Honor Violence

Honor Violence

Violence in the name of honour (also "family" or "group" honour) refers to a system of practices and beliefs aimed at maintaining or restoring the "honour" of a family or group. This can manifest itself in various forms of violence, especially against women and girls, which are seen as "honour violations". Honour violence can include physical, emotional and sexual violence and is often closely linked to cultural and religious traditions. It is a serious human rights violation and an urgent social problem that occurs worldwide.

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cases of honour violence occurred in Germany in 2020 alone. Of these, 501 were attempted or completed homicides, 327 were assaults and 677 were threats.

Source: Federal Criminal Police Office (2020)

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of the interviewed women and 13% of the interviewed men had already been affected by honour violence in their lives. Of the women, 12% said they had been affected by honour violence in the last twelve months, and of the men, 4%.

Source: Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (2020)

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of the women surveyed and 4.4% of the men surveyed had been affected by honour violence in the last 12 months. Threats (7.3% of women and 3.6% of men) and physical violence (6.0% of women and 2.8% of men) were the most common, followed by sexual violence (2.3% of women and 0.8% of men).

Source: Bielefeld University (2021)

Honour violence is a widespread problem involving both physical and psychological violence and oppression and is often linked to traditional notions of honour and gender roles. According to a study by the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth, 22 percent of the girls and women surveyed said that they had already experienced violence based on ideas of honour. Among the male respondents, the figure was 13 percent. Boys and men can also become victims of honour violence.

Honour violence can take various forms, such as forced marriage, restrictions on freedom of movement, threats, physical violence and sexual assault. Children and young people with a migration background are often particularly affected, especially those from conservative-traditional families. The perpetrators are often people from their own relatives or close confidants.

The effects of honour violence on victims can be severe and have long-term consequences, such as trauma, mental disorders, dropping out of school and unemployment. It is therefore important that schools and communities actively engage in honour violence prevention and provide support and protection to victims.

In order to combat honour violence, it is necessary to create awareness of the problem and encourage the young people concerned to talk about their experiences. Schools can play an important role in this by taking up programmes aimed at specifically addressing the side that is causing it. Through close cooperation between schools, communities and government agencies, we can draw attention to the problem and work together to ensure that honour violence is no longer tolerated in schools.

Our honour violence project aims to educate learners about this serious problem and provide them with tools and resources to deal with it. We are committed to making schools safer and more inclusive places by offering interactive programmes that focus on preventing honour violence and targeting the side that causes it.

We work closely with schools and communities to teach the importance of equality and respect and to raise awareness of the issue of honour violence. Through our work, we hope to have a positive impact on the school community and help ensure that honour violence is no longer a taboo issue.

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If you would like to learn more about our services, please contact us. We will help you to effectively counter honour violence in your school.