In the city of Bradford, England, 33 school children are missing and unaccounted for.  It is feared that they and other missing pupils have been forced into arranged marriages.

This and other disturbing information has been gathered recently by the Home Affairs select committee.  Independent columnist Joan Smith argues that “multiculturalism” is far less important than protecting the dignity of women and girls.

Last month the same committee heard evidence from a senior police officer that the true level of forced marriage and "honour" crime is not reflected in official figures, and that as many as 17,500 girls, women and young men may become victims each year. A series of trials has provided horrific insights into honour-based killings, one of the most shocking being the rape and murder in south London of a 20-year-old Kurdish woman, Banaz Mahmod, by hitmen hired by her father and uncle.

Until very recently, respect for the idea of multiculturalism has inhibited discussion of forced marriage and honour-based crimes in the UK. This doesn't help anyone, neither potential victims nor the young men who come under pressure from relatives to commit murder on their behalf; in 2004, two boys aged 16 and 19 were ordered by their Bangladeshi father to kill their sister's boyfriend, a student at Oxford Brookes University, who was from an Iranian family.

We have worrying levels of domestic violence in this country, carried out by people of all races and backgrounds, but it is important to recognise that honour-based crime is different in several important respects; it is planned in advance, may be carried out by more than one family member, and depends on the silent collusion, if not direct involvement, of many more. In Turkey, where hundreds of "honour" killings take place each year, a Turkish documentary-maker, Ayse Onal, has visited prisons all over the country, interviewing men who have been convicted of murdering sisters, daughters and mothers. Few of them show remorse and they are treated with respect by fellow-prisoners and guards, who approve of this method of restoring a family's "honour".

This sort of thing is happening in Canada, too.  Only yesterday it was reported that an Ontario man, originally from South Asia, has been charged with attempted murder in the stabbing of his daughter.

Kamal Khanna, 44, reportedly was arrested while sitting on the steps of his home in suburban Alliston, Ont., south of Barrie, on Tuesday morning when police responded to an emergency call at his home.
. . .
His daughter, Ashna Khanna, a Grade 8 student, was found unconscious and bleeding from several knife wounds. She was first rushed to a local hospital and then flown to Toronto's Sunnybrook Medical Centre, where she remained in critical condition Wednesday night. The man's wife and other daughter were home when police arrived.

Neighbours suspect that the attack was set off by the daughter’s refusal to “wear what he wanted”.  Last December Mississauga teenager Aqsa Parvez was allegedly murdered by her father after she refused to wear the hijab.

Watch for the Canadian Islamic Congress to claim that the stabbing of Ashna Khanna is “a teenager issue”.

h/t: Free Mark Steyn and Dr Roy’s Thoughts

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