Honor Killing!
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The United Nations Population Fund estimates that the annual worldwide total of honour-killing victims may be as high as 5,000 women.
Honor Killing Definitions
Human Rights Watch defines "honor killings" as follows:Honor crimes are acts of violence, usually murder, committed by male family members against female family members, who are held to have brought dishonor upon the family. A woman can be targeted by (individuals within) her family for a variety of reasons, including: refusing to enter into an arranged marriage, being the victim of a sexual assault, seeking a divorceeven from an abusive husband or (allegedly) committing adultery. The mere perception that a woman has behaved in a way that "dishonors" her family is sufficient to trigger an attack on her life.
However, it should be noted that the term honour killing applies to killing of both males and females in cultures that practice it. For example, during the year 2002 in Pakistan, it is estimated that 245 women and 137 men were killed in the name of Karo-Kari in Sindh. These killings target women and men who choose to have relationships outside of their family's tribal affiliation and/or religious community.
Some women who bridge social divides, publicly engage other communities, or adopt some of the customs or the religion of an outside group may thus also be attacked. In countries that receive immigration, some otherwise low-status immigrant men and boys have asserted their dominant patriarchal status by inflicting honour killings on women family members who have participated in public life, for example in feminist and integration politics. Women in the family do support the honour killing of one of their own, when they agree that the family is the property and asset of men and boys. Alternatively, matriarchs may be motivated not by personal belief in the misogynistic ideology of women as property, but rather by tragically pragmatic calculations. Sometimes a mother may support an honour killing of an "offending" female family member in order to preserve the honour of other female family members since many men in these societies will refuse to marry the sister of a "shamed" female whom the family has not chosen to punish, thereby "purifying" the family name by murdering the suspected female.
There is some evidence that homosexuality can also be perceived as grounds for honour killing by relatives. Several cases have been suspected but not confirmed. There is a documented case of a gay Jordanian man who was shot and wounded by his brother. Another case was of a gay Turkish physics student, Ahmet Yildiz, who was shot outside a cafe and later died in hospital. His friends believe that he "was the victim of the country's first gay honour killing."
Honor Killing Honour suicides
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In Japan, suicide is still an honorable way to avoid shame. The ancient Samurai culture is partly at play. The society is not generous to those who are trying to recover from the shame of failure or bankruptcy. Suicide is approved by some, if not glorified. If a big failure will cause a burden for the family, some consider that it is better for the individual to commit suicide than to "lose" honor. However the attitude towards suicide is changing in the recent years. In May 2007, just before facing a bribery probe, the agriculture minister of Japan committed suicide by hanging himself. The governor of Tokyo called the dead man a real samurai, which created a shock and disapproval in the Japanese society.
Honor crimes can also be found in the classical Mediterranean cultures of Greece, Rome, and even among the ancient Hebrews.
A recent phenomenon of Honour suicides occurs in Turkey. There has been many cases when people order or pressure a woman to kill herself; this may be done so that the people avoid penalties for murdering her. A special envoy for the United Nations named Yakin Erturk, who was sent to Turkey to investigate suspicious suicides amongst Kurdish girls, was quoted by The New York Times as saying that some suicides appeared in Kurdish-inhabited regions of Turkey to be "honour killings disguised as a suicide or an accident."
Honor Killing Locations
According to the UN in 2002:"The report of the Special Rapporteur ... concerning cultural practices in the family that are violent towards women (E/CN.4/2002/83), indicated that honour killings had been reported in Egypt, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Pakistan, Punjab, the Syrian Arab Republic, Turkey, Yemen, and other Mediterranean and Persian Gulf countries, and that they had also taken place in western countries as France, Germany and the United Kingdom, within migrant communities."
There is a strong positive correlation violence against women, and women's social power and equality; and a baseline of development, associated with access to basic resources, health care, and human capital, such as literacy - as research by Richard G. Wilkinson shows. In a male dominated society, there is more inequality between men, and women lose out not just physically and economically, but crucially because men who feel subordinated will often try to regain a sense of their authority in turn by excessive subordination of those below them, ie women. (Interestingly, he says that in male-dominated societies, not only do women suffer more violence, and worse health: but so do men.)
Honor Killing in India
UNICEF has reported that in India, more than 5,000 brides are killed annually because their marriage dowries are considered insufficient. Widney Brown, advocacy director for Human Rights Watch, says that these killings are similar to the killings in countries where Islam is practiced, because they have a similar dynamic in that the women are killed by male family members and the crimes are perceived as excusable or understandable.Honor Killing in Canada
A 2007 study by Dr. Amin Muhammad of Memorial University, showed how cultural honour killings have been brought to Canada. He wrote: "When people come and settle in Canada they can bring their traditions and forcefully follow them. In some cultures, people feel some boundaries are never to be crossed, and if someone would violate those practices or go against it, then murder is justified to them." He also noted that there are hundreds of cases annually in his native Pakistan. He added that "In different cultures, they can get away without being punished -- the courts actually sanction them under religious contexts"Honor Killing in UK
Every year in the UK, about 13 women are victims of honour killing, occuring almost exclusively to date within Asian and Middle Eastern families and often cases are unresolved due to the unwillingness of family, relatives and communities to testify. A 2006 BBC poll for the Asian network in the UK found that 1 in 10 of the 500 young Asians polled said that they could condone the murder of someone who dishonoured their family. In the UK, in December 2005, Nazir Afzal, Director, West London, of Britain's Crown Prosecution Service, stated that the United Kingdom has seen "at least a dozen honour killings" between 2004 and 2005. Given the geopolitical politics dominant today, the practice of honour killing is associated in the West with certain Muslim cultures and the peoples influenced by those cultures.While precise figures do not exist for the perpetrators' cultural backgrounds, Diana Nammi of the UK's Iranian and Kurdish Women's Rights Organisation is reported to have said:"about two-thirds are Muslim. Yet they can also be Hindu, Sikh and even eastern European."
Honor Killing in Pakistan
Many cases of honour killings have been reported here. During the year 2002 about four hundred people (men & women) were killed in the name of (Karo-Kari) in Sindh Out of 382 (245 women, 137 men). The phenomenon of the killing in the name of honour has direct relevance to the illiteracy rate, as these killings are more common in the areas where the literacy rate is lower. According to a report issued by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), Jacobabad District ranked first in terms of murder in the name of Karo Kari (66 women, 25 men). Jacobabad district has a literacy rate of 23.66, the least literate district of Sindh after Tharparkar District, and Thatta District. After Jacobabad, the Ghotki District witnessed the highest number of murders in the name of Karo Kari (13 men, 54 women). After Ghotki, Larkana is the district with the next highest murder rate in the name of Karo Kari (24 men, 38 women). Larkana as well, has a low literacy rate of 34.95. This is lower than even Naushahro Feroze District, Dadu District, and Khairpur District, having 39.14, 35.56 and 35.50 percent literacy rates respectively. These districts of the upper Sindh have low literacy rates but high feudal influence in every walk of life. Jacobabad, Ghotki and Larkana are those districts of Sindh where not only the illiterate, but tribal chieftains are also present in large numbers. According to a report released by the HRCP, the cases of Karo Kari are mostly settled at jirgas, the private and parallel judicial system of Chieftains. However, districts of lower parts of Sindh like Tharparkar, Badin, and Thatta experience nominal occurrences of honor killings because they have a lower amount of feudal influence there.Honor Killing in Saudi Arabia
In April 2008 it came to light that some months prior, a woman was killed by her father for chatting on Facebook to a man. The murder only came to light, when a Saudi Cleric referred to the case in his attempt to the 'strife' that the website 'causes'. And a July 2008 report from the Center for Religious Freedom of the Hudson Institute: surveys school text books in Saudi, and shows that they continue to place violent messages to children: teaching that it is permissible for a Muslim to kill an "adulterer", and that tenth grade text now posted on the Saudi Ministry's website sanctions the killing of homosexuals and discusses methods for doing so.Honor Killing in Turkey
A June 2008 Report by the Prime Ministry's Human Rights Directorate, says that in Istanbul alone, there is one honour killing every week; and reports over 1,000 during the last 5 years. It adds that metropolitan cities are the location of much them.Honor Killing in Palestine
UNICEF reported that "According to 1999 estimates, more than two-thirds of all murders in Gaza strip and West bank were most likely 'honour' killings."Honor Killing in Iraq
As many as 133 women were killed in ther city of Basra alone in 2006 -- 79 for violation of "Islamic teachings" and 47 for honour killings, according to IRIN, the news branch of the U.N.'s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Amnesty International claims honour killings are also conducted by armed groups, not the government, upon politically active women and those who did not follow a strict dress code, as well as women who are perceived as human rights defenders.Honor killing as a cultural practice
Sharif Kanaana, professor of anthropology at Birzeit University states that honor killing is:A complicated issue that cuts deep into the history of Arab society. What the men of the family, clan, or tribe seek control of in a patrilineal society is reproductive power. Women for the tribe were considered a factory for making men. The honour killing is not a means to control sexual power or behavior. What's behind it is the issue of fertility, or reproductive power.
An Amnesty International statement adds:
The regime of honor is unforgiving: women on whom suspicion has fallen are not given an opportunity to defend themselves, and family members have no socially acceptable alternative but to remove the stain on their honor by attacking the woman. Hina Jilani, lawyer and human rights activist
The right to life of women in Pakistan is conditional on their obeying social norms and traditions.
A July 2008 Turkish study by a team from Dicle University on honor killings in the Southeastern Anatolia Region has so far shown that little if any social stigma is attached to the act. It also comments that the practise is not related to a feudal societal structure, "there are also perpetrators who are well-educated university graduates. Of all those surveyed, 60 percent are either high school or university gradates or at the very least, literate."
Honor killing in national legal codes
According to the report of the Special Rapporteur submitted to the 58th session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (2002) concerning cultural practices in the family that reflect violence against women (E/CN.4/2002/83):The Special Rapporteur indicated that there had been contradictory decisions with regard to the honour defense in Brazil, and that legislative provisions allowing for partial or complete defense in that context could be found in the penal codes of Argentina, Ecuador, Egypt, Guatemala, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Peru, Syria, Venezuela and the Palestinian National Authority.
In Israel, honour killers, were also punished. In March 2008 an "Israeli Arab was jailed for 16 years over the 'honour killing' of his sister" in the Hamda Abu Ghanem case.
Countries where the law is interpreted to allow men to kill female relatives in a premeditated effort as well as for crimes of passions, in flagrante delicto in the act of committing adultery, include:
Jordan: Part of article 340 of the Penal Code states that "he who discovers his wife or one of his female relatives committing adultery and kills, wounds, or injures one of them, is exempted from any penalty." This has twice been put forward for cancellation by the government, but was retained by the Lower House of the Parliament, in 2003: a year in which at least seven honor killings took place.
Countries that allow men to kill female relatives in flagrante delicto (but without premeditation) include:
Syria: Article 548 states that "He who catches his wife or one of his ascendants, descendants or sister committing adultery (flagrante delicto) or illegitimate sexual acts with another and he killed or injured one or both of them benefits from an exemption of penalty."
Countries that allow husbands to kill only their wives in flagrante delicto (based upon the Napoleonic code) include:
Morocco: Revisions to Morocco's criminal code in 2003 helped improve women's legal status by eliminating unequal sentencing in adultery cases. Article 418 of the penal code granted extenuating circumstances to a husband who murders, injures, or beats his wife and/or her partner, when catching them in flagrante delicto while committing adultery. While this article has not been repealed, the penalty for committing this crime is at least now the same for both genders.
Haiti: Article 269 of the Penal Code states that "in the case of adultery as provided for in Article 284, the murder by a husband of his wife and/or her partner, immediately upon discovering them in flagrante delicto in the conjugal abode, is to be pardoned."
In two Latin American countries, similar laws were struck down over the past two decades: according to human rights lawyer
Julie Mertus "in Brazil, until 1991 wife killings were considered to be noncriminal 'honor killings'; in just one year, nearly eight hundred husbands killed their wives. Similarly, in Colombia, until 1980, a husband legally could kill his wife for committing adultery."
Countries where honour killing is not legal but is known to occur include:
Turkey: In Turkey, persons found guilty of this crime are sentenced to life in prison.
Iraqi Kurdistan: In Kurdistan, women are killed nearly every day for 'dishonoring' their families. Honor killing was legal until 2002 in Iraq.
Pakistan: Honour killings are known as Karo Kari. The practice is supposed to be prosecuted under ordinary murder, but in practice police and prosecutors often ignore it. Often a man must simply claim the killing was for his honor and he will go free. Nilofar Bakhtiar, advisor to Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, stated that in 2003, as many as 1,261 women were murdered in honor killings. On December 8, 2004, under international and domestic pressure, Pakistan enacted a law that made honour killings punishable by a prison term of seven years, or by the death penalty in the most extreme cases. Women's rights organizations were, however, wary of this law as it stops short of outlawing the practice of allowing killers to buy their freedom by paying compensation to the victim's relatives. Women's rights groups claimed that in most cases it is the victim's immediate relatives who are the killers, so inherently the new law is just eyewash. It did not alter the provisions whereby the accused could negotiate pardon with the victim's family under the Islamic provisions. In March 2005 the Pakistani government allied with Islamists to reject a bill which sought to strengthen the law against the practice of honour killing. However, the bill was brought up again, and in November 2006, it passed. It is doubtful whether or not the law would actually help women.
Egypt: A number of studies on honour crimes by The Centre of Islamic and Middle Eastern Law, at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, includes one which reports on Egypt's legal system, noting a gender bias in favor of men in general, and notably article 17 of the Penal Code : judicial discretion to allow reduced punishment in certain circumstance, often used in honour killings case.
