My niece Zara Aleena's death was preventable - three years on, our institutions are still failing women

Three years without Zara’s voice, her ambition, her laughter, her kindness. She should be here — building her legal career, shaping a better world with that fierce sense of fairness that guided her. Instead, we gather again to remember a life stolen. We walk because she can’t. We speak because she was silenced.

Zara’s death was the result of systemic failure - not just in one moment, but over many years. The man who murdered her had a long, violent record. There were warning signs: his first crime at 12, the assault of a partner, the stabbing of another. There were repeated opportunities to intervene, and repeated inaction. The inquest confirmed what we already knew: Zara’s death was preventable.

When Zara died, something rare happened - the state admitted it had made mistakes. That matters. It broke the pattern of silence and denial that so often surrounds institutional failure. It showed that change is possible, even if hard-won.

Since then, some things have moved. Probation services are under more scrutiny. Public conversations around women’s safety are louder. More people, especially women, are demanding change. But much remains the same.

Women are still being murdered. Misogyny remains embedded in culture and institutions. Probation and prison services are still fragmented and under-resourced. Risk assessments continue to miss danger. And the wider systems that shape safety—education, housing, mental health, and youth services—still operate in silos.

Education must play a far greater role than it does now. Relationships and consent lessons are a start, but they are not enough. We need a whole-culture approach that begins early and runs deep — teaching not just information, but values. Empathy. Boundaries. Accountability. We need schools that model inclusion and respect in their treatment of students, staff, and families. And we need to extend learning beyond the classroom - through parent education, community programmes, and public messaging that makes it clear: violence is not inevitable, and we each have a role in preventing it.

And change must come from us. Zara lived as a model citizen - she gave more than she took, she looked outward, and she stood up. We honour her by doing the same. By being active citizens, upstanders. By noticing what’s around us. By calling things by their name. By refusing to look away. By building the world she believed in.

Zara’s story is not a closed chapter. It is a call. For justice, for action, for each of us to play a part.

As we mark this third anniversary, I ask: How many more women must be murdered before safety becomes a right, not a plea?

We walk for Zara. We walk for justice. And we walk together — toward change. Please join us.

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Farah Naz is Zara Aleena’s aunt and a national voice for justice reform. A silent vigil for Zara will be held on Sunday, 29 June at Valentine's Park in Ilford.

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