Jasvinder Sanghera, Karma Nirvana - DFID Girl Summit 2014

"Cultural acceptance does not mean accepting the unacceptable" - Jasvinder Sanghera

Panel Discussion: Spotlight on Progress A6 - Supporting and Empowering Those Affected by FGM and Child, Early and Forced Marriage

Context
This is one of the 14 "Spotlights on Progress" video-recorded sessions that took place at the Girl Summit 2014 in London on 22nd July. The sessions were organised to spark conversations and share best practice between practitioners from around the world, between grassroots activists and ministers, and across all the issues of female genital mutilation (FGM) and child, early, and forced marriage (CEFM). Girl Summit is a project of the Department for International Development (DFID), UK.

A featured panelist of this Spotlight session was Jasvinder Sanghera, CBE Chief Executive and Founder, Karma Nirvana who talked about support to victims of forced marriage, UK.

Profile of Speaker

Jasvinder Sanghera is CBE Chief Executive and Founder of Karma Nirvana, now a leading national charity hosting the only national dedicated Helpline supporting victims and professionals in the UK. She is a survivor of a forced marriage, and a leading expert advisor to the courts, and a national and international leading expert advocating issues of forced marriages and honour based abuse across various sectors, including Government departments. Jasvinder has also written three books based upon her personal experiences, one of them a bestseller called 'Shame'.

Project strategy and key points made in the presentation:

Jasvinder Sanghera starts off by talking about her personal experience and the experience of girls today, who are taken out of school at age 15 to marry men they have only seen in photographs. Girls would disappear from school one by one and this is still happening today. She notes that the summer holidays are the most at-risk time for British children taken into forced marriage.

She talks about the role of schools and the fact that very little is done when a child does not come back to school. People are too scared to intervene because it is considered a cultural issue. The position of power that parents have in society also means that they are believed, not the victims. Based on personal experience, Jasvinder says that the only other option for girls in this situation is disownment from their families.

The speaker explains that Karma Nirvana was established in 1993 as a result of her personal experience and works to give voice to an experience that is not understood. These girls are very often not treated as victims of abuse, as somehow the abuse gets degraded to something that is different because it is based in culture or tradition. This creates a culture of fear among professionals who end up not giving the right policing response or the right health response.

Karma Nirvana firstly started a national Helpline called the National Honour Network Helpline which is dedicated to supporting victims who have experienced forced marriage and honour-based abuse. Their call handlers deal with over 800 calls per month to provide confidential listening support, options and guidance to victims and survivors of honour based abuse. The helpline is also intended for professionals, such as teachers and police officers, who need assistance in dealing with these issues.

The organisation is also providing accredited training, including seminars, conferences, and workshops, to raise public awareness on the issues and to break the silence. Karma Nirvana believes that cultural acceptance does not mean accepting the unacceptable. For that reason, their work equips professionals so that they do not fear offending communities when tackling forced marriages and honour related abuses and start dealing with them within a Child and Public Protection framework.

She emphasised the issue of honour and shame. It is dishonorable to say no to an arranged marriage, as is normal teenage behaviour. There is therefore a need to reclaim what is 'honourable' behaviour. For this reason, the national helpline is also called the Honour Network Helpline.

She ends off by urging people to use the voices of victims in all training, campaigns, and initiatives. She also asks government to ensure that police, and education and health services receive training in order to break the ‘cultural acceptance’ that leads to a lack of response for victims of child marriage and honor based abuse.

Overview of the "Supporting and Empowering Those Affected by FGM and Child, Early and Forced Marriage" session:
As outlined in the programme summary document handed out at the summit: "This spotlight discusses the different types of services that we must ensure people affected by FGM and child, early and forced marriage have access to, highlighting the importance of providing a holistic package of support. The spotlight will showcase initiatives which provide medical, counselling and advocacy support, and programmes dedicated to supporting the needs of married girls. This spotlight will hear others’ experiences and discuss what we can learn from them."

As summarised by the panel organisers following the panel discussion:
"The panel of speakers shared their experiences of frontline service provision or programming to support those affected by FGM and CEFM. In discussions on FGM and CEFM, the need to break the cycle of shame were emphasised, and the need to listen to those affected. There was a lot of positive reflection that after many years of campaigning on these issues, people were finally getting a platform to share the reality of girls’ and women’s experiences. However it was agreed that much more needed to be done. There was consensus that a holistic response was needed, that services and programmes needed to consider women and girls whether pregnant or not, and married or not, and that although there were workable models out there to eliminate both practices, these needed to be scaled up."

The session was opened by Leyla Hussein, activist and founder of Daughters of Eve and Dahlia Project.

The speakers, in order of appearance, are:
Isobel Shirlaw Head of Justice Initiatives, Refuge
Dr Venkatraman Chandra-Mouli Department for Reproductive Health and Research, World Health Organisation
Jasvinder Sanghera CBE Chief Executive and Founder, Karma Nirvana
Dr Edna Adan Ismail Founder and CEO, Edna Adan Maternity Hospital and Chancellor, Edna Adan University
Juliet Albert Specialist FGM Midwife, Queen Charlotte’s and Chelsea Hospital (Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust), London
Doris Bartel Senior Director of Gender and Empowerment, CARE USA

The session is moderated by Susan Bookbinder, journalist, broadcaster, columnist and media consultant with a particular focus on FGM.

Footage of this (available below) and other "Spotlight Sessions" are available on DFID’s YouTube channel.