APPENDIX 34
Memorandum submitted by Karma Nirvana
Asian Male and Female Project
Karma Nirvana is a community-based project
of national significance dealing with over 15 new cases a week
related new cases of forced marriages and honour related violence.
Working closely with statutory and voluntary sector services to
support and improve practice to the client group. Karma Nirvana
also works hard to highlight the plight of those who leave that
become disowned by their families and whose risk increases due
to making the decision to assert their rights and seek independence.
These are what we call survivors who are very often forgotten
but this is where the journey begins as loose everything they
have ever known over night and the need for support is at its
greatest as are the experiences of depression, self-harm and suicidal
thoughts. The Karma Nirvana team is made up of male and female
survivors of such crimes who share their experiences on a daily
basis of disownment and forced marriages to reach others and to
raise the profile of these heinous crimes, but more importantly
to reduce the isolation of the victims to offer them hope and
to remind them that life exists after disownment.
The basis for this submission is to highlight
the pertinent issues facing victims and survivors of forced marriages
and honour based crimes that can lead to murders by those who
perceive themselves to be dishonoured. The key points relate to
the lack of support given to those who make the decision to leave
home or are repatriated by the Forced Marriage Unit with little
or no support to rebuild their lives as disowned human -beings
as they are made to believe that it is they who have betrayed
the family. This isolation is tantamount to loss and many describe
it as grieving which creates a pressure to return, self-harm as
you begin living in fear of those who are meant to love you the
most. We aim to highlight the issues related to their risk and
the lack of understanding and support in managing this risk at
the point of presenting as risk and when they start to rebuild
their lives.
Those who face immediate risk and call
upon the Police and other agencies for support who at times have
very little understanding of the risk involved which can lead
to putting the victims at further risk, consider the Banaz Manhood
murder and we intend to sight real case scenarios. There are pertinent
issues in relation to the how protocols within Education, Education
Welfare Services and Child Protection procedures may further put
children and young people at further risk in cases of forced marriages
and honour based abuse that we feel the committee need to urgently
consider.
Further to this we seek to raise the
real issues impacting on men and couples experiencing forced marriages,
near death experiences and life on the run in hiding who are often
not supported by the current system that are designed to support
female victims only. This paper is rooted in the experiences of
victims and survivors through the work of the Karma Nirvana team
and we would like to you to consider the attendance of survivors
who are now working in this field to share their accounts with
your committee. The two survivors I have suggested over and above
my evidence are male and female with the experiences of forced
marriages in the UK and abroad and as minors now adults, honour
related violence and disownment.
INTRODUCTION OF
THE SUBMITTER
My intention is to submit this paper
as a survivor of a forced marriage as a person who has experienced
disownment for over 25 years due to saying no to a forced marriage
at the age of 16. I submit this as the founder member of Karma
Nirvana which I founded in memory of my sister Robina who was
taken out of school at the age of 15 to marry a man in the Punjab
and later at the age of 24 she set herself of fire and died suffering
over 80% burns. Since this experience I have taken it upon myself
to speak out against the abuses I personally experienced as part
of breaking the silence, raising awareness and more importantly
to reach to those who are experiencing such issues. I recently
wrote my story in the book "Shame" and in the process
of writing my second book that seeks to give an account of those
impacted by the issues. I work closely with Police, Forced Marriage
Unit, and statutory and voluntary sector agencies in England,
Wales and Scotland to educate, change practice in this area in
order to reduce risk and isolation to victims. My expertise is
rooted in my experiences and others victims/survivors in which
I take many platforms to speak about their accounts, I provide
advice and guidance to many professional bodies, have contributed
nationally and internationally to this area of work through article[J1],
media and currently act as an expert in court cases where the
issues of honour related violence exist.
SUBMISSION OF
EVIDENCE
1. It is important note that
over the past nine months Karma Nirvana has been developing a
database of survivors from across the UK. These are men, women
and couples who have come into contact with our services and have
requested continuous support in the form of networking, phone-support
to the point where we take their date of births and have started
to send them birthday, Christmas, Eid and Diwali cards. When you
leave a forced marriage or honour related crime and find the courage
to leave inevitably you become disowned and our victims/survivors
tell us how it is your friends that become your family. We currently
have an increasing database of 92 UK survivors that have been
estranged by their families and many share their accounts of managing
their risks, emotions and the need to tap into the network that
reduces their isolation.
2. Based on current cases
of Karma Nirvana and the many experiences of those on the data-base
we have identified how risk is often not seriously managed by
the Police, Social Services and Education in cases victims/survivors
of forced marriagesand honour based crimes. At the point of crisis
and rebuilding their lives these victims/survivors need a higher
level of protection by agencies especially the Police. Many of
these victims/survivors have experienced threats to kill from
family members, experienced physical, mental abuse, kidnap and
false imprisonment. On the day they find the courage to leave
that are very often faced with agencies who do not understand
the risk posed to them and common responses to our clients are
"stop overreacting" "do not be so dramatic"
or "wait for something to happen" and more importantly
"it is not a Police matter".
3. The highest level of protection
we are aware of is "Witness Protection" and we have
examples of cases where this is never considered despite our efforts
to advocate it at the highest level. We have three examples that
we intend to present to the committee of cases which clearly identify
the threat of a so called "honour killing" that have
involved kidnapping and the presence of fire arms to warn victims
of their use if they dare to leave and yet these victims still
have not been given the Police protection they need.
4. We intend to demonstrate
how we encourage reluctant victims through Karma Nirvana support
to leave abusive situations and give statements to the Police
they say only to be used in event of their death. Over and above
statements many give their DNA and fingerprints to ensure their
accounts are documented and in the hope of effective Police action.
However even in these cases we have experienced very little reassurance
and victims experience a loss of Police confidence and are further
victimised.
5. Victims who leave endeavour
a journey in which they fear being tracked downed and recently
Karma Nirvana dealt with a 17-year-old girl in Derby who is from
an educated family who was being forced to marry. It is important
to note that this girl responded to one of our local articles
in the Derby Evening Telegraph due to the fact that not
one secondary school in Derby would display the Government Forced
Marriage poster that we have tirelessly advocated for schools
to display. Our purpose of contacting schools during this time
was due to the fears before the summer holidays. This is also
the busiest time of the year for Karma Nirvana in which many girls
and boys are taken abroad.
6. Education and Children
and Young Peoples Services are key to prevention work and reducing
the isolation of the victim our biggest challenge and some of
the reasons given for not displaying the poster were that they
did not want to upset communities. We recommend that every school
evidence how they intend to reduce the risk of forced marriages
in schools. We recommend the Education guidelines are monitored
for their implementation and that all schools as with other posters
engage in displaying the forced marriage poster. We have dealt
with cases within Education, Education Welfare and Social Services
including Children and Young Peoples Department have placed victims
of forced marriages at further risk due applying the same protocols.
In these cases we recommend that these agencies re-write policies
and give consideration to the victims experiences and the impact
of further risk. Examples of writing to the parents in case of
truanting puts girls at further risk and may be the trigger for
forced marriage or honour killing. Examples of mediation in cases
of forced marriages places victims at immediate risk and future
risk. Examples of children missing from school and going of roll
without investigations of why are sited within Karma Nirvana work,
despite request for investigation due to concerns. The DFES have
a strong role in assisting the messages of the unacceptability
of forced marriages and to date despite attempts to engage with
the DFES we have not had any success.
7. Many professionals in this
field are in need of support to engage in the support and prevention
work of victims and do not have the confidence to do so due to
so called "political correctness" and the fear of being
racist this is becoming an increasing issue. There is a need to
advocate these issues for what they are human rights abuses, child
protection issues and against the law to restore confidence so
that pro.
8. A point to note in relation
to the 17-year-old victim in Derby is that her family went to
the lengths of contacting our local MP RT Margaret Beckitt for
information on her location demonstrating concern. This girl was
eventually tracked down and kidnapped and the mother and cousin
have since been remanded in custody awaiting trial.
9. The current Police Witness
Protection Scheme is not designed to deal with victims and survivors
of forced marriages and honour related crimes, very often these
victims do not agree to acting as witnesses against their families,
however it can be demonstrated they are in need of the same level
of protection. I personally have advocated at the highest level
for these victims to be offered protection that takes into account
their experiences of threats to kill with little success.
10. There is a need to design
a Victim Protection Scheme to support victims and survivors of
honour based crimes and forced marriages, this will enable them
to build on a foundation to start rebuilding their lives without
the fears of their families tracking them down. There is a need
to develop a specific and consistent risk assessment model across
organisations that engages with those who work with victims of
these crimes.
11. The majority of organisations
including the Government Forced Marriage Unit are engaged in the
repatriation of victims and crisis intervention and once they
are rescued the support ceases. It is important that these victims
are encouraged through appropriate support that understands their
experiences to reduce their isolation once they leave if they
are to stand any chance of rebuilding their emotional and physical
well being. The pressure to return and risk is at its greatest
when women leave the refuge and this is when vulnerability is
heightened as many learn the transition of moving from total dependency
to independence. We recommend that the key to successfully supporting
these victims has to involve survivors of these crimes and can
evidence success of this.
12. Karma Nirvana would like
the committee to consider the development of a national network
to support those who leave and are repatriated. This would act
as the surrogate family to those at risk and those disowned, as
it would seek to meet to support the grief experienced at the
loss of family members. We propose the development of an out of
hours national forced marriage/honour based violence help-line
in which survivors will answer the calls. As with the Karma Nirvana
team these are unique individuals who are sharing their experiences
to support others and add value to agencies that have a duty to
support and protect victims. This intervention is crucial to the
survival rates of victims and we currently have an increasing
rate of victims in need of this service who have moved beyond
their refuge experience.
13. There is a need to send
out a strong message of the unacceptability of these crimes but
also that there is life after asserting your rights as a forced
marriage victim. With this in mind we recommend that agencies
engage with victims and survivors jointly to give this message
through education and awareness opportunities to demystify the
notion that we do not want to speak out.
14. We would like the committee
to consider the recommendation that survivors share their accounts
to gain a deeper understanding into the complexities of the those
who experience forced marriages and flee situations at risk from
a so called `honour killing' and would like to put forward the
following to give evidence.
15. A male survivor of a forced
marriage who was taken out of the British education system aged
10 years old to take part in a marriage ceremony to a girl aged
five years old. Imran Rehman is now aged 33 a male caseworker
with Karma Nirvana since March 2007 with a case load of 16 UK
men.
16. Secondly we would like
Shazia Qayum to give an account of her forced marriage who also
was taken out of school, held as a prisoner in her home and then
forced to marry abroad and only returned after agreeing to sponsor
her husband under duress. Shazia is now the team leader who has
a high caseload of young victims.
17. Thirdly we would like
the committee to hear the accounts of a couple who are in hiding
at risk of an honour killing to hear the first hand accounts of
how risk in their case needs to be managed. The immediate and
future challenges they face and how couples are very often at
more risk and not recognised by current systems. Please note that
reassurances are needed that they will remain anonymous in order
for their experiences to be shared.
2 October 2007
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