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Jo Ind investigates why people kill in the name of "honour" and asks how Asian women can be better protected.
To an outsider, it seems unbelievable - a teenage girl is beaten and locked in her room for having her hair cut, a six-year-old is killed in an arson attack because her brother had a girlfriend, a young woman is murdered and buried in a suitcase because she fell in love with the wrong man.But these things have happened. What's more, they have happened in Birmingham and similar atrocities are taking place in the city as this article is being read.What connects the brutalities is they are all done in the name of "honour".Figures for honour-related violence are hard to come by as by its very nature it is hidden. But it is far from unusual. Birmingham's Ashram Housing Association provides advice and accommodation for about 400 Asian women and children who have survived domestic violence every year.Another Birmingham refuge, with space for nine Asian women and their children, turns at least one woman away daily because there is no room.Honour, contrary to what those who perpetuate such crimes might claim, has nothing to do with religion. It relates to a particular form of social organisation, prevalent in villages in India and Pakistan and found in parts of East Asia, Europe, Africa and the Middle East.The concept of honour is so powerful it is more important than the love of a child."Women are reared to believe they are better off dead than bringing shame on their families," says Surwat Sohail, chair of the Asian Women's Domestic Violence Forum in Birmingham.
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