The Association of Chief Police Officers’ (ACPO) definition of ‘honour’ based violence (HBV) is as follows; ‘Honour based violence’ is a crime or incident, which has or may have been committed to protect or defend the honour of the family and/or community’. In their national ‘Honour Based Violence Strategy’ (herein referred to as HBV Strategy) which was implemented on 30 September 2008 and remains current, ACPO stated that the term ‘honour’ based violence is used ‘to include Forced Marriage (FM) (so often the driver for or context in which HBV is committed) and Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).’ In this research, we requested figures for reported ‘honour’ based violence, however we were concerned to find that there is inconsistency in what the UK’s police forces include under this category. For example, some police forces, such as the Metropolitan Police, flag forced marriage cases separately from, rather than under the term ‘honour’ based violence. We also understand that some police forces do not include female genital mutilation under the category ‘honour’ based violence. IKWRO believes that some of this inconsistency may flow from the definition (above) which is too vague to underpin concerted action. We therefore propose this fuller and more explanatory definition which will help people understand and identify ‘honour’ based violence more easily. 'Honour' based violence is normally a collective and planned crime or incident, mainly perpetrated against women and girls, by their family or their community, who act to defend their perceived honour, because they believe that the victim(s) have done something to bring shame to the family or the community. It can take many forms including: ‘honour’ killing, forced marriage, rape, forced suicide, acid attacks, mutilation, imprisonment, beatings, death threats, blackmail, emotional abuse, surveillance, harassment, forced abortion and abduction. In addition to our concerns about inconsistency in how HBV cases are recorded, we are also concerned, that some police officers still do not have a proper understanding of HBV. This prevents them from properly investigating incidents and crimes, recording all pertinent information and acting appropriately to protect victims. We believe that this fuller, more explanatory definition will help police understanding of HBV as will better, regular training and effective risk assessment and management tools.
These forces are Bedfordshire Police, Cleveland Police and Lancashire Constabulary. There is significant variation in how ‘honour’ based violence is interpreted; some forces include Forced Marriage and others do not. For example, the Metropolitan Police record Forced Marriage under a separate category. Some forces claimed exemption to providing data on the basis that disclosure could impede investigations. 4. It is IKWRO’s view that following some significant progress culminating in the publishing of ACPO’s HBV strategy in 2008, that subsequently ACPO has neglected the issue of HBV. This is demonstrated by the fact that no HBV review or action plan has been published since the 2008 HBV Strategy, despite it clearly being stated in the strategy that it was due to be reviewed on 30 September 2010.