Your choice

Spotlight report on ‘honour’-based violence and forced marriage

Your Choice looks at domestic abuse within the context of ‘honour’-based violence and forced marriage. It draws on our evidence from the ‘honour’-based violence Spotlight, including our national dataset. The report is part of our Spotlight series which focuses on how some victims and survivors of domestic abuse are hidden from services and/or have unmet needs and proposes recommendations for both practitioners and policymakers.

The report also makes recommendations about how we can increase the awareness and understanding of this issue to provide better advocacy and support to help end domestic abuse and ‘honour’-based violence (HBV).

68%
of victims of HBV were at high risk or serious harm or homicide

compared to 55% of those not identified as at risk of HBV
23%
of victims at risk of HBV were not eligible for most benefits

tax credits or housing assistance
47%
were in a current relationship with the perpetrator

compared to 29% for those not identified as at risk of HBV
15%
of victims seen by the Forced Marriage Unit were below 16

Key findings

Before accessing support, victims at risk of ‘honour’-based violence experienced abuse for 2 years longer (5 years vs 3 years) than those not identified at risk
23% of victims at risk were not eligible for most benefits, tax credits or housing association
Victims were more than 7 times more likely to be experiencing abuse from multiple perpetrators
57% of victims at risk had visited their GP in the past 12 months and 19% had attended A&E as a direct result of the abuse
Only 6% of people were referred to domestic abuse services by health professionals

My husband started the physical abuse, and the other family members soon followed. His family began to give the children expensive gifts and my children began to turn against me... From day one, my mother-in-law, father-in-law, sisters and brothers in law, and then my husband and now children too. What was I going to do?

Amala*, Survivor

Your choice

of victims of HBV were at high risk or serious harm or homicide

of victims at risk of HBV were not eligible for most benefits

were in a current relationship with the perpetrator

of victims seen by the Forced Marriage Unit were below 16

Key findings

Spotlight: 'Honour'-based violence and forced marriage

VAWG

'Honour'-based abuse awareness in the workplace