Savera UK has partnered with The Crime Desk at the Daily Mail to campaign against ‘honour’-based abuse, and improve reporting on the issue.

The campaign series launched last week, revisiting the tragic case of Samaira Nazir, 25, a promising student who in 2005 was stabbed to death by her own brother in their family home in Southall, west London, while her mother watched on. The murder was committed in the name of ‘honour’.

Savera UK worked with The Crime Desk team, senior reporter Piriyanga Thirunimalan and editor Alex Matthews, to advise on language and terminology used in the article, to ensure harmful and inaccurate stereotypes were avoided, and to provide expert information on the wide-reaching characteristics of ‘honour’ and their implications.

The representation of ‘honour’-based abuse (HBA) and harmful practices in the UK media is an issue that Savera UK has long worked to address. Often inaccurately framed as a ‘cultural’ issue only affecting certain communities, reporting can reinforce harmful stereotypes, stigmatise communities and make these forms of abuse even harder to identify, due to preconceived ideas of who is at risk.

Throughout the campaign, Savera UK will be working to support The Crime Desk team as it examines other HBA and ‘honour’ killing cases and failures within our legal system to properly identify and prosecute the offences. We will also share our research into HBA delivered in partnership with the University of Liverpool, and other frontline expertise to help increase and broaden understanding about HBA amongst the public.

Afrah Qassim, Savera UK CEO and Founder, said: “In the majority of cases in UK media, reporting around ‘honour’-based abuse and ‘honour’ killings is poor at best and harmful and inaccurate at worst. Irresponsible, sensationalist reporting that limits ‘honour’ as a risk to just certain backgrounds not only wrongly demonises communities and perpetuates harmful stereotypes, but it also makes cases that are deemed not to be ‘typical’ harder to identify, meaning there are survivors and people at risk out there who are not getting the support they need.

“Working with Piri and Alex at The Crime Desk, we have seen not just their commitment to raising awareness of ‘honour’-based abuse, but to reporting accurately, responsibly and with care for the stories of those we have lost to ‘honour’. HBA is a complex and nuanced crime that can affect anyone regardless of age, culture, ethnicity, disability, sexuality, or gender. We hope that through this partnership, we are able to increase understanding amongst readers who may have little or no understanding of such issues, so there is greater awareness of the indicators and of routes to help.”

Other projects engaging media include Savera UK’s development and launch of a set of guidelines for journalists reporting on HBA and harmful practices and advice on best practice for working with survivors who want to share their stories. This year, we have also worked with the University of Sheffield on a groundbreaking domestic abuse reporting toolkit for journalism students, journalism educators, journalists and editors, providing expert content for specifically reporting on cases of HBA and harmful practices.