PRESS RELEASE: IKWRO demands justice for Mahsa Amini and an end to Iran’s “morality police”

On 16th September in Tehran, 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died in hospital three days after she was arrested and beaten by the “morality police” who had accused her of not being sufficiently covered by her hijab. The Iranian regime is denying responsibility for the murder of Mahsa, claiming that she died from a heart attack. This is disputed by her family.  We send our condolences and stand in support of Mahsa’s family. IKWRO strongly condemns the Iranian regime, who...
Read More

Liberating ourselves from the concept of ‘virginity’ 

By Rojbîn Arjen Yigit, Volunteer at IKWRO  The fixation with being a ‘virgin’ harms young girls from a young age. Defining a woman’s ‘honour’ by her virginity is a reductive ideology. The Cambridge dictionary defines honour as “a quality that combines respect, being proud and honesty” and therefore for many women, true honour can range from protecting their independence, fighting for their communities freedom, to their right to an education. We must challenge the idea that ‘honour’ is...
Read More

True Honour Awards 2022

IKWRO is delighted to announce the nominees and winners of the True Honour Awards 2022. On behalf of IKWRO and all of the judges, we congratulate every nominee for their crucial work to end “honour” based abuse and support survivors. Every single one deserves recognition and praise. Amina - Muslim and BME Women’s Resource Centre Amina - Muslim and BME Women’s Resource Centre, is an award-winning organisation that empowers and supports Scottish Muslim and Black and Minority Ethnic...
Read More

Banaz: An ‘honour’ killing

[caption id="attachment_1600" align="alignleft" width="300"] Still from 'Banaz - A love story'[/caption] Artist and activist Deeyah explains the motivation behind her documentary film Banaz: A love story which features IKWRO. A shortened version of this documentary was shown on ITV on 31st October. (more…)
Read More

Getting it right first time: women and asylum

Asylum Aid recently exposed very high rates of refusal for women seeking asylum in the UK. Russell Hargrave has written a guest blog to tell us more: The typical image of a political refugee is of a single male, fleeing conflict in which he has become embroiled at home. But in 2009 more than 7000 women applied for asylum in the UK.  The factors which lead women to seek asylum can be very different from their male counterparts. Women face...
Read More

Four years on: Join IKWRO in remembering Du’a Khalil Aswad

Four years ago today a 17 year old girl named Du’a Khalil Aswad was stoned to death in the square of her home town Bashiqa, in Northern Iraq.  Today, it is still unclear why Du’a was killed.  Some say that she was simply talking to a boy in the street.  Others claim she had spent a night away from home, or had run away with a boyfriend.  Either way, the men of her village took it upon themselves...
Read More

Government plan on violence against women and girls: OUR VERDICT

In January IKWRO asked our supporters to write to the Home Secretary and ask her to get tough on ‘honour’ based violence.  Many of you sent emails to Teresa may asking her to increase government efforts to tackle ‘honour’ based violence and to commit to providing training for all public sector workers. That was six weeks ago.  On Tuesday you may have spotted IKWRO’s Diana Nammi in the Guardian, talking about the government's new action plan which was released...
Read More

100 years of International Women’s Day: Still not equal, and some are less equal than others

This blog was also featured on the Independent's website for International Women's Day 2011. Today is the hundredth anniversary of International Women’s Day.  It’s a day to celebrate the progress that women around the world have made in fighting for their rights over the past century.  And it's a day to look to the century to come, the challenges that remain for the world’s women and the obstacles that lie ahead. Despite claims that discrimination is over, women’s rights remain a...
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...
Read More

2 minute action: Email the Home Secretary and ask her to get tough on ‘honour’ based violence

  On 9 February Ministers will meet to sign off on a new action plan to tackle violence against women in the UK.  We need your help to ensure that this plan tackles ‘honour’ based violence.  Too often victims of ‘honour’ based violence don’t get the help they need.  Workers in public bodies such as the police, social services and housing authorities need training in how to help women affected by ‘honour’ based violence.  In their new action plan,...
Read More

If you are worried about someone knowing you have visited this website please read this safety information.

There is an escape button at the bottom right corner of the page opposite this box. Please test it so you know how it works.