Thaindian News

London, Dec 4 (IANS) The number of crimes against girls and women carried out by their families or communities in Britain rose by 47 percent in just a year, police data show.

Statistics obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show that in the 12 police force areas for which comparable data was available, reports went up by 47 percent in a year, the Guardian newspaper reported Saturday. Violence included threats, abduction, acid attacks, beatings, forced marriage, mutilation and murder.

The figures, shared with the Guardian by the Iranian and Kurdish Women’s Rights Organisation (Ikwro), also reveal that a number of police forces are still not collecting data on how often such violence occurs.

The 39 police forces that gave Ikwro figures recorded 2,823 incidents in 2010. Ikwro estimates that another 500 crimes in which police were involved were committed in the 13 force areas that did not provide data.

But this is likely to be only the tip of the iceberg, campaigners say, as so many incidents go unreported because of victims’ fears of recriminations.

Jasvinder Sanghera of victim support group Karma Nirvana said the real figure could be four times as high.

Among the 12 forces that gave figures for 2009 and 2010, the number of incidents rose from 938 to 1,381. In London, reported incidents rose from 235 to 495; in Greater Manchester, from 105 to 189, according to the Guardian.

Ikwro’s campaigns officer, Fionnuala Ni Mhurchu, said the increase was probably due partly to better police awareness and to more victims coming forward after coverage of high-profile prosecutions, but that violence itself was also increasing as young people increasingly refused to bow to their families’ demands.

This is the first time British figures have been collated for so-called honour-based violence, defined as crimes planned and carried out by a family or community in order to defend their perceived “honour”.