Nottinghamshire Police are supporting the first national day set to remember so-called honour killings.
Britain’s Lost Women day lands on the birthday of Shafilea Ahmed, a 17-year-old British Pakistani girl who was murdered by her parents for refusing an arranged marriage.
Shafilea was suffocated with a plastic bag in 2003 in Cheshire as her young brother and sister were forced to watch.
Her story is now the focus of the campaign which was launched by Cosmopolitan magazine and women’s group Karma Nirvana.
Abductions
The campaign comes after the change in law which made it a criminal offence to force someone into a marriage.
Official figures revealed that UK police forces recorded more than 11,000 cases of honour-based violence between 2010 and 2014.
These crimes included abductions, false imprisonment and murder, according to the Iranian and Kurdish Women’s Rights Organisation, but campaigners have warned that many offences go unreported as the offenders are often close to the victims.
Detective Chief Inspector Mel Bowden for Nottinghamshire Police said: “For most of us, choosing who we love and marry is not a luxury, it’s a given. And we don’t think twice about choosing what clothes we wear or using a mobile phone. But there are many people out there who are not able to enjoy such simple freedom.
Embracing westernised culture can be viewed as unforgivably shameful within some communities.
Detective Chief Inspector Mel Bowden, Nottinghamshire Police.
“Young people who simply want to be like their friends, to be free to go to school or college or wear the latest fashion, can be viewed as bringing great dishonour upon their family, who believe they are turning their backs on their heritage.
“Victims come from families whose belief systems go back hundreds of years, where honour is valued and protected above everything else.
Their beliefs may be very different from our own, but we cannot be blind to what is happening in communities throughout Nottinghamshire right now.
Detective Chief Inspector Mel Bowden, Nottinghamshire Police.
Nottinghamshire Police has written to local headteachers to raise awareness of honour based abuse, giving warning signs to look out for so they can signpost them to local support networks.
