Jasvinder Sanghera, is a campaigner for those experiencing forced marriages and abuse.
Biography
Jasvinder Sanghera was born and brought up in Derby, England, to a Sikh family that had emigrated from India. As a teenager, she refused a forced marriage and ran away from home. Refusal to marry a stranger was deemed shameful in the eyes of her family and she was told by her mother that she was now 'dead in our eyes'. Her sister Raveena suffered an abusive marriage culminating in her suicide by setting herself on fire. In 1993, Sanghera founded Karma Nirvana, a charity that supports people affected by abuse and forced marriages. She established the first UK helpline to support victims, survivors and professionals affected by forced marriages and honour crimes. She lobbied parliament to fund the helpline, which is now funded by UK Home Office. The helpline has received over 78,000 calls since its inception. to significant improvements. Sanghera is the Independent Chair of the Leeds Safeguarding Children Partnership and chair of Domestic Homicide Reviews and is an expert witness to the courts in the field of forced marriage and honour based abuse and acted as such in the first criminal conviction in the UK in Birmingham 2018, whereby a mother was sentenced for four and a half years for forcing her child into a marriage. She is a member of the Safeguarding Panel for the Church of England and is on the board of governors at De Montford University, Leicester. She campaigned to the then Home Secretary Teresa May, for all UK police forces to be inspected on how they are performing in the field of forced marriage and honour based abuse, leading to the first HMIC inspection into all 43 police forces which has led to significant improvements in policing responses. Jasvinder was a peer inspector during this process and served on the board of advisors. This inspection led to clear recommendations being led by the Home Office. Her memoir 'Shame' was a Times Top 10 Bestseller and described in the House of Lords as a 'political weapon'. She is widely recognised as bringing the issue of forced marriage into the public domain. The then Prime Minister, David Cameron, said her work "turned my head on the issue of forced marriage". Her work is recognised as being key to the creation of a specific UK forced-marriage criminal offence in 2014. She has received numerous awards, including the Window to the World Award at the 2007 Women of the Year Lunch. She was made an Honorary Doctor of the University of Derby in 2009. Jasvinder was given the Special Recognition award at the Pride of Britain Awards in 2009, and was named Cosmopolitan magazine's "Ultimate Woman's Woman " winner in 2010. In 2011 she was listed in The Guardian's Top 100 Most Inspirational Women in the World. She was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2013 in recognition of her "services to victims of forced marriage and honour-based violence". In 2019 she was awarded the Sikh woman of Substance Award and also the Robert Burns Humanitarian of the Year Award and Woman of the Year by Leeds City Council and also awarded Honorary Doctor of Law by De Montfort University Leicester. In 2018, Jasvinder made allegations of sexual misconduct against Lord Lester of Herne Hill. This resulted in an investigation by the Commissioner on behalf of the House of Lords Committee for Privileges and Conduct to which the Commissioner reported. Her complaint was upheld by the House of Lords privileges and Conduct Committee. However, on 15 November 2018, on a vote on the floor of the House of Lords, the recommendation of the Committee that Lord Lester be suspended from membership of the House of Lords was not accepted. This was on the basis that the investigating procedure had not been fair, as it did not allow cross examination, even though this was a rule agreed by the House of Lords. On Monday 19 November 2018, a letter signed by 74 members of the House of Lords staff expressed their 'dismay' in the outcome 'and the tone of many of the comments made in the debate' and referred to the 'power imbalance' between staff and members'. As a result of a second debate on 17 December 2018July 2019, the House of Lords conducted an Independent Inquiry into bullying and harassment resulting in 19 recommendations for change, including changes to the House of Lords policy and practice which has seen an increase in reporting.
