The government has missed an opportunity to establish a legal definition of honour-based abuse, Imran Khodabocus, director, the Family Law Company, writes in this week’s NLJ. A recommendation that this be done was made by the Women and Equalities Committee but rejected by the government in September
Khodabocus, a lawyer working on diverse cases of honour-based abuse, explains why a legal definition would make a valuable difference. There would be benefits in terms of awareness, consistency of support provided and much more.
He writes: ‘It’s not possible to safeguard victims if no-one understands what they’re safeguarding against.’ Khodabocus, who trains legal professionals in this area, explains what not to do as well as what to do when working with victims of this type of abuse, and highlights some of the barriers faced by victims.
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