FGM Zero Tolerance Day – UK must get serious
PRESS RELEASE FGM Zero Tolerance Day – UK must get serious 6 February 2012 Ahead of the International Day of Zero Tolerance to female genital mutilation (FGM) on Monday, The Foundation for Women’s Health Research and Development (FORWARD) and the Iranian and Kurdish Women’s Rights Organisation (IKRWO) are calling for a long-term, comprehensive strategy to tackle FGM in the UK. FGM is a form of violence against women and girls and a human rights violation. The practice is illegal in the UK and is classified as a form of child abuse, yet in 2007 it was estimated that more than 32,000...
Read MoreIKWRO announces winners of True Honour Awards 2011
The winners of IKWRO’s first True Honour Awards - an annual prize which has been established in memory of all victims of honour killing – were announced during a special ceremony in London. The first winner is Hanim Goren, the mother of “honour” killing victim Tulay Goren. 15 year old Tulay disappeared in January 1999 after angering her father Mehmet. Hanim Goren suspected that her husband had killed Tulay, but she was too frightened to talk to police because of the risk to her own life. In 2009 Hanim finally decided to break her silence and give evidence...
Read MoreNearly 3000 cases of ‘honour’ violence every year in the UK
New research by IKWRO has found that more than 2800 incidents of ‘honour’ based violence were reported to police across the UK last year. IKWRO sent Freedom of Information requests to all 52 police forces across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland asking how many incidents of ‘honour’ based violence they had recorded last year. 39 police forces responded with a total of 2823 incidents. IKWRO estimates that a further 500 incidents may have been reported to the 13 forces who did not respond. “These figures demonstrate that ‘honour’ based...
Read MoreNominations for the True Honour Awards are now closed
Do you know someone who has made an outstanding contribution to the fight against honour based violence in the UK? IKWRO announced earlier this year that we will grant True Honour Awards to one individual and one organisation. The winners will each receive a cash prize and a commemorative piece of crystal. The awards ceremony will take place in November and we recently put out a call for nominations, asking people who know of a person or an organisation who deserves a True Honour Award to contact us. The nominations process We asked people to write to us with the following...
Read MoreFGM – government cuts reveal lack of commitment
PRESS RELEASE 28 March 2011 FGM – government cuts reveal lack of commitment Government FGM Coordinator post to go weeks after government publishes FGM guidelines Charities working to prevent female genital mutilation within the UK’s African and Middle Eastern communities today criticised the government’s decision to cut the only post across all of Whitehall which is dedicated to tackling FGM in the UK. The cross government FGM Coordinator has played an important role in increasing government action on FGM in the UK. Last month the government released new guidelines, written by the...
Read More‘Honour’ based violence – Government plan does not do enough
Press release 7 March 2011 ‘Honour’ based violence – Government plan does not do enough The Iranian and Kurdish Women’s Rights Organisation today welcomed the government’s new action plan on violence against women and girls, but expressed concerns that the document does not do enough to help victims of ‘honour’ based violence. IKWRO Director Diana Nammi said today: “Every single day girls and women in the UK are locked up, threatened, beaten, forced into marriage and even murdered by their families in the name of so called ‘honour’. While acknowledging the specific...
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