Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to define the charity Karma Nirvana’s definition of honour-based abuse in statute.

Ensuring that 'honour'-based abuse (HBA) is well understood by frontline professionals, Government agencies, and impacted communities, is essential to preventing abuse, supporting victims and bringing perpetrators to justice.

Currently there is a definition of HBA used by the Criminal Justice System, but we recognise there is more that can be done to raise the level of consistency of understanding regarding HBA in Government and beyond and we are aware of the proposals for a statutory definition of HBA.

On 6 February 2025, the Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls hosted a roundtable on HBA which was attended by multiple Government departments and specialist sector organisations, including Karma Nirvana. The question of what a statutory definition could look like was discussed at length. Home Office officials are working through the next steps following that discussion.