International Women’s Day

Apsana Begum Excerpts

Thursday 11th March 2021 Commons Chamber

[Apsana Begum (Poplar and Limehouse) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to speak in this debate, just as it was a pleasure to deliver my maiden speech in this debate last year. I am grateful to be able to address the House today, as well as the newly elected chair of the all-party group on domestic abuse and violence.

In the short time that I have today, I wish to pay tribute to women who have been subjected to honour-based abuse. Honour-based abuse is often misunderstood. This is despite the fact that, in 2019 alone, the charity, Karma Nirvana, reported seeing a more than 60% increase in the people using its helpline. Honour-based abuse may be best described as a collection of practices, or a code, used to control behaviour in order to protect perceived beliefs and honour. Breaking this code is often seen by perpetrators as having brought shame on a family or a community.

All around the world, honour-based abuse can lead to horrific situations and outcomes. Two cases have been on my mind this month. In south Asia, a man was filmed carrying the head of his 17-year-old daughter, whom he had beheaded because of her alleged affair with a man of whom he did not approve. I have also been thinking about Ayesha Arif Khan in Ahmedebad who filmed herself smiling moments before she killed herself because she could not deliver enough dowry to her husband and his family.

Honour-based abuse does not always present itself in horrific murder and suicide, but it exists in day-to-day life and we would all do well to recognise that. We can do so when we think about how many women are policed or make decisions on the basis of the honour code. The question of what people will say deprives women of opportunities, choices, dreams and rights. The dangers of breaking the honour code are real, along with the associated risk of violence. I know that pain all too well.

Contrary to the common understanding of honour-based abuse, it is not something that is rooted in culture or religion. It is important to recognise it as a form of abuse that cuts across all countries, all cultures and all religions and none. Members may be surprised to learn that I felt that the comments made by a man in the public sphere recently might resonate with some survivors. He said, “I was trapped, but I did not know I was trapped. That is like the rest of my family. My father and my brother are trapped. They do not get to leave, and I have huge compassion for that”. It appears that a person does not need to be a woman, or even from an ethnic minority background, to experience the honour code—indeed, they might even be a royal.

There needs to be a statutory definition of honour-based abuse in the Domestic Abuse Bill. The racialising of honour-based abuse needs to stop. We need to see it in a framework that recognises patriarchy and inequality as the root cause of violence against women and girls, rather than placing it in a cultural context. Even though the devastating impacts of this type of abuse are felt in some communities more than others, we need our laws to lead the world in this way.