“Hidden in Plain Sight” Honor-Based Domestic Violence Conference, Basildon, England

The Executive Director of the AHA Foundation took a trip across the pond to attend “Hidden in Plain Sight,” a conference hosted by Basildon Women’s Aid on honor-based violence, forced marriage and female genital mutilation.  The conference focused the victims of these crimes as well as the UK’s response. The UK is a model for how the US should handle these cases.  At the conference, the head of the UK’s Forced Marriage Unit spoke about their Forced Marriage Hotline and how effective it has been in rescuing girls.  While there, she was able to personally meet with one of the keynote speakers for the AHA Foundation Honor Violence Symposium, Nazir Afzal OBE, Director of the UK’s Crown Prosecution Service.  She also came back with several great ideas for projects and programming the AHA Foundation will be able to implement to further the mission of protecting the rights of girls and women in the West.