The name of my campaign is Safety over Shame and I have based it on honour crimes. I have chosen this
name as it makes clear that my campaign is focused on helping the victims of honour crimes and
priorities their safety over what their parents, family, or community have deemed to be shameful
behaviour. Honour crimes can come under a number of various forms, some including forced marriages,
female genital mutilation (FGM), domestic or sexual violence, harassment, kidnapping, physical assault,
and threats of violence. This relates to the brief where... (I talk about the honour crime in the brief,
enuring I mention who the offenders are, who the victims are, why the crime has been committed, and
how it was committed). This case is similar to those in real life, where victims are typically young girls
from families of a minority ethnic or religious background, however the victims can also be young boys.
Most of the time these families have moved to a more developed country causing their young children
to develop new and more western views and beliefs that go against their family’s culture. The offenders
of honour crimes are usually older male members of the same family, though they can also be female.
Honour crimes are usually committed as punishments on people for acts deemed to have brought
shame to their families and can include verbal, physical, and emotional abuse as well as abductions and
murder. Honour crimes can be committed for a number of reasons, some of these including heritance
concerns, westernisation, extramarital affairs, insulting a family member, homosexuality, refusal to take
part in an honour crime against someone else, rebellion against traditional forms of behaviour, loss of
virginity outside marriage, and disagreement with an arranged marriage or leaving one. Due to the vast
amount of reasons why an honour crime can be committed, there is a large number of reasons as to
why one may go unreported. One personal reason as to why a victim of honour crime may not make a
report to the police is due to shame or embarrassment as the victim may not want others to know they
were unable to defend themselves. Additionally, they may also not want to make themselves look
weaker in front of their family. Another personal reason a victim may not want to report the crime is
that they have a fear of the potential repercussions they could face if the perpetrator finds out they
have reported the crime. This fear also applies to witnesses of an honour crime. Witnesses of an honour
crime may also feel that the crime committed has nothing to do with them, especially if they are not a
close relative or friend. There is a lack of public knowledge about the severity and frequency of honour
crimes being committed in the UK, as most occur within family homes or small communities of people of
an ethnic or religious minority that agree with this form of retaliation and punishment. This means
people are oblivious to how frequently these crimes are occurring, and are unsure how to deal with
witnessing one. Another social reason honour crime goes unreported is due to a lack of media interest.
Due to a lack of public knowledge about honour crimes, the media do not report on them as frequently
as other crime types as they believe the public are not interested in seeing news about them. This lack
of media coverage results in a lack of public concern, as the public’s perception of crime and their
concerns are heavily influenced by the frequency of media reporting. A cultural reason as to why honour
crimes go unreported is due to it being a culture-bound crime. Honour crimes are acceptable within
certain areas of society such as communities of ethnic or religious minority groups, and so it is ignored
by people of different cultures as they believe it is not their place to interfere with what they see as
typical cultural practices.
All these reasons are why I have chosen to create a campaign on honour crimes. Due to a lack of
understanding of different cultures, many people that witness honour crimes do not report them, thus
creating this cycle that has led to honour crimes being one of the most under-reported crimes in the UK
with just 5% of honour-based incidents being referred by the police to the Crown Prosecution Service in
2017. Along with aiming to raise awareness of this crime type, I also plan to educate older generations
, on why their practices are no longer acceptable and how there are other ways in which they can deal
with these situations that don’t end with their children being abused or murdered. With my campaign, I
plan on changing the law so that prosecutors can apply for an enhanced sentence for crimes motivated
on the basis of family honour and dignity, similar to the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 that does this for
hate crimes against the 5 protected characteristics. To achieve these aims, I have set short-term
objectives that I can also use to measure the success of my campaign. These include giving a minimum
of 3 public speeches within 6 months of setting up my campaign along with 2 other planned events that
will give information on and educate the audiences on the effects of honour crimes on the victims,
raising £30,000 within a year of setting up my campaign that will be put towards other charities that aim
to help victims of honour crimes get out of their homes and to a safe place such as Shelter England and
Scope, use media methods that are suitable for my campaign and will help to promote it and raise funds
simultaneously, place 300 posters in areas where my target audience are likely to see them, and to
create a petition on the basis of changing the law in the way previously stated and delivering this to
Downing Street when it has received 10,000 signatures.
The target audience of my campaign will be teenagers above the age of 12 and adults aged 18-65,
specifically those of minority backgrounds such as people who are Arabic, Kurdish, Turkish, Farsi,
Pakistani, South Asian, and Caribbean. I have chosen these two age groups as children aged 12-18 are
susceptible to being the victim of an honour crime and it is adults of parent or grandparent age that are
likely to be the perpetrators of an honour crime. This makes my campaign important in informing the
younger age groups of what to do if they ever feel unsafe at home due to their parents being involved in
honour-based violence as well as educating the older ages of how their practices are unacceptable in the
UK and in the modern world, and how else they can deal with any conflicts they face against their
children that does not harm their relationship with them. This means it is important that my campaign
uses a range of media methods which when used together will target people of these ages.
To reach my target audience I will use the following methods of media:
· A social network site (Instagram)
· Posters
· Events
· A petition
These methods that I have chosen will effectively promote and raise awareness of my campaign and are
items that will be regularly used or seen by all members of my target audience. It has been estimated in
a UK survey in October 2021 that 91% of 15 to 16-year-olds used social media that year, and 87% had
their own social media profile. This makes this method effective for my campaign in reaching the
younger people within my target audience, as if I have an active account on a form of social media, it is
likely to reach many teenagers very quickly in a short space of time. Additionally, if I link my petition to
my account it is likely to receive more signatures. My posters will be placed where people from my
target audience will regularly see them. This includes near mosques and other Islamic centres, Mandir
temples, synagogues, schools, colleges and local convince stores (especially those that sell products
from and our ran by people from other cultures). By placing my posters near or in all of these places,
people from across my target audience will see them as I have covered places in which most of them will
go on a regular basis. After I have set up my campaign and it has launched successfully, I hope to go on
to create merchandise such as T-shirts, pens and wristbands that will be released gradually to maintain
