Honour Based Violence and Forced Marriage

Honour based violence is sometimes referred to as "Honour Crime" or "Izzat".

Honour based violence is perpetrated by the victim's family or community and is carried out as a means of punishment when they are deemed to have bought shame or dishonour by behaving in a way that undermines what the family or community believe to be the correct code of conduct.

The offence committed against the victim can include assault, imprisonment and sometimes even murder.

A forced marriage is a marriage to which one or both individuals do not consent. An element of duress is normally involved to force the marriage which can include physical, emotional, financial and sexual pressure.

It also includes marriages where one or both individuals are unable to provide consent. For example, because they have a learning disability that warrants them lacking the mental capacity to consent.

A forced marriage is not the same as an arranged marriage, where both parties are willing participants.

Honour Based Violence and Forced Marriage are both recognised legally as a form of domestic abuse.

For further information about domestic abuse see Domestic Abuse (including MARAC).

The Forced Marriage Unit (FMU) leads on the government's forced marriage policy, outreach and casework.

The FMU has issued multi-agency statutory guidance for dealing with forced marriage and written practice guidelines for responding to cases.

See: Multi-agency statutory guidance for dealing with forced marriage and Multi-agency practice guidelines: Handling cases of forced marriage.

About the statutory guidance

The statutory guidance outlines the responsibilities of the SAB and all partner agencies around the development and maintenance of local procedures and practice arrangements to enable front-line professionals and practitioners to handle cases of forced marriage effectively.

The guidance also covers issues such as staff training, developing inter-agency policies and procedures, raising awareness and developing prevention programmes through outreach work.

As the guidance is statutory, it must be regarded and any organisation that decides to depart from it must have clear reasons for doing so.

About the practice guidelines

The practice guidelines provide advice and support to front line practitioners who have responsibilities to safeguard children and protect adults from the abuses associated with forced marriage.

The multi-agency statutory guidance strongly recommends that professionals and practitioners involved in handling cases of forced marriage should consult the practice guidelines unless there are good reasons not to do so.