Honour-Based Abuse: Protection and Help

Part of: Post-Separation Abuse: Understanding How Courts Become Tools of Control

Honour-based abuse is harm or control used by family or community members to punish or prevent behaviour they believe brings shame on them. Parliament has now written a definition into law, for statutory guidance that public bodies will have to take into account (Crime and Policing Act 2026, s.144, not yet in force). Even so, there is no single offence with that name in England and Wales. Instead, the law protects you through the criminal offences that fit what someone does, and through fast civil orders from the family court, including forced marriage protection orders. We assist and advise people at risk, and the people worried about them.

Your safety comes first. If someone may check this phone or computer, read this in a private window and close it when you finish. Leave this page quickly, but the Back button will still return here, so close the tab if you can. If you are in danger right now, call 999. If you cannot speak safely on that call, cough or tap if you can, then press 55 when prompted so you are put through to the police (IOPC Silent Solution guidance). The government’s Forced Marriage Unit also gives confidential advice on 020 7008 0151.

What is honour-based abuse?

Honour-based abuse means harm done in the name of a family’s reputation. The people doing it often believe they are protecting the family, so the pressure can come from parents, siblings, in-laws, cousins and people in the wider community all at once. That is what makes it different from abuse by one partner, and why it can feel impossible to talk to anyone.

It can happen in any culture, faith or background. It affects women and girls most often, but men and boys experience it too, and so do people who are gay, bisexual or transgender. The trigger is usually a choice the family does not accept: a relationship, a divorce, a way of dressing, a job, a friendship or refusing a marriage.

• Threats, including threats to kill, to disown you or to send you abroad.
• Watching where you go, checking your phone or taking your passport.
• Keeping you at home, taking you out of college or stopping you from working.
• Pressure, emotional blackmail or violence to make you marry.
• Female genital mutilation, also called FGM or cutting.
• Control of money, and threats against someone you care about.

How the law treats honour-based abuse

Because no single offence exists, the police and the Crown Prosecution Service charge the acts themselves. That includes assault, threats to kill, false imprisonment, harassment and controlling or coercive behaviour. Forced marriage and FGM are offences in their own right. Where threats involve acid or another corrosive substance, our guide to acid attack threats and emergency protection explains the urgent route.

The Domestic Abuse Act 2021 also matters. When both people are 16 or over and are relatives, the abuse is domestic abuse under the Act. Relatives include parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, first cousins and in-laws (Family Law Act 1996, s.63). So the whole domestic abuse framework applies, including how the family court handles children cases under Practice Direction 12J. When the person at risk is under 18, it is also a child protection matter, and children’s services and the police should be told, whatever the family says (a child is anyone under 18: Children Act 1989, s.105).

Warning signs of honour-based violence

No single sign proves anything. Still, the pattern matters, and it often builds quietly over months. Signs of honour-based abuse that a friend, teacher or relative may notice include:

• The family plans a long trip abroad with no clear return date, often in a school holiday.
• Someone suddenly announces an engagement, or talks about a wedding they do not seem to want.
• Relatives always collect, escort or watch them, sometimes using a younger brother or cousin.
• Someone has taken their passport, phone or bank card “for safekeeping”.
• They seem frightened of what their family will do if a relationship becomes known.
• They stop attending college, lose contact with friends or have unexplained absences.

Honour-based abuse and the family court: your options

The family court has three main tools. Each one is a civil order, so it protects you without anyone facing prosecution first. However, they cover different risks, and the right choice depends on who is at risk, from whom, and how soon.

You do not have to apply yourself. For a forced marriage order, a local authority can apply directly, and a friend, relative or teacher can ask the court for permission (Family Law Act 1996, s.63C). You can apply for a non molestation order against a relative, because the law treats relatives as associated people (s.62). If you own or rent the home, or it is your marital home, an occupation order may deal with who lives there (s.33). Our guide to domestic abuse protection orders explains where the newer order fits.

Which order to use, and whether to ask for it without notice, are judgement calls. They depend on how recent the threat is, whether the family has fixed a travel date and what you want to happen with your family afterwards. That is exactly what a free initial consultation is for.

Protecting children from removal abroad

A holiday abroad is the moment many families plan around, because it takes the child out of reach of a school or court. The court can step in before the trip. A prohibited steps order can forbid removal from the country (Children Act 1989, s.8). A passport surrender order can take the documents out of the family’s hands. In the most serious cases the High Court can make the child a ward of court. Taking a child under 16 out of the UK without the right consent can also be a crime (Child Abduction Act 1984, s.1).

One of our cases shows how this can work. A parent said openly that they planned to send a very young child to be raised by relatives overseas, cutting the child off from the parent at home. That parent had not seen or supported the child for a long time. Because the plan had been announced, not guessed at, it could be put to the court as evidence.

The court confirmed where the child lives, provided for indirect contact with the other parent, and made orders preventing the child’s removal from the parent’s care, from nursery or school, and from the UK. You can read the full success story.

Every case turns on its own evidence, so this is not a prediction for yours. Which of these orders fits, and how to ask for it before a trip is brought forward, depends on the dates and evidence you have. A free initial consultation is the place to work that out, before the family acts.

If a child has already gone, speed matters even more. Our guide to international child abduction covers the options that remain.

What happens when you ask us for urgent help

When honour-based abuse puts someone at risk, the first call is about safety and timing. We keep the steps simple and move at the pace the risk demands.

1. We agree how to reach you safely. Before anything else, we settle a safe number, a safe time and whether we may leave a message at all.
2. We find the date that matters. A flight, an engagement or a family visit gives the court a fixed point, and we work back from it.
3. We decide who applies and for which order. Sometimes the strongest route is a third party or the local authority rather than you.
4. The court can act very quickly. A judge can make an order without warning your family where the risk justifies it (Family Law Act 1996, s.45 and s.63D; FGM Act 2003, Sch 2 para 5).
5. A second hearing follows. Your family then gets the chance to respond. You can ask for special measures, such as a screen, so you do not have to face them (Family Procedure Rules, Part 3A).

Honour-based violence: a private safety check

Three short questions help you see where you stand before you speak to anyone. They also show the gaps worth raising first.

Honour-based abuse: frequently asked questions

Expert Tip

In honour-based abuse cases the date that matters most is often one the family controls: the booked flight, the engagement party, the long summer visit. If you know a date, tell us the date first, because the court can move quickly when there is a fixed point to work back from. What slows an application down is a statement that describes the family’s attitude but not what each person said, and when. Write down the last three threats with dates, and keep that note somewhere safe, such as with someone you trust.

Hannah Overton, Complex Children Specialist & Client Support

General information about the law in England and Wales, not advice on your circumstances.