Why are UK authorities ignoring honour killings?
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Published 2013-12-09
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There are 8 to 10 thousand forced marriages in the UK every year. As authorities are accused of taking 'honour' crimes too lightly, girls who resist or refuse a marriage can face abuse, torture, even death.
"We have kidnappings, abductions, sexual offences. Anything that you can imagine could happen does happen in the name of honour", Nazir Afzal, the Chief Prosecutor for Northwest England, tells us. Shafilia Ahmed simply wanted to be a lawyer and to make her own relationship choices. But her parents judged the 17-year-old's aspirations to be shameful to the family, so they killed her and made their other children watch the consequences of perceived dishonour. In the multi-cultural corners of the United Kingdom law enforcement authorities are struggling to address the problem. Police, in particular, have been accused of not taking honour crime seriously, ignoring clear warning signs and pleas for help. Detective Constable Palbinder Singh says part of the problem is being too culturally sensitive. "It's a ruse. We won't interfere with that family, it's their culture. Well hang on a minute, crimes are being committed, people's lives are being destroyed, people's freedoms are being suppressed."
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All Comments (21)
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Don't call it honour it's just cold blooded murder
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So refusing to marry & become a lawyer brings dishonor to your family but ordering rape & murder on your own daughter restores it WTF on what planet does that make any sort of sense. I'd be proud my child was doing so well to become a lawyer. Laws need to be sorted for this to be stopped.
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Fathers from certain cultures really don’t even think their daughters are human beings
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I was one of those women for over 17yrs. Married at 17. I was beaten and strangled to death twice. My babies breaking through the door and jumping on and hitting their father. I had mere seconds. It was documented by my Doctor- everyone knew but many feared that man. I stood up to him, suffering a spinal fracture at one point.. I am also an ethnic woman. I now suffer from RMS, and Osteoarthritis of my spine. I even have tearing in the cushions between the discs.. I have been discriminated against for more than half my life. As a result, I suffer immensely due to poor medical care. We need to change as a society in so many ways .. It changes you forever.
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Imagine being so evil to kill your own child.
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If you have such parents, you don´t need enemies.
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as a 23 year old pakistani woman who grew up in scotland, i could never imagine my parents doing something so horrific. My parents have always stressed the importance of education, my parent are supporting my dreams of become a lawyer, and are so proud. I feel so sad for all the girls with evil parents like these
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Sorry about my rant below but I was a teacher in an inner city school and lost five girls from my class to forced marriages abroad and honour killings were known as being held over the girls even at such an age as the primary school children I taught. It’s so scary. I had a lot of trouble when dealing with the male family members on parents evenings or if I needed to talk to them about the child in my class. I even had a father come into my class whilst they were all gathered around and beat his daughter with a large stick, when I intervened he hit me too but I wasn’t having anyone beaten in my care!! It was a major eye opener and the things these children told me in confidence is horrific!!
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Dude, it's a good thing the guy is asking her if she really wants to get married, but he should ask her ALONE, without her parents sitting next to her!!
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I don’t understand why people force their daughters to marry boys the parents like. It’s not the parents who are spending the rest of their life with the boy. It’s their daughter.
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I'm so glad I was born into a south asian family with a strong mother figure. My mom grew up on a farm with no electricity in rural India, but managed to put herself college, move to America and complete medical school here. She has a very domineering personality and would NEVER take any sh*t from my dad or anyone else😂 I'm just glad my little sister has a strong woman to look up too, it's so sad that many people look at woman as property rather than people.
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If people say I'm racist with this kind of people, I don't care.
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Its not the police that are failing these girls it is their families, their culture, their religious leaders. Their parents are the worst offenders.
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As the father of a grown up daughter I can’t imagine causing her harm , it’s unimaginable
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I've read Jaswinder Singhara's book and that woman suffered so to say that she's made a career out of what happened to her is ignorant, disgusting individual. She's made a successful life, using her own difficult situation to empower herself and others and for that she should be very proud
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Imagine coming to a Western country, raising children there and being offended that said children adopt western views and ambitions.
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This is the only wedding I've ever seen where nobody seems happy.
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Don't ever underestimate the value of freedom
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Until I saw this video I didn't know about this even though I'm British. It makes me sad to remember those popular Asian girls disappearing from my secondary school and everyone thought they just moved somewhere else.😞
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Why do we have to import foreign criminal practices that were never known in Britain before?
