Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

British Asians back family 'honour'

 

Monday 19 March 2012 05:28 EDT
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Two-thirds of young British Asians believe families should live according to the concept of “honour”, a new poll suggests.

According to the survey for the BBC's Panorama programme, 18% of the 500 people questioned felt certain behaviour by a woman which could affect her family's honour was justification for physical punishment.

Such behaviour included disobeying her father, and wanting to leave an existing or pre-arranged marriage, the BBC reported.

The research, carried out for the broadcaster by ComRes, quizzed young Asians living in Britain between the ages of 16 and 34.

It found 69% agreed that families should live according to honour.

This figure rose to 75% among young men, compared with 63% of young women, it was reported.

Only 3% said there was ever a justification for so-called "honour killings".

This rose to 6% among the young Asian men surveyed, compared with 1% of the women.

A survey of police forces by the Iranian and Kurdish Women's Rights Organisation (IKWRO) in November found there were almost eight incidences of honour crimes a day, it was reported, although 13 of 52 forces did not supply the charity with a breakdown.

Nazir Afzal, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said the true figure of honour killings is unknown, and could be between 10 and 12 a year in Britain.

Mr Afzal, who said there were 10,000 forced marriages in the UK every year, told the broadcaster: "Forced marriage is the earthquake and what's followed is a tsunami of domestic abuse, sexual abuse, child protection issues, suicide and murder.

"If we can tackle forced marriage then we can prevent all these other things from happening."

PA

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in