The Muslim Safety Forum

Community Statement

14th February 2008

The Independent on Sunday’s misleading report – Sunday 10th February 2008

The Independent on Sunday (IoS) of 10th February 2008 had an article under the headline “A question of Honour: Police say 17,000 women are victims every year.” It chose this headline with a picture of a Muslim woman implying that 17,000 ‘honour’ crimes are taking place within the Muslim community.

The paper quoted Commander Steve Allen as stating "We work on a figure which suggests it is about 500 cases shared between us and the Forced Marriage Unit per year," he said: "If the generally accepted statistic is that a victim will suffer 35 experiences of domestic violence before they report, then I suspect if you multiplied our reporting by 35 times you may be somewhere near where people's experience is at."

The MSF has been in discussions with Commander Allen and has established that during the conversation with the journalist from the IoS he had made it clear that these figures were only indicative. Yet the IoS still chose to use this in an inflammatory manner.

“The Independent on Sunday article simply multiplied the 500 cases that are reported to police by a factor of 35 and used the answer to write a headline. It was never intended that my comments should be interpreted in this literal way.” Said Commander Allen. Statement made by Commander Allen at the MSF meeting Wednesday 13th February 2008, can be found below.

He further states, “ACPO is also very clear, and repeats in all its guidance on the subject, that Forced Marriage and Honour Based Violence are not connected to any particular religion or set of religious beliefs. They are cultural phenomena that cut across a wide range of communities from around the world.”

The MSF is saddened to have seen IoS run an article on an important issue such as this in this irresponsible way. With all the vitriolic Islamophobic reports in certain sections of the Media, we never expected the IoS to have joined in to the foray.

We hope that the Independent will look at clarifying this matter and not damage its good reputation with this kind of Islamophobic reporting in the future.

Statement from Commander Allen at the MSF meeting Wednesday 13th February 2008

On Tuesday 29 January Commander Steve Allen gave evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee Inquiry into Domestic Violence and Forced Marriage. His evidence was given in his capacity as ACPO Lead for Honour Based Violence and Forced Marriage.

In the Independent on Sunday of 10th February 2008 part of the evidence was reproduced under the headline “A question of Honour: Police say 17,000 women are victims every year.”

The following is a transcript of Commander Allen’s answer to a specific question from the committee about whether Forced Marriage incidents were under-reported.

“Is it under-reported?  Massively.  What we will never know, or cannot know at the moment, is the extent to which it is under-reported.  If you were to ask me to hazard a guess, if the generally accepted statistic is that a victim will suffer 35 experiences of domestic violence before they report, then I suspect if you multiplied our reporting by 35 times you may be somewhere near where people’s experience is at, but we simply do not know.  We recognise that the issues are those in relation to the police about trust and confidence; there are also issues about whether the criminal justice system and process actually provides people with the kind of outcomes that they believe that they want.  Clearly, it is one of the key strategic aims of ACPO’s work to find ways of developing trust and confidence.”

It is clear from a number of sources, including community-based organisations, that incidents of Forced Marriage are under-reported. The evidence given makes it clear that it is impossible to know the extent to which that is the case. It has been an accepted statistic in generic domestic violence cases that a victim will undergo 35 or so experiences before reporting to the police for the first time. Commander Allen introduced this in order to give an indication of the extent to which domestic violence cases more generally are under-reported. The Independent on Sunday article simply multiplied the 500 cases that are reported to police by a factor of 35 and used the answer to write a headline. It was never intended by Commander Allen that his comments should be interpreted in this literal way.

ACPO is also very clear, and repeats in all its guidance on the subject, that Forced Marriage and Honour Based Violence are not connected to any particular religion or set of religious beliefs. They are cultural phenomena that cut across a wide range of communities from around the world. The police focus is on protecting vulnerable people and holding perpetrators to account.

HBV and Forced Marriage are abuses of human rights and involve criminal offences. ACPO will continue to work in partnership with government and the community to ensure that all members of our community can live free from crime and free from the fear of crime.