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An incident or crime which has or may have been committed to protect or defend the honour of the family and/or community
“I lived in fear of my parents and family. I was too afraid to go out, I sometimes didn't have the guts to go to school. I was so confused, scared and isolated that I started to self- harm. I always thought that I had let my parents down by going against their will. I had cost them their honour, what we call their 'izzat'. I attempted suicide four times by overdosing on paracetamol” – Nasreen
Honour-based abuse is an incident or crime carried out to protect or defend the honour or ‘izzat’ of the family or community. It is usually carried out by immediate family members with the complicit help of relatives and the wider community.
Victims can be male or female, although the patriarchal structure of honour-based communities tends to result in more severe abuses of girls/women.
Punishments in the form of physical violence are usually carried out by fathers, brothers, uncles or male community members, while a ‘wider community’ made up of aunts, cousins, neighbours and family friends police the movements of victims and report his/her ‘transgressions’ back to the immediate family.
Gossip is used to spread information along the community grapevine and the victim can come to feel as though he or she is on trial – as if the victim is the wrongdoer. This false feeling of ‘criminality’ is accepted by the victim at a deep psychological level and can last a lifetime, even when intellectually, they come to understand that they were victims of abuse.
If a victim is deemed to be too ‘Westernised’ they may be subjected to a campaign of terror which can include verbal, emotional, psychological, sexual or physical abuse.
This goes on until the victim gives up Western behaviours and submits to the expectations of family and community. In extreme cases families will carry out an ‘honour killing’ to restore their family honour or ‘izzat’.
A victim may be deemed to be ‘too Westernised’ by engaging in the following behaviours: