Author Soeren Kern at the Hudson Institute this week writes about two recent reports that do not bode well for Muslim women in the UK or frankly for the future of women’s rights generally as the Muslim population in Europe (and a demand for Sharia law) increases with the rising immigrant tide.

From Hudson New York:

More than 2,800 so-called honor attacks — punishments for bringing shame on the family — were recorded by British police last year, according to the first-ever national estimate of the problem.

The highest number of honor crimes — which include murder, mutilation, beatings, abductions and acid attacks — was recorded in London, where the problem has doubled to more than five times the national average.

Still, although the statistics provide the best national estimate so far, they do not give the full picture of the levels of honor violence in Britain. The real figure could be five times as high and in any case shows that Muslim parallel societies are now firmly established in Britain, thanks to decades-long multicultural immigration policies in the country.

The data on honor violence in Britain was released on December 3 by the London-based Iranian and Kurdish Women’s Rights Organization (IKWRO), a registered charity that provides advice to Muslim women and girls living in the United Kingdom, who are facing forced marriage, honor-based violence, female genital mutilation and domestic abuse.

Polygamous marriages also hurt women and taxpayers!

The data [about honor crimes] comes on the heels of another report which shows that tens of thousands of Muslim immigrants in Britain are practicing bigamy or polygamy to collect bigger social welfare payments from the British state.

The September 24 report shows that the phenomenon of bigamy and polygamy — which is permitted by Islamic Sharia law — is far more widespread in Britain than previously believed, even though it is a crime there, punishable by up to seven years in prison.

The rapid growth in multiple marriages is being fueled by multicultural policies that grant special rights to Muslim immigrants who demand that Sharia law be reflected in British law and the social welfare benefits system.

The report quotes two senior social welfare experts based in Lancashire (one of the most “multicultural” areas in Britain) who estimate that there are now at least 20,000 bigamous or polygamous Muslim unions in England and Wales. This would imply that around 300,000 people are living in polygamous families in Britain if the average size of such a “family” is 15 people.

The multiple marriages are encouraged by recent changes to the British welfare system, which allows Muslim immigrants to have a second, third or fourth wife (or in some cases five or more) treated as a single mother who can get a house and an array of other state payments for herself and her children.

The report shows how Muslim men can take a new spouse from anywhere in the world, father any number of children with her, and have British taxpayers assume responsibility for this family’s upkeep and care.

Although all marriages that take place in the United Kingdom must be monogamous, Muslim immigrants can employ countless evasions to practice polygamy without running afoul of British matrimony laws.

In the US, refugee resettlement workers know full well (and whisper among themselves) that some Muslim refugees are polygamous with the second wives (third?) living nearby and collecting public assistance.  Honor crimes and female genital mutilation are also here already.