A memorial day for victims of so-called honour killings will be held for the first time today.

Charity Karma Nirvana is staging a "Day of Memory" on what would have been the 29th birthday of Shafilea Ahmed, who was killed by her parents in 2003 when she was 17.

The event, which the charity hopes to hold annually, comes after official figures revealed that UK police forces recorded more than 11,000 cases of honour-based violence between 2010 and 2014.

The crimes included abductions, false imprisonment and murder, according to the Iranian and Kurdish Women's Rights Organisation (IKWRO) but campaigners have warned that many offences go unreported as the perpetrators are close to the victims.

Earlier this year, the Henry Jackson Society estimated there had been 29 honour killings or attempted murders in the UK over the same five-year period, based on cases reported in the media.

A conference will be staged in London later to discuss the issue, as part of Karma Nirvana's Britain's Lost Women campaign, which is supported by Cosmopolitan magazine.

Jasvinder Sanghera, chief executive of Karma Nirvana, told the BBC: "We are going to be honouring the memories of the most honourable human beings where the perpetrators tried to erase them completely.

"It's also an opportunity to raise awareness about the issue of honour-based abuse and the scale of the problem in Britain."

A 2012 trial heard that Shafilea was suffocated with a plastic bag at the family home in Warrington, Cheshire, in September 2003 because her desire to lead a Westernised life was bringing shame on the family.

Her parents, Iftikhar Ahmed, 52, and his wife Farzana, 49, were told they would both serve a minimum of 25 years in prison after being convicted of the murder.

The charity has adopted the hashtag RememberShafilea on Twitter and called on supporters to tweet in order to help create a plastic sculpture of the teenager using a 3D printer.

"Our aim is to counteract this bleak intention by using plastic in a positive way, to restore Shafilea's memory by creating a memorial in her honour, and in honour of the 141 other women and girls who have lost their lives to 'honour' violence since her death," the charity said on its website.

"A 3D printer is set to reveal a memorial sculpture of her in response to your tweets."

Several police forces, including Dorset and Lancashire, have declared their support on the social network.

Sussex Police tweeted: "Today we're marking the National Day of Memory for Britain's Lost Women."