Forced Marriage Research

The importance of evidence-based policy is well-recognised, and an essential requirement for it is good data. Policy to combat and end Honour-Based Abuse (HBA), and to support survivors and identify those at risk is not currently well-based in evidence, and data-gathering on the issue by relevant bodies including the Home Office, police forces, local authorities and health professionals is patchy and idiosyncratic. Even where data is collected and shared publicly, it is not clear how this is used to inform decision-making by policy-makers at the
local, regional or national levels.

This project seeks to map key stakeholders who are, and who should be, collecting data on HBA; identify and share best-practice in data-gathering; recognise barriers to effective knowledge-exchange faced by stakeholders; and co-develop ways to overcome them. We will co-design policy recommendations about datagathering and data-sharing to inform policy to combat HBA, and explore ways of ensuring these have impact.

This project is funded by a British Academy Innovation Fellowship in partnership with Karma Nirvana. It will run from 01.2.23 to 31.12.24. The Fellow (Dr Helen McCabe) is based at the University of Nottingham in the Rights Lab and School of Politics and International Relations.

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Policy Relevance

Honour-Based Abuse (HBA) is an international, national and local issue. It is a form of domestic abuse and, often, of violence against women and girls, and includes issues such as female genital mutilation and forced marriage, ending which are part of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals. HBA affects minoritised people across the UK, but there is wide disparity in relevant agencies’ abilities to respond to local needs because of differences in data-collection, data-analysis and the design and implementation of effective evidence-based policy.

Our project looks to explore how the UK can develop effective multi-level governance structures regarding HBA, which encourage participation, engagement and cooperation from a variety of key stakeholders (including police, local authorities, third sector specialist organisations, health professionals, schools, and survivors) to strengthen our capacity to identify those at risk of HBA and effective strategies for combating it at the local, regional and national level.