of her pregnant daughter while her son strangles her to death and then stands in the dock and defended her actions in the name of

honour

Real Life Case Study

Heard in Nottingham Crown Court

Rukhsana Naz (1999)

Key Facts

• Average of at least 12 honour killings in UK each year (Cowan 2004)

• In 2011 the Forced Marriage Unit assisted in 353 repatriated cases of forced marriage

• Main countries involved in repatriations: Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Turkey*

• Calls to HN Helpline:- 2008 = 2532 calls

- 2009 = 5599 calls- 2010 = 4815 calls- 2011 = 5517calls- 2012 = 6779 calls

• 45% of our calls in 2012 related to minors

*Statistics from the FMU between January – Dec 2011

#honour stats in 2013…Received 2615 calls from victims, averaging 520 calls per month;57 cases involves victims aged under 15;1 out of 10 callers to the helpline have children;81 calls from men & 28 calls from couples521 callers said their immediate family were the perpetrators35% of calls are unknown

May 2013

Safeguarding Adults

Who is at risk?

Vulnerable Adults and Forced Marriage – Motives Prompting a Forced Marriage

• Parents who force their family to marry often justify behaviour as a protective measure

• Some parents may believe that it will build stronger families or unite two families

• To ensure that the vulnerable adult has a carer• To assist claims for UK residence and citizenship• Parents may have promised child from birth• To ensure land, property and wealth remains within the

family

- May not know where to go for help – not aware of services

- Worried to disclose in case professional shares this with family, especially as family are the often the carer

- Worried that she/he will not be believed if they seek help

- ‘Groomed’ by family to believe marriage without choice is normal

- Where capacity is an issue, vulnerable adult may not be able to communicate

Barriers for Vulnerable Adults

Key Features to Empowering victims and survivors

• Awareness of support reduces isolation and encourages reporting

• Being realistic & reassuring not stating this to be cultural

• Reassure the victim that they are not going against their religion and/or culture

• Establishing a means of discreet contact

• Consider use of IMCA

• Engagement with other survivors through Helpline and Face-to-Face support

Important considerations Do not:

• Use family members as interpreters

• Mediate with family or community members

• Engage in family group conferences, potential emotional manipulation of victim

• Disclose information of risk, including ‘perceived’ risk

• Send the victim back to the family/perpetrators against their wishes

Instilling ConfidenceInstilling Confidence

“We must not allow political correctness to lead us to moral blindness”

(Mike O’Brien)

“Cultural acceptance does not mean accepting the unacceptable”

(Sir Ian Blair)

THE ONE CHANCE RULE!

HONOUR VIOLENCE.IT’S A CRIME.

BECOME PART OF THE SOLUTION.

Website: www.karmanirvana.org.uk Helpline Number: 0800 5 999 247 Email: info@karmanirvana.org.uk

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Karma Nirvana @Jas_Sanghera_KN

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