A Peterborough abuse charity say they're seeing at least one victim of honour-based abuse per week
The government are introducing new measures to crack down on this type of abuse
A charity in Peterborough are providing training on honour-based abuse (HBA).
It comes as the government are introducing new measures to crack down on this type of abuse including a community awareness campaign.
There is a lack of understanding and training in a lot of organisations
Honour-based abuse is motivated by the perception that a person has brought shame to themselves, their family or the community.
Related crimes include female genital mutilation, forced marriage and murder.
New statutory guidance and a legal definition of honour-based abuse will be brought in to help combat the crime, the Government has said.
The Home Office will pilot a study looking at how widespread this crime is, a community awareness campaign will be launched and teachers, police officers, social workers and healthcare professionals will receive more training under the new policies.
Mandy Geraghty, from Peterborough Women's aid, is welcoming the new measures. She said:
"Honour-based abuse is prevalent in Peterborough."
"There is a lack of understanding and training in a lot of organisations, such as police, social care and health services."
"Since launching our training two weeks ago, we have had over 300 professionals sign up because they want to know more about recognising the signs and how to react appropriately."
"It's so important that any training packages the government rolls out are designed, developed and facilitated by members of the community where honour-based abuse is prevalent."
Honour-based abuse is prevalent in Peterborough
Peterborough Women's Aid say they are seeing at least one victim a week suffering from this kind of abuse.
They first rolled out training on this last year and are doing a second round of this in October.
The training they provide is written and delivered by members of the Dahlia project who have a thorough understanding of HBA.