Victim of honour-based abuse shares her experience to Derbyshire officers

A group of officers and staff have received specialist training, including a powerful talk from a victim as part of a focus on tackling honour-based abuse across the county.

Earlier this year, we hosted our first honour-based abuse champions training to help create a group of specialist experts to advise other officers and staff when approaching incidents of this abuse.

Honour-based abuse is a crime or incident committed to protect or defend the 'honour' of a family or community. This can include physical, mental and sexual abuse, forced marriage, controlling behaviour and a forced move abroad. Some cases have sadly resulted in murder.

To help address this, and safeguard victims, Derbyshire Constabulary has created a group of Honour-Based Abuse Champions. These officers and staff from across the county have received specialist training to help their understanding of the abuse, and the impact on victims.

As part of the training, Nina Aouilk, founder of End Honour Killings, bravely shared her experiences as a victim of honour-based abuse, and explained how best to support victims.

DI Alex Hathway, who is leading the champions group, said: “We are so grateful to Nina for joining us and being so brave and open in telling her story. The knowledge shared so passionately and courageously by her will help officers around the county to safeguard victims and pursue justice.

“The champions group will continue to grow with future training dates already planned in. Whilst incidents of honour-based abuse are low in Derbyshire, we want to ensure that victims can trust us as we take these incidents seriously, put support in place and take action against offenders.”

Reporting crime

To report a crime to us, please use our website: Report a crime | Derbyshire Constabulary You can also private message our social media accounts or call 101.

If there is an immediate danger to life, someone using or threatening to use violence, or the suspect is still at the scene, please call 999.

You can report information anonymously by contacting Crimestoppers either through their website or by calling 0800 555 111.

If you need help or you think that someone you know might need help, you can contact the national charity Karma Nirvana for confidential advice and support. They also have a helpline, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm: 0800 5999 247.