A womens' rights group is campaigning to help push legislation through the British parliament that would make teaching children about their rights mandatory, when it comes to honour violence, forced marriage and Female Genital Mutilation. These issues, present in some communities from South Asia, Africa and the Middle East are said to effect tens of thousands of girls and young women in Britain. The Iranian and Kurdish Women's Rights Organisation, which is known as IKWRO, is lobbying for the change in law which would educate girls about their rights and train teachers to look out for the danger signs.
From London, Catherine Drew reports.
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IKWRO says thousand of Britain's teenage girls from immigrant communities remain at risk of honour violence, forced marriage and female genital mutilation, despite all of these being crimes under British law.
Last year the group heard from over two and a half thousand women and girls across the country seeking their help and protection. The groups founder is Diana Nammi
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"It's a huge problem and it's a hidden problem, just around sixty thousand girls in the UK can be at risk of FGM, about 24 thousand can be at risk of child marriage and forced marriage and also many of them can be at risk of honour killing and other forms of honour based violence.
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Diana came to the UK from Iran in 1996, having fought with peshmerga fighters against Iranian hardliners during part of her youth. She established IKRWO in 2002 and just recently she was named Barclays Woman of the Year for her work helping other women.
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Schools need to tell children, to educate the children, that if you are at risk of forced marriage, FGM, child marriage is violence against you must report it.
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Laila who does not wish to be identified, moved to the UK from Iran with her two younger sisters. When their father and stepmother began planning to marry her 16 year old sister to a 40 year old Iranian man, the 3 sisters ran away from home. Laila says at the time, she could not approach her school for help.
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"Their way of reacting to the problems we were having was lets get your step mom and father into the school, lets discuss it and lets come to some kind of a solution. And that was not going to happen, we would have been on the next flight back to Iran and be forced to marry by my uncles."
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IKWRO is supporting legislation going through parliament that will make teaching young people about their rights when it comes to honour violence, forced marriage and FGM compulsory in every school and train school staff how to help students at risk.
The legislation has won the support of the major teaching unions. beth Fordham is a teacher at a north London secondary school… she agrees teachers need help when they come across such situations.
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"It's got to be a two way thing, so the teachers have the knowledge to teach it, but also have the knowledge themselves of how to deal with it but the pupils need to recognise what this is. "
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12 years after she ran away from home, Laila has a PHD's and is training to become a surgeon. But she says her life and that of her sisters could have been so much easier if their schools had been able to offer support.
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I wish this campaign and this bill were in motion when I was in my situation so many years ago because it would have helped, it would have meant a great deal. I don't think I even knew what was happening, that I was facing honour based oppression which is what I call it for my situation and that I had the right to have face forced marriage and that I should have been able to seek help.
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This proposed legislation is not without controversy…campaigners are expecting some opposition from community or religious groups who may take the view that schools should not be involved in such matters. Nevertheless campaigning continues for a change of law, in a process which is expected to at least a year.
Catherine Drew, sign off, London