In this exploratory study, two questions are addressed. Firstly, examining police files on honour based violence (HBV), do we find conflicts that take place in asylum centers, and if so, what can we learn from those files? Secondly, to what extent can these police files provide insight into the role of HBV in the lives of refugees in the Netherlands? What are the possibilities and limitations and how can they be dealt with in future research?
We apply the importation and deprivation models within total institutions on asylum centers and zoom in on honour based conflicts within these centers. The conflicts revolved around family life and morality issues, and resulted in both threats and physical violence. Among younger victims, their choice of partner was the main stumbling block, while later in the course of life conflicts arose from divorces and new relationships. Distinguishing between importation and deprivation factors within these HBV cases turned out to be difficult for two reasons. Firstly, within Dutch policy HBV is primarily viewed as violence within (extended) families and often originating from conflicts regarding partner choice and morality. This focus corresponds to importation rather than deprivation. Secondly, many cases showed interaction between the two factors, for example the many different backgrounds of the inhabitants of the asylum center can be viewed as both importation and deprivation. Future research should look into (a combination of) different data sources to shed light on the role of deprivation, because deprivational factors are more susceptible for (short term) policy measures to help prevent unnecessary stress and causes of conflict, whether honour based or not.

Tackling honour related violence is part of the Dutch policy on domestic violence. On the police level a centre of expertise was installed, the LEC EGG. Next to strategies with regard to detection, the LEC EGG has put forward instructions with regard to the application of police mediation in cases of honour related violence. These rules, the ‘7 golden W’s’, are presented and discussed, paying attention to the institutional role of the police.

Honour-based violence (HBV) is a tight knot of conflict, gender and ethnicity. It is also the sensational subject of many bestselling books, in which mostly female victims of HBV tell their life stories. Researchers of feminism and multiculturalism argue that migrant women are often presented as passive victims, and migrant men as violent perpetrators. In our first article for PROCES on this subject, we analysed ten (auto)biographies of female victims of HBV, using theoretical insights on stigmatization. After the publication of this article, we continued to collect these true life stories. In our current article, we analyse two new aspects: how do these stories find their way to the Internet, and are there any HBV stories by male authors? Do stories by male authors shed a different light on honour conflicts and on stereotypes of culture and gender?

This article sheds light on an aspect of honour-based violence (HBV) that is rarely addressed: male victimisation. HBV is usually regarded as violence inflicted on women by men. Police cases of male victimisation of HBV and scarce literature on this subject illustrate the ways in which men can become victims of violence. Men can be victimised in the same way that women are, for example when they commit adultery, are openly homosexual, or through conflicts about the choice of a partner. A specific and contested form of male victimisation occurs when their families pressure them to commit violence in order to restore family honour. Men are less likely than women to claim victim status and their victimisation of HBV is therefore possibly underreported. The authors do not argue to neglect female victims, but to expand hegemonic images of HBV and gender roles to include male victimisation. More insight into these matters is necessary to ensure the right support for each victim of HBV and to enable men and women to resolve these conflicts together.

How can police officers make use of citizens’ religious beliefs when dealing with cases of honour-based violence (HBV)? In this article religion is addressed regarding motive and legitimisation of violence and as a social network of people and institutions for communities of believers. We focus on Islamic religion, because most cases of HBV handled by the police take place within Islamic communities and because the Dutch public debate on religion revolves around Islam. We interviewed police officers with expertise on HBV. These officers have an instrumental vision on religion. It helps them to gain insight in motives for violence and it offers opportunities for conflict mediation and coping with the aftermath of HBV.

Er verschijnen regelmatig egodocumenten over problemen met betrekking tot eercodes in de familiekring. Het populaire beeld is dat allochtone vrouwen passieve slachtoffers zijn van de mannen uit hun omgeving. In deze bijdrage vragen de auteurs zich af of dit stigmatiserende beeld ook uit de tien door hen gelezen egodocumenten naar voren komt. Een ander stigma dat zij behandelen, is dat van de twijfel over de authenticiteit van dit soort teksten. Recente schandalen hebben het prestige van dit genre namelijk geen goed gedaan.