Honour-based abuse reaches record high in England and Wales as Home Office warns of under-reporting

Honour-based abuse in England and Wales has reached a record high, according to official figures reported by GB News. The figures showed a 7% rise on the previous year, the highest total since comparable records began.

GB News reported that more than 3,000 honour-based crimes were committed last year. It said the Crown Prosecution Service defines the abuse as violence, threats, intimidation and coercion used to protect the honour of an individual, family or community, and that the category includes female genital mutilation and forced marriage.

The Home Office said the numbers almost certainly understated the real scale of the problem, GB News reported. GB News also reported that 100 children had been referred to the government’s forced marriage unit over five years, with nearly 60 of them under 10 and nearly 30 under five. Kai Wilshaw, a panellist, said many such crimes were hidden and that victims were terrified of coming forward.

Khadija Khan, a journalist and broadcaster, told GB News that the Labour government had been reluctant to call out these attitudes in certain communities because it feared losing votes. She argued that the focus on misogyny had been directed at white communities while misogynistic attitudes in some ethnic minority communities were not tackled. Joanna Marchand, a panellist, said the subject was uncomfortable for media and politicians and that victims found it hard to come forward.

GB News said it had a right of reply from the Home Office. The statement said honour-based abuse leaves victims with lasting trauma but often goes unidentified, masking its true scale. It said the government was strengthening its response through new multi-agency statutory guidance supported by a statutory definition of honour-based abuse.