Banaz Mahmoud’s honour killing in April 2006 reaffirmed the existence of honour-based violence in the UK.  KMEWO and the Middle East Centre for Women’s Rights (MECWR) organised a public meeting to address the lack of appropriate support for women fleeing domestic violence from communities that legitimise violence against women through a discourse around honour.  The meeting resulted in a coalition of black, minority and ethnic women’s organisations coming together to form the Combating Honour-based Violence Forum.

Forum members have worked closely with key players such as the police, social services, housing, health authorities and politicians to enhance the awareness of “honour” based violence and the last two years the Forum has become a strong campaigning voice against violence and crimes committed under the name of so-called “honour”.

The forum organises 6 meetings a year. There are seven full members of the Forum:

CHBVF Activities:

The CHBVF has continued to combat the issue of honour-based violence (HBV) in the UK.  The specific activities of the Forum throughout the past year are listed below.

Achievements:

Future Plans:

The Forum is empowered by its accomplishments of the past year.  We look forward to next year’s work and the betterment of the both the Forum itself and the lives of those affected by honour-based violence.

Our future goals are as follows: