Who are you?
I am Afrah Qassim, the Founder and CEO of Savera UK, a leading national charity working to end ‘honour’-based abuse (HBA) and harmful practices, including forced marriage, which this project focuses on. I was born in Yemen but came to Liverpool when I was 16 years old. As well as leading Savera UK, I am passionate and proud about my culture, and I am the Chair of Liverpool Arab Arts Festival, the biggest Arab arts festival outside London and oldest in the UK.
When did you first become interested in forced marriage, or so-called honour-based abuse more broadly?
Forced marriage is something that I witnessed in my own culture from a young age. I always think of how fortunate I am for not being forced into a marriage at the age of 11 years old to my cousin, because my aunt says so. My father valued and respected the power of education and choice, and decided to stand up against his older sister – something that was seen as disrespectful – so that I could have a better life and make my own choices. I have always believed that everyone should be entitled to the same opportunities that I was fortunate enough to have.
I became involved in these issues professionally following the work by the Black and Racial Minorities (BRM) communities and domestic abuse group, a group that I formed when I was a Community Development Worker (CDW) with Liverpool Primary Care Trust (PCT). What became apparent though the research conducted by the group were the gaps in provision and the need for specialist services addressing the issues of domestic abuse and harmful practices within diverse communities.
As the group worked to address the issue of domestic abuse across Liverpool, a school concerned about a group of young women at risk of forced marriage reached out to me in my CDW role. They wanted information, advice and support around culture and marriages. I acted as a mentor to the young women, communicated with them on the issue and tried to locate support services that would be able to work with them, but found that no such services existed.
I stepped in to deliver the support myself, but also realised the huge need for a specialist service that focused specifically on addressing issues of ‘honour’-based abuse and harmful cultural practices. Through the work of the BRM Communities and domestic abuse group, and the support of other key individuals who saw the issues as I did, we established Savera UK (called Savera Liverpool at the time) in 2010. We chose the name ‘Savera’ because it means ‘new beginning’ in Hindi, and that is what we wanted to provide to people.
What was the last project you worked on, and did you enjoy it?
As a leading charity working to end HBA and harmful practices, we are always working on many different projects that contribute to our vision of ‘a world without HBA and harmful practices’ and I enjoy every single one because each one makes a difference. It might be big, it might be small, but each project changes something for the better.
Most recently we have launched a partnership with the office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Cheshire, which will see us working together to extend our services into the region. We launched the partnership with a conference to mark the National Day of Memory 2023, for those lost in the name of ‘honour’ or due to harmful practices. We had a discussion event at Warrington Town Hall, and then a vigil led by survivors and frontline workers at the Golden Gates. It was especially poignant because 2023 also marks 20 years since the ‘honour’ killing of Warrington teenager Shafilea Ahmed, which is why we decided to hold the event in the town.
One older project I worked on and really enjoyed, that is directly related to the issue of forced marriage, was when I led Liverpool’s first Forced Marriage Conference in 2009. It highlighted a need for training on this issue for professionals and also led to the development of a Forced Marriage Protocol to support professionals when working with clients affected. I established and chaired the Forced Marriage and HBA Steering Group and Savera UK was one of the main contributors and led to the development of the Forced Marriage Protocol for Liverpool, which later developed into a Merseyside Forced Marriage and HBA Protocol. The protocol was later used by the Home Office Forced Marriage Unit as an example of good practice and was promoted and used in other parts of the UK. The protocol has since been developed to cover all of Harmful practices. One small project can drive so much change, that’s why they’re all important and why I love participating!
How did you get involved with the ‘Drawing On Forced Marriage’ project?
Savera UK is lucky to have Hannah, the project lead on its advisory board. When she won the grant for the project, she invited me to support it by bringing my own expertise and the expertise of the Savera UK team around ‘honour’-based abuse, harmful practices and forced marriage, to guide and advise the project and its participants. The whole team loved the idea for the project so we were keen to help!
What about the project excites you?
I believe that engaging and educating young people is vital, which is why Savera UK has a dedicated youth project Savera UK Youth. Forced marriage and other harmful practices are often hidden and not openly discussed, but by educating young people we can break that cycle of silence, empower them to speak out, know where to get help and challenge these practices. I am excited to see the youth-led work that will help educate their peers on this difficult topic and I am proud that members of Savera UK Youth will be involved. They always come up with such wonderful and impactful ideas – I believe they will be the generation that ends HBA and harmful practices and this project is a step on that journey.
Drawing on Forced Marriage 
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