Professor Aisha K. Gill, Ph.D. (University of Essex) CBE is Professor of Criminology at the University of Bristol, Centre for Gender and Violence Research. Her main areas of interest focus on health and criminal justice responses to violence against Black, minority ethnic and refugee women and girls in the UK, Afghanistan, Georgia, Iraqi Kurdistan, Libya, India, Pakistan, Syria and Yemen. Professor Gill is often in the news as a commentator on acid violence, early/child/forced marriage, violence predicated on ‘honour’, and sexual violence in Black and minoritised communities. She writes for mainstream popular as well as academic audiences. Her current research interests include domestic violence; coercive control; rights, law and early/child/forced marriage/female genital mutilation; ‘honour’ killings and ‘honour’-based violence in the South Asian/Kurdish/Somali Diaspora and femicide in Iraqi Kurdistan, India, Jordan, Libya, Pakistan and Yemen; missing women; acid violence; child contact; child sexual abuse; trafficking; sexual violence and exploitation; sex selective abortions; intersectionality; women who kill; rape, trauma and victimhood in Black and racially minoritized communities; Covid -19 and domestic violence/abuse. She has also published widely in peer-reviewed journals. During the coronavirus pandemic she was hands-on at the grassroots level in terms of raising emergency Covid-19 funds for refugee/asylum/migrant victims-survivors of gender-based violence – who have no recourse to public funds; raising over £90K for specialist ‘by and for’ VAWG services. In 2021, Gill was appointed as one of the five judges for the CEDAW’s People’s Tribunal hearing on women’s rights in the United Kingdom. From 2019-2024 she was appointed Co-Chair of the End Violence Against Women Coalition.

Natasha Rattu is the Executive Director at Karma Nirvana, leading the vision to end Honour-Based Abuse in the UK. A graduate of Leeds Law School, she specialised in family and criminal law at Nottingham Law School and became a Barrister in 2009.

Natasha Rattu has dedicated her career to supporting victims and survivors, contributing almost 20 years of experience in domestic and honour based abuse services, policy, and intervention. Recognised for her dedication, she received the national Crown Prosecution Scholarship in 2010. Her career spans work with the Crown Prosecution Service and within private family practice, where she supported many victims of Domestic Abuse and Honour Based Abuse.

Awarded the Super Achiever Pitman ‘Boss of the Year’ in 2018, Natasha is an admired national leader. She is a respected expert in family and criminal proceedings related to Honour-Based Abuse and Forced Marriage and has been instrumental in campaigning for and bringing about legislative changes, including laws against child marriage, virginity testing, and hymenoplasty.

Natasha Rattu’s impactful contributions reflect her unwavering commitment to justice and advocacy for victims of Honour-Based Abuse. As a Barrister, she brings a unique legal perspective to her role, shaping the legal landscape and championing the rights of those affected.

Caroline is the Member of Parliament for Romsey and Southampton North and the current Chair of the Women and Equalities Select Committee in Parliament. Since her election in 2010 she has served as a Minister in the Department for Work and Pensions, the Cabinet Office and was Minister of State for Immigration in Theresa May’s Cabinet.

Immediately prior to becoming an MP she was the Chief Executive of an animal welfare charity.

Caroline is currently the co-chair of the APPG for Muslim Women, Vice Chair of “Show Racism the Red Card”. As Chair of the Select Committee Caroline has headed up inquiries into the gendered economic impact of covid, menopause in the work place and reform of the Gender Recognition Act. The current focus of the Committee is on the cultures underpinning misogyny and abuse against women and girls, tackling so called honour based abuse, and discrimination in the UK asylum process.

Yvonne has worked in the NHS for 40 years as an Adult Nurse, Midwife, Health Visitor, Domestic Abuse Lead and Specialist Safeguarding Practitioner.  Yvonne has much experience of working with So Called Honour Based Abuse on the frontline, delivering training to multi – agency staff and  influencing Honour Based Abuse safeguarding policy, multi – agency partnership working and strategy development.  Yvonne presently works in the NHS as a Specialist Safeguarding Practitioner. She also delivers bespoke safeguarding training to staff in Higher Education.  Yvonne is passionate about raising awareness of Honour Based Abuse and advocates collaborative working to enable professionals to be able to identify concerns, reduce barriers and empower victims/survivors and their children to access safe and effective support at the earliest point.

Diana Nammi has dedicated her life to campaigning for universal human rights. She has been a political and human rights activist during the Shah regime and also the Islamic regime and spent 12 years as a Kurdish freedom fighter against the Islamic Regime. Eventually her activism in Kurdistan, Iran and neighboring countries resulted in her facing persecution, which forced her to flee. In 2020, she co-authored a book; ‘Girl With A Gun: Love, loss and the fight for freedom in Iran’ about her early life.

She now lives in the UK and in 2002 she founded the Iranian and Kurdish Women’s Rights Organisation; now IKWRO-Women’s Rights organisation; an NGO providing specialist advice, advocacy, counselling and a refuge to women and girls from Middle Eastern and North African communities in the UK affected by so called “honour” based abuse, including forced marriage, child marriage and Female Genital Mutilation, as well as domestic violence and other form of gender based violence. As Executive Director, successes include brining “honour” based abuse to be consider as a form of violence against women and girls in the UK and beyond, of “the ‘Justice for Banaz’ campaign, resulting in the extradition of two of the perpetrators of the “honour” killing, the criminalization of forced marriage and first national review of policing of HBA. Changing the age of marriage in the England and Wales to 18 and criminalizing child marriage, as well as virginity testing and hymenoplasty in the UK. Under her leadership, IKWRO provides advice, advocacy, counselling to women and girls in the UK who are survivors of various harmful practices and domestic violence. Each year they support over 1000 women in the UK. Since 2002, they have helped over 20k women who needed support with housing, immigration, divorce, safety planning, child custody, child abduction.
Diana’s work has received national and international recognition, and she is regularly called upon to share her expertise with government, academics, media and professionals. In 2012 Newsweek and The Daily Beast named Diana one of 150 women who shake the world. In 2014 she received the Special Jury Women on the Move Award, the Woman of the Year Award and she was one of BBC’s ‘100 Women’. In 2015 Diana won the Women of Courage Award from the Women’s Refugee Commission in New York and the XX1 Premis Ones Mediterrania Award in Spain. In 2016, she was given an honorary doctorate from the Department of Law at Essex University and a second honorary doctorate from the University of Saint Andrews in 2019.

Firoza Mohmed currently CEO at Humraaz Support Services joined the organisation in 2004 as a frontline practitioner to support and address the multiple barriers and inequalities faced by BME women in accessing support, advocacy, education, training, and employment with a particular focus on those fleeing abuse and resettlement. Firoza has experience of community work with Black and minoritized women and social housing experience, she has been instrumental in developing the specialist holistic trauma informed service offered at Humraaz and manages the staff team who provide safety, education, and independence to women & girls.

“I believe every woman should have the opportunity to explore herself, access and develop skills enabling a holistic growth and reaching aspirations. To be able to participate in decision making in the family, be inclusive of the community and society.”

Home Office policy lead for Stalking and ‘Honour’-Based Abuse. She has worked in the civil service for over 5 years, working on crime reduction policies such as drugs misuse and serious and organised crime.

Joined Humberside Police as a Constable in 2002 and transferred to Bedfordshire Police in 2006. After working in Community Policing, I have spent majority of my police career in serious and complex crime investigation units, including acquisitive crime, drug supply, serious sexual offences and exploitation.

Currently a Detective Sergeant in Bedfordshire’s Public Protection Unit, investigating domestic violence and protecting vulnerable adults and children. Lead for our Honour Based Abuse unit with responsibility for identifying HBA offences, supporting investigations and safeguarding victims of HBA.

Jaswant Kaur Narwal, Chief Crown Prosecutor, has nearly 35 years’ experience in the Criminal Justice System having been with the CPS since 1989.

Jaswant holds a wealth of experience acquired through a rich career to-date, shaped by a desire to achieve real, systemic impact, keep diversity and inclusion on the agenda and make a positive contribution through her work. She began her career in London after successfully winning a scholarship with CPS and has worked up through the ranks in this role to become one of the most senior prosecutors in the country, first appointed to the Chief position in 2007 under the 42-area structure.

She was appointed as Chief Crown Prosecutor to CPS London North in September 2023 following 5 years as Chief in the Thames and Chiltern area, and having previously been the Chief in the South-East, Deputy Head of Fraud Division, Chief in Lincolnshire, Chief in Sussex with various legal, executive, operational, and political responsibilities, including now leading a team of over 550 staff. Effectively operating as both a senior prosecutor and a senior civil servant, Jaswant’s responsibilities include dealing with serious, high-profile cases, necessitating exposure to the media, and managing public expectations. She headed the team that prosecuted David Carrick Metropolitan Police officer rape case. And features on Netflix docuseries episode 6 ‘When Missing turns to Murder’ released in 2023 about the Surjit Athwal honour killing case. She has also worked with and learned from her peers in other jurisdictions, taking inspiration from Scotland’s success with youth crime and working with French authorities to prevent cross-border financial and organised crime, and with the Americans by developing a US/UK FGM Law Enforcement Proclamation. She has a particular focus on race, diversity and inclusion issues; acting as the CPS’s National Lead for ‘honour’- based abuse, female genital mutilation (FGM) and forced marriage. She is also the CPS National Lead for Race & Ethnicity and works collaboratively with other sectors. Conscious of her position as one of few senior ethnic minority figures in her field, she has influenced and made organisational as well as wider progress on race and diversity, such as by launching a CPS Sikh Society and building relationships with the Society of Asian Lawyers, as well as in a personal capacity through acting as a Patron of the True Honour charity and a Mentor for ethnic minority managers from the public and private sectors. She has also worked closely with the CPS/Bar to bring changes and improve diversity to CPS briefing policies and has recently partnered with Women of Colour in Policing for CPS to become an associate member.
She was appointed a Commissioner on a National Domestic and Sexual Violence Commission chaired by Baroness Armstrong the findings of which were published in a 2019 report ‘Breaking Down Barriers’. Jaswant gave evidence at the Women and Equalities Select Committee in January 2023 on honour-based abuse the report was published in August 2023.

She is a qualified executive coach, workplace mediator and mentor. She has coached/mentored a range of different people including university students, young lawyers as well as BAME public and private sector managers through Business in The Community and champions fairness and equality throughout all her work. She undertook a 6-month secondment with Oxfam as a Senior Equality and Gender Justice Advisor in 2021 and was appointed as an independent FA National Serious Case Panel Member for grassroots football last year and also sat on The Executive Council of Sikhs in Law.

Jaswant was recently recognised for all her work by receiving a hatrick of different awards in March 2024. She won the GG2 Inspire award for her exceptional leadership and dedication to work in the community to inspire young people where finalists were addressed by the Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak. She won an award by the Iranian & Kurdish Women’s Rights Organisation (IKWRO), a women’s rights non-governmental organisation after being nominated by several charities for her work prosecuting cases of female genital mutilation (FGM), forced marriage and so-called honour-based abuse and her commitment to ending such violence. Jaswant was also named in the prestigious Women in Westminster 100 List for 2024 which recognises one hundred women from across politics and public service for the valuable role they play in public life.

As the only current Asian female Chief Crown Prosecutor she brings an often underrepresented or unheard perspective, which has been especially valuable in powerfully pushing forward women and race inequality issues and supporting victims of crime through her prosecution and community engagement work.

Lucky Roy Singh is an award-winning LGBTQ+ activist, an honour-based domestic violence campaigner, and the mother of the House of Spice. She lives in Manchester, UK.

Lucky has worked tirelessly to support survivors of domestic abuse and honour-based abuse by educating police forces across the UK, social workers, and the NHS, advocating for survivors with the British Government, and working with charities such as Karma Nirvana, the LGBT Foundation, and Sparkle. Lucky’s focus has been on LGBTQ+ individuals, which earned Lucky many accolades, most notable the Pride Attitude Magazine Award, Spirit of Manchester Awards Recognition, and outstanding nominations at this year’s Gaydio LGBT Influencer of the Year, with a few more to be announced later this year.

Lucky’s skill and talent, along with his performance and dedication to anti-racism work, have seen Lucky lead a successful grass-roots performance collective called the House of Spice. This is the UK’s first LGBTQ+ South Asian, Middle Eastern, and North African house. In the House’s first year, Lucky gave a powerful speech during Manchester Pride in 2022, where he vowed to turn racist incidents many LGBTQ+ people of colour had experienced (the House’s included) into a positive outcome for the community.

Lucky’s determination led to the delivery of this promise, with major opportunities for performances for Manchester Pride, the LGBT Foundation, Homobloc, Transcreative, and other events and organisations. Lucky continues to mentor and nurture those within the demographic and to continue bringing in more opportunities for the long-term strength of the community.

When Lucky takes a break, he enjoys margaritas and chips.

Professor Sundari Anitha is Chair in Sociological Studies at the University of Sheffield, UK. She has published widely across the two areas of gender, race and ethnicity in employment relations and violence against women and girls. She previously managed a Women’s Aid refuge and has been involved in policy-making and activism to address violence against women for over two decades.

Dr Roxanne Khan is Founder and Director of onEvidence, and HARM (Honour Abuse Research Matrix) – a global interdisciplinary network reforming domestic abuse policy and practice.

Dr Khan is author of The Psychology of ‘Honor’ Abuse, Violence, and Killing – the first book on this topic. Published in 2024, with a Foreword by Payzee Mahmod, all royalties will be donated to Halo Project and IKWRO – Women’s Rights Organisation.

As a multi-award-winning research leader, Dr Khan’s pioneering work ‘Domestic Abuse in UK Universities’ was shortlisted by the prestigious Times Higher Education Award, for ‘Research Project of the Year’ 2022.

Rubie Marie is a survivor of sexual abuse, domestic violence and psychological abuse, as well as a victim of forced marriage and honour based abuse (HBA). She was married at the age of 15, taken out of school, kept a prisoner and forced to marry and fall pregnant soon after. She endured family disownment and lived a life of poverty as a young single parent.

Rubie returned to education where she was determined to complete her GCSE’s at 25 years old followed by various forms of counselling. She has contributed to academic studies in specialised education material for HBA and assisted higher education students in dissertations on the subject. Rubie also contributed towards an anthology book called “Beyond the Scars,” an Amazon best-seller within 24 hours of release, in which she talked about her battle with poor health, abuse and overcoming cultural barriers. She is in the process of completing her autobiography.

Rubie’s journey has taken her down the route of modelling and pageantry, to reach a wider audience globally. She became the first ever Ms Galaxy UK National 2016, Ms Galaxy 2016/2017 International and Ms Earth UK National 2017/2018. In 2018 she achieved Ms Earth Wind first runner up and in February 2020 placed third runner up in Ms Great Britain. Her aim is to give hope to others in similar situations, to show that despite facing many obstacles you can be true to yourself and remove the unhealthy conditioning that victims may have been forced to grow up with. Rubie is dedicated to motivating and empowering women and she has a strong passion for hope and healing.

Afrah Qassim is the Founder and CEO of Savera UK, a leading national charity working to end ‘honour’-based abuse and harmful practices including female genital mutilation, forced marriage, virginity testing, breast ironing and conversion therapy. ‘Savera’ means ‘new beginning’ in Hindi, which is what the charity provides for survivors/those at risk, regardless of age, culture, sexuality, gender, or ethnicity.

Rosie Lewis is Co-Director of Project Resist, an organisation dedicated to realising black and minority women’s rights and freedoms in all aspects of their civil, social, political, economic, and cultural lives. Rosie was formerly the Deputy Director and VAWG Services Manager at the Angelou Centre, a specialist Black and minoritised women’s organisations based in the North East of England. More recently she has worked in national policy, research, and consultancy roles alongside supporting black and minoritised organisations including the Angelou Centre. She has over two decades of experience working with, assessing, and advocating for minoritised, migrant women, children and young people including those with insecure immigration status, no recourse to public funds and those in detention. This has included a substantial amount of work developing children and young survivor’s services and specialist refuges and influencing local, national, and international policy work in relation to women and children who are multiply marginalised.

Rosie is an experienced educator and trainer, she has developed and set up regional and national women’s networks and organised national conferences and seminars, she has also worked as a consultant in the culture, heritage, and arts sector. She is both IDVA and ISVA qualified, has a Level 5 qualification in Safeguarding, holds a 1^st Class Hons Degree, a Masters in Research and has recently attained her Doctorate in Philosophy from Durham University.

Professor Aisha K. Gill, Ph.D. (University of Essex) CBE is Professor of Criminology at the University of Bristol, Centre for Gender and Violence Research. Her main areas of interest focus on health and criminal justice responses to violence against Black, minority ethnic and refugee women and girls in the UK, Afghanistan, Georgia, Iraqi Kurdistan, Libya, India, Pakistan, Syria and Yemen. Professor Gill is often in the news as a commentator on acid violence, early/child/forced marriage, violence predicated on ‘honour’, and sexual violence in Black and minoritised communities. She writes for mainstream popular as well as academic audiences. Her current research interests include domestic violence; coercive control; rights, law and early/child/forced marriage/female genital mutilation; ‘honour’ killings and ‘honour’-based violence in the South Asian/Kurdish/Somali Diaspora and femicide in Iraqi Kurdistan, India, Jordan, Libya, Pakistan and Yemen; missing women; acid violence; child contact; child sexual abuse; trafficking; sexual violence and exploitation; sex selective abortions; intersectionality; women who kill; rape, trauma and victimhood in Black and racially minoritized communities; Covid -19 and domestic violence/abuse. She has also published widely in peer-reviewed journals. During the coronavirus pandemic she was hands-on at the grassroots level in terms of raising emergency Covid-19 funds for refugee/asylum/migrant victims-survivors of gender-based violence – who have no recourse to public funds; raising over £90K for specialist ‘by and for’ VAWG services. In 2021, Gill was appointed as one of the five judges for the CEDAW’s People’s Tribunal hearing on women’s rights in the United Kingdom. From 2019-2024 she was appointed Co-Chair of the End Violence Against Women Coalition.