Honour Based Violence, Forced Marriage and Female Genital Mutilation

Honour-based violence (HBV) is the term used to refer to a collection of practices used predominantly to control the behaviour of women and girls within families or other social groups in order to protect supposed cultural and religious beliefs, values and social norms in the name of ‘honour’.

It’s estimated that around 76% of victims of ‘honour’-based abuse are female, but boys and men are also at risk. In many cases, there are multiple perpetrators, within the family, extended family and sometimes the wider community.

A forced marriage is where one or both people do not, or cannot, consent (agree) to the marriage. Forced marriages can happen to anyone from any background and nationality, and can affect both males and females.

Forced marriage is illegal in England and Wales. This includes:

• Taking someone overseas to force them to marry (whether or not the forced marriage takes place).
• Marrying someone who lacks the mental capacity to consent to the marriage (whether they’re pressured to or not).

Female genital mutilation is a procedure where the female genitals are deliberately cut, injured or changed, but ther’’s no medical reason for this to be done.

It is also known as female circumcision or cutting, and by other terms, such as sunna, gudniin, halalays, tahur , megrez and khitan, among others.

FGM is usually carried out on young girls between infancy and the age of 15, most commonly before puberty starts.

It’s very painful and can seriously harm the health of woman and girls. It can also cause long-term problems with sex, childbirth and mental health.

This course has been created and delivered by Milly Wildish, a child protection specialist who has worked in criminal, education and local authority settings. Milly previously led a team of investigators in the Metropolitan Police community protection unit, investigating allegations of HBV, forced marriage and FGM, Milly was the specific point of contact for FGM training and advice in Tower Hamlets and regularly worked alongside the community, educating about the risks of FGM.

Milly is a national safeguarding panel member and is currently engaged in a large-scale independent investigation, into current and historical allegations of child abuse. Milly is also an independent investigator for the House of Commons and House of Lords.