Cardiff Council Hosts Conference To Tackle ‘Honour’ Abuse

As part of Cardiff’s International Women’s Day festival, Cardiff Council in partnership with the Henna Foundation, and other stakeholders, will host the ‘Safeguarding Victims: Prevention and Protection in Practice, Forced Marriage and ‘Honour’ conference.

The conference is a follow up from last year’s event and will provide information, advice and a tool kit for people dealing with these matters.

The Henna Foundation will officially launch the Honour Based Violence Practitioner’s Directory and Toolkit at the conference which will take place on 17th March at City Hall. The aim of the toolkit it to help practitioners in police, education, health, social care, schools and the voluntary sector as well as community groups to deal with the ‘Honour’ Based Violence.

The directory has also been developed to help those suffering HBV crimes and to be a source of advice and information.

Confirmed speakers include Nazir Afzal OBE, Director of the Crown Prosecution Service; Brian Moore, Chief Constable of Wiltshire and Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) lead for Domestic Abuse, Anne Marie Hutchinson from Dawson Cornwall Solicitors, who is currently representing London-based Dr Humayr Abedin. (Dr Abedin was recently held captive in Bangladesh for more than four months before being forced into marriage by her parents). There will be other speakers who will give an insight into how to safeguard victims from forced marriages and ‘honour’ crimes.

Cardiff Council Deputy Leader, Cllr Judith Woodman and Neelam Bhardwaja, Corporate Director will also be speaking at the conference.

Deputy Leader, Cllr Judith Woodman, said: “I am proud to be associated with this conference. The conference will give delegates the opportunity to listen, question and exchange discussions with internationally recognised specialists in this field. I would encourage practitioners to attend what promises to be an interesting and engaging event.”

Ahmed Suleiman MBE Chair of The Henna Foundation said “The conference is a unique opportunity for experts and practitioners to exchange knowledge and skills to help protect victims of HBV. We are indebted to all the partner organisations for their support in making this event happen”

The conference is free and open to public and voluntary sector service providers and community members. However all delegates are required to complete a registration form which can be done by contacting the Cardiff Council Equalities Team at – Equalities Team, Cardiff Council, Room 356, County Hall, Atlantic Wharf, Cardiff, CF10 4UW or by emailing [email protected] Telephone enquiries can be made to Henna Foundation on Telephone 029 20 49 69 20 or 029 20 49 86 00.

Places are limited and allocations will be made on a first come first served basis. Please note the event is FREE, but registered non-attendees will be charged £60.