British Asians back family 'honour'

Two-thirds of young British Asians believe families should live according to the concept of “honour”, a new poll suggests.

According to the survey for the BBC's Panorama programme, 18% of the 500 people questioned felt certain behaviour by a woman which could affect her family's honour was justification for physical punishment.

Such behaviour included disobeying her father, and wanting to leave an existing or pre-arranged marriage, the BBC reported.

The research, carried out for the broadcaster by ComRes, quizzed young Asians living in Britain between the ages of 16 and 34.

It found 69% agreed that families should live according to honour.

This figure rose to 75% among young men, compared with 63% of young women, it was reported.

Only 3% said there was ever a justification for so-called "honour killings".

This rose to 6% among the young Asian men surveyed, compared with 1% of the women.

A survey of police forces by the Iranian and Kurdish Women's Rights Organisation (IKWRO) in November found there were almost eight incidences of honour crimes a day, it was reported, although 13 of 52 forces did not supply the charity with a breakdown.

Nazir Afzal, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said the true figure of honour killings is unknown, and could be between 10 and 12 a year in Britain.

Mr Afzal, who said there were 10,000 forced marriages in the UK every year, told the broadcaster: "Forced marriage is the earthquake and what's followed is a tsunami of domestic abuse, sexual abuse, child protection issues, suicide and murder.

"If we can tackle forced marriage then we can prevent all these other things from happening."

PA