Coronavirus and lockdown are seriously impacting on victims forced marriages, honour abuse and FGM:
Jasvinder Sanghera CBE
Since lockdown, I have been listening attentively to Home Office announcements related to national domestic abuse campaigns. This also led to reading the front page of the Home Office website that speaks about the experiences of partner abuse and how friends, family, neighbours and community members can be a vital lifeline to those living with abuse. I have followed media stories suggesting that significant numbers of domestic abuse victims are coming forward during this time to seek help as this crisis is increasing the risk to victims. Whilst I agree that the social distancing restrictions can and do increase victim risk, for me it feels negligent not to provide the data related to who and who is not coming forward. The national picture of increased reporting of domestic abuse has not happened for BAME victims and worryingly, referrals to police, education, children and social care services and the government’s Forced Marriage Unit have drastically reduced.
But can someone please explain why is it that none of the domestic abuse campaigns include awareness of victims that experience multiple family perpetrators, as experienced by victims of honour based abuse. Lockdown for these victims means being entombed in homes with threats from mothers, fathers, uncles, brothers and sisters and wider family members. This is a time when the desire of families and communities to further control girls’ sexuality and protect their ‘honour’ has been heightened.
Lockdown has increased family and community surveillance, reducing even further the opportunity for victims to report, especially as the schools are no longer the ‘eyes and ears.’ The Home Office poster campaign quite rightly points out ‘At home shouldn’t mean at risk’ and yet it has always been the case for victims of child/forced marriages, honour abuse and FGM, that home has always been the place of greatest of risk. I recently spoke with survivors during lockdown who describe very real escalated fears due to increased isolation that has led to threats of imminent forced marriages taking place after lockdown and Skype marriages during lockdown. I hold dear how we are all equal before the law and entitled without discrimination to equal protection by the law, but somehow it feels as if there is not the same will to reach BAME victims. The position of the Home Office is that honour abuses equally form part of the broader domestic abuse agenda. However, they do not feature as part of today’s broader campaigns. Neither does campaign literature speak directly to these experiences. This is an opportunity to highlight that both FGM and forced marriage are against UK law, despite the appallingly low conviction rates. The urgency is now, as the clock ticks, and number of hidden victims continues to increase due to lockdown.
I keep asking myself the question why are these issues an afterthought, an add on or AOB? Why are they not actually, as we are led to believe, a broader part of the domestic abuse agenda. The issues of FM,HBA and FGM appear to be the ghosts at the banquet.
