THE number of honour-based abuse offences reported to North Yorkshire Police more than doubled last year, new figures show.

Honour based abuse (HBA) involves violence, intimidation, and coercion committed to "protect the honour" of an individual, family or community, which the perpetrator believes the victim has undermined.

North East based HBA charity, Halo Project, says common reasons for the abuse include divorce, rejecting a marriage, having a relationship with an "unsuitable" partner, or accessing higher education without family approval.

The charity says HBA includes murder, assault, forced marriage or abortion, rape, kidnapping, female genital mutilation, or controlling sexual activity.

North Yorkshire Police recorded 17 honour-based abuse offences in 2021-22, up from five the year before. Across England and Wales, offences have increased by six per cent.

The Home Office has described HBA as a "hidden crime", meaning victims are reluctant to report it, and says, "this data is likely to only represent a small proportion of the actual HBA offences committed".

Yasmin Khan, director of Halo Project, said: "Despite increased figures, HBA incidents continue to be underreported.

"Whilst it is encouraging to see the number of recorded incidents of HBA has increased, it is imperative to stay alert and continue to shine a spotlight on so called 'honour-based' abuse.

"The increase may be due to a combination of more victims and survivors coming forward and better identification by police, but there are many more cases out there which are not yet identified, partly due to the barriers faced by many in coming forward.

"These barriers include language barriers, insecure immigration status, past negative experiences with frontline services such as the police, and a fear in disclosing abuse due to the 'shame' and ‘dishonour’ the victim risks bringing on their family and/or community."

Ms Khan explained that training around HBA is essential for professionals to improve early identification and protect victims from further risk due to lack of awareness in handling such cases.

A North Yorkshire Police spokesperson said: “While no offences of this nature are acceptable, it’s encouraging that these figures show North Yorkshire continues to have some of the lowest levels of honour-based violence nationally.

“The most recent figures in our county are four times lower than the national average and almost ten times lower than in some nearby force areas.

"We continue to work within all our communities to tackle honour-based violence and other crime. 

"Offences of this nature will be not tolerated in North Yorkshire and we would encourage anyone who feels they have been a victim to seek guidance and report this.

"Further details about how to do this are on the North Yorkshire Police website."

Halo Project says signs of HBA include: extended absence from work, school, or university, excessive parental control, family conflict, history of siblings leaving education early to marry, and social isolation.

If you, or someone you know, is vulnerable to honour-based abuse, or are a professional dealing with those at risk, please call the Halo Project's Specialist Support Hub on 01642 683 045, for free confidential advice.

In an emergency, always call police on 999 and press 55 for the silent solution if you are unable to speak.