Author: Gordon

There are moments in a community’s story that feel both deeply personal and powerfully collective. Yasmin Khan receiving an Honorary Doctorate from Durham University is one of those moments.

In recognition of her unwavering leadership, courage and impact, Yasmin was awarded the degree of Doctor of Civil Law (honoris causa) by Durham University — a fitting tribute to a woman whose life’s work has been dedicated to justice, dignity and protection for some of the most marginalised women and girls in our society.

This honour is not simply about an individual achievement. It represents decades of persistence, principled advocacy and tireless service.

A Life Shaped by Justice and Community

Born in Essex in the late 1960s, the youngest of five children, Yasmin’s understanding of fairness and community was formed early. With a father active in local politics and a devoted mother who embodied compassion and strength, she grew up seeing the power of collective action.

As a child, she attended events at the Commonwealth Institute — spaces where diverse communities gathered to celebrate culture, identity and belonging. Those early experiences planted a seed. She wanted to bring people together. She dreamed of becoming an ambassador.

Life, as it often does, took a different route at first. After finishing school in London’s East End, she worked in international banking and later in the airline industry. Marriage, motherhood and a move to Middlesbrough shifted the course of her professional life — but brought her back to her original calling.

In the North East, she immersed herself in equality and diversity work, contributing to racial equality bodies, independent police advisory groups, housing associations and advisory work with government. She later completed a Masters in Social Justice at Teesside University, strengthening the academic foundation beneath her lived conviction.

From Personal Experience to National Impact

Yasmin has spoken openly about experiencing racism as a child, including a traumatic incident at the age of nine when members of the National Front assaulted her and tore off her headscarf. Those experiences were not abstract. They were formative.

As she worked within communities, she witnessed the compounded harm faced by racially minoritised women and girls — domestic abuse, sexual violence, forced marriage, female genital mutilation and so-called ‘honour’-based abuse. These were not isolated incidents. They were systemic failures.

In 2011, she founded the Halo Project in Middlesbrough — an award-winning national charity supporting Black and minoritised victims and survivors of abuse and hidden harms.

Under her leadership, Halo has:

• Supported over 2,500 Black and minoritised women

• Led one of the first ever ‘super complaints’, exposing failures in police responses to Black and Minority Ethnic victims of sexual abuse

• Brought national attention to “invisible survivors” whose voices had long been unheard

What began as a response to urgent local need became a movement for systemic change.

Building the Next Generation

Ten years ago, the Halo Project opened its first student hub at Durham University. The hub offers free training and development opportunities to students, many of whom have gone on to work in specialist charities such as the Angelou Centre and internationally, including within the United Nations.

What started as a flagship partnership has since expanded to universities and colleges across the country — embedding awareness, safeguarding and advocacy into the next generation of leaders.

This work sits under the wider umbrella of the Tees Valley Inclusion Project, strengthening community cohesion and inclusive practice across the region and beyond.

The Oration

The formal oration delivered at the ceremony captured not only Yasmin’s achievements, but the spirit behind them:

Born in the late 1960s in Essex as the youngest of five children, Yasmin Khan showed interest in justice and fairness from a young age. With a father in local politics, and a devoted, kind mother, she always understood the power of community.

Ingrained in her childhood memories are attending events such as those for the Commonwealth Institute, which she found engaging and exciting – seeing other people she identified as being like her – coming together, being happy, and celebrating important dates in various cultural calendars. Her hopes were to do this herself when she grew up, and she dreamed of becoming an ambassador – bringing people together and holding together communities.

In reality, life rather than dreams took over, and after finishing school in the East End of London she followed her older sister into international banking, then as a reservation sales agent for an airline, before getting married, having two children and moving to Middlesbrough, near here, in North-East England.

In Middlesbrough, she found herself returning to her early interests around justice and fairness, working in a range of equality and diversity positions including with the racial equalities body, the police independent advisory group and a housing association, and advisor to the Welsh government. She gained a Masters in Social Justice from Teesside University.

All around her, she saw how racially minoritised women and girls were harmed by domestic and other forms of abuse, and how these harms intersected and were exacerbated by racism. She recollects hearing about one woman who had set fire to herself, and started hearing more and more examples of violence linked to so called ‘honour’ within families.

She reminisced about herself as a child of nine, on her way back from the mosque with her brother for Arabic lessons. When her brother went into a shop, she was pushed and shoved by two men from the National Front who pulled her headscarf off her head.

In 2011 she founded the Halo Project – an award-winning national charity that supports Black and minoritised victims and survivors of domestic abuse, sexual violence and hidden harms including forced marriage, female genital mutilation, and honour-based abuse.

Based in Middlesbrough, Halo and its umbrella organisation, Tees Valley Inclusion Project has supported over 2,500 Black and minoritised women. Halo led on one of the first ever ‘super complaints’, which provided unequivocal evidence of the failings of police responses to Black and Minority Ethnic victims of sexual abuse – ‘invisible survivors’ that Halo shone a light on.

The Halo Project opened its first ever student hub at Durham University ten years ago. The hub offers free training and development opportunities to students, who have gone on to work in local specialist charities such as the Angelou Centre and internationally, including the United Nations. Halo and Durham University are proud to be the flagship hub, which has now expanded to many other universities and colleges.

Yasmin’s vision is to bring people together, to work to achieve community and systemic changes on issues that are not easy to work on for marginalised people who cannot create that change on their own. While she may not have achieved her dream of becoming a state ambassador, which she now admits may also have been linked to a love of Ferrero Rocher chocolates, she certainly has become a powerful, fearless, brave ambassador for Black and minoritised victims and survivors of violence and abuse.

Many lives have been and continue to be changed for the better by Yasmin Khan’s unwavering leadership, and we at Durham University are proud to work in partnership with her.

Chancellor, I present Yasmin Khan to receive the degree of Doctor of Civil Law honoris causa.

A Recognition That Reflects a Movement

Honorary degrees are awarded to individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to society. In Yasmin’s case, the contribution is both measurable and immeasurable.

It can be counted in the thousands of women supported, the policies influenced, the training delivered and the partnerships built.

But it is also found in restored dignity, protected lives, empowered students and communities that now feel seen.

Yasmin may once have dreamed of becoming an ambassador. Today, she stands as something far more powerful — an ambassador not appointed by the state, but recognised by the communities she has served and the institutions that now honour her.

And this doctorate is not the end of that journey. It is a milestone in a movement that continues to grow.