IKWRO funding cut again as Labour sidelines ‘honour’ crime campaigners.
The Office of the Third Sector last month sent formal grant offers to 32 organisations for the Campaigning Research Fund, which was set up to strengthen the ability of small charities to campaign.
But third sector minister Angela Smith suddenly scrapped the scheme this month, saying the money was being diverted to the £16.7m Hardship Fund. The decision was taken without consultation and thus in breach of the Compact, which outlines how the public and voluntary sectors should behave towards each other.
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This decision directly impacts IKWRO, who were one of the 32 funded organisations:
IKWRO suffers another funding blow
IKWRO, the UK’s best-known charity advocating for Middle Eastern and Central Asian women at risk of domestic violence, forced marriage and ‘honour’ killings suffered another blow yesterday when the Ministry of the Third Sector abruptly diverted funding of £750,000 from 35 small charities under the ‘Campaigning Research Programme’, including IKWRO, despite the existence of a Compact. The monies will be reallocated to 15 larger charities through the Hardship fund while the smaller charities may suffer yet more losses in the difficult climate of recession.
IKWRO, along with many other charities, worked very hard to become eligible for this funding, which according to Ben Wittenberg, Director of Policy and Research, Directory of Social Change was awarded only to the ‘the best and most innovative campaigners.’
This latest decision is further evidence that Labour are sidelining ‘honour’ campaigners in the runup to a general election.
Separate funding streams to IKWRO and Karma Nirvana have already been choked off, deliberately weakening those organisations in a cynical attempt to silence discussion before the election. The work of forced marriage campaigners is a thorn in the side of more socially conservative immigrant communities, whose block votes are relied upon by Labour.
The vulnerability of individual ‘honour’ campaigning charities to fluctuations in funding is also a cause for concern.
Currently, ‘honour’ crime campaigning is conducted by individual small charities that have grown up in particular areas. There is minimal communication or coordination between these groups, and certainly no umbrella organisation that can speak for all of them at times of crisis. The lack of a united front between ‘honour’ campaigning groups is allowing the government to push them around with impunity.
With the verdict in the Tulay Goren case due this week, a coordinated roar should be going up from the major campaigning groups. Instead the reality is likely to be more of a squeak, with only the highest profile campaigners given access to the media to fight on behalf of everyone else.
With a future Conservative administration likely to be more receptive to the voice of ‘honour’ campaigners, and less reliant on biradery and bloc votes, the time has come to consider the creation of an umbrella organisation.
