Lord Lester At Book Launch
17 January 2007
Jasvinder launches her book Shame on Tuesday.
I believe these issues in the UK are far greater than we think.
”Jasvinder Sanghera
“Her casket was laid out in the living room. She was so disfigured that, against all tradition, it was closed. There was a photograph on top instead. Regardless of what anybody else thought I picked it up so I could have one last look at my darling sister.”
“Robina was looking right into the camera and you could see the light of laughter in her eyes. She might have expected her family to cherish and protect that light but they didn’t […] between them they stamped it out.”
These powerful but harrowing words are taken from the new book Shame written by Asian women’s rights campaigner Jasvinder Sanghera about her own personal struggle against honour-based violence.
The book, published by Hodder and Stoughton, will be officially launched at the University of Derby by Lord Lester of Herne Hill QC on January 23 – the same week as the second reading of new legislation in the House of Lords to help tackle such violence in the UK.
The extract relates to the tragic death of Jasvinder’s beloved sister Robina, driven to taking her own life by setting fire to herself because of her own domestic hell and suspected honour-based pressures. She suffered 90% burns.
But overcoming the barriers of grief, pain and oppression has been a pattern of Jasvinder’s own life. As well as losing her sister, she ran away from her Derby home aged 16 and fled to Newcastle-upon-Tyne, living in fear of her family’s retribution – all because she refused to marry a man she had never met, and wished to maintain control over her ambitions and future.
She was ostracised from many members of her family here in the UK including her parents, and undertook a harrowing struggle against a punitive code of honour in this country. But her strength and determination to succeed has shone through and she has become a beacon of hope and tower of strength for other South Asian women facing such struggles.
In 1994, Jasvinder founded the Derby-based charity for Asian women, Karma Nirvana. It has offered vital help for hundreds of women trying to escape honour violence in their community, and a key Indian Minister visited the headquarters earlier this year to work with her to shape policy in this area between the two countries. She was also instrumental to the development of the first Asian women’s refuges in Derby, Stoke, and Burton-on-Trent.
In terms of influencing policy change in the UK, Lord Lester has become a huge advocate of Jasvinder’s work and will officially launch her new book ahead of presenting the Second Reading of the Forced Marriage (Civil Protection) Bill to further improve legislation in this area to protect victims of honour violence.
In the UK, the Home Office Forced Marriage Unit records over 250 cases a year of British subjects being taken abroad and forced into a marriage of which 30% represents minors.
Jasvinder has become a leading authority on the subject, and has filmed a number of interviews for various TV and radio outlets including Newsnight on BBC Two.
Lord Lester’s speech in the House of Lords will also highlight Jasvinder’s personal story and celebrate her work.
Honour-based violence can occur when family members believe a relative has shamed the family and they believe the only way to redeem the family's honour is to punish or kill the relative.
There are strong links between such abuse and domestic violence and forced marriage. The suicide rate among Asian women in Britain is three times the national average.
Jasvinder’s book is being launched at the University of Derby’s Kedleston Road site in the city, where she is a doctoral student in Sociology assessing the level of honour-based violence in this country.
Her study aims to explore South Asian women's personal experiences and understanding of the role of honour in motivating violence towards them. She aims to raise the voices of victims and survivors who also manage to successfully transform their identities all be it disowned by their families.
She hopes it will give women and agencies an insight into the world of victims and survivors to offer hope and influence change.
Jasvinder has also picked up numerous awards for her work:
- Asian Women's Achievement Award 2005 – Category Social and Humanitarian Award
- Marie Claire Heroine of Month Award
- GG2 Diversity Awards for making a contribution to society
Summing up, Jasvinder said: “My strongest motivation for the book has been my experience, the injustice of being disowned, the loss of Robina and very much the fact that I believe these issues in the UK are far greater than we think. I am one of many survivors and I believe we are only scratching the surface!”
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For further information call: Simon Redfern, Senior Press and PR Officer, University of Derby on 01332 591942, or email s.redfern@derby.ac.uk.
