West Yorkshire charity Karma Nirvana expresses concerns over fall in honour-based abuse incidents reported to police

Statistics released yesterday (Wednesday) showed there were 2,024 honour-based offences reported to police forces in the year ending March 2020 (excluding Greater Manchester Police, which is currently unable to provide crime data). West Yorkshire-based charity Karma Nirvana, which supports victims of honour crimes, predicted this figure was a 64 per cent drop since 2015, when a report by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) revealed there had been 5,595 such incidents reported that year. Honour-based abuse offences are classed as any form of abuse stemming from cultural or religious practices, such as female genital mutilation or forced marriages, or other forms of abuse in the name of “honour”. Of the incidents reported last year, 74 involved FGM and 140 involved forced marriages. However, Karma Nirvana’s CEO Natasha Rattu expressed concern that the figures did not reveal the true extent of honour-based abuse in the country, and that the drop in numbers reflected a fall in victims’ confidence to come forward. Ms Rattu said: “We feel this is really about poor victim confidence to go to the police. “We are actually getting more calls to our national helpline every year, and you would think that would be reflected in these figures.” She added yesterday how it was "particularly frustrating" that the figures appeared to suggest a regression in tackling the issue on a day which would have been the 35th birthday of Banaz Mahmood, a 20-year-old south London woman murdered in a so-called honour killing in 2006. The Home Office report said it had published the figures to “shine a light” and “encourage other victims to come forward”, and recognised that they were only likely representing a “small proportion” of honour-based abuse (HBA) offences. It also warned that “while police forces have been asked to confirm the accuracy of the statistics in this release, we are aware of a number of data quality issues”. This is because some crimes are not always correctly recorded as involving HBA. The report added: “Home Office statisticians will work with police forces to improve the data quality of this collection.” Ms Rattu said the Government was not doing enough to demonstrate leadership in tackling the issue of honour-based abuse. "We need a zero-tolerance approach," she added. Earlier this year, Ms Rattu told how Karma Nirvana had experienced a 200 per cent surge in calls in three weeks in April and expressed fears that lockdown meant victims had even fewer places to turn due to schools being closed. She said: "People are feeling more desperate now. “Even though we have seen an increase in calls, I do think what we are seeing is only a very small percentage of the actual numbers of victims. We are also expecting these to further increase once the restrictions are lifted.”