Honor Killing

When speaking  about honor we must remember the understanding of honor may vary from culture to culture and language to language. For what we honor may not be the case of honor in others society and culture and  for what other honor about may not be the case of honor in our society. It may be concept of impurity in our cultures. According  to Cambridge Advanced Learners Dictionary the English word ‘honor’  stands for a quality that  combines respect, pride and  honesty. It is still gendered term  both in western and non-western cultures.

Honor killing is the murder of person accused of “bringing  shame” upon their family. Simply speaking  it  is  the homicide of members of a family or social group by other family members, due to the belief of  the perpetrator that the victim has brought dishonor or shame upon the family or community. Honor killing are directed mostly against women and girls but now have  been extended to men. Human Right Watch defines honor killing as the acts of vengeance, usually death committed  by male  family members against female family members, who are held to have brought dishonor upon family. The term  ‘honor killing’ was first used by Dutch scholar of Turkish society Ane Nauta in 1978, who sought a term that could be used to distinguish from blood feuds. The loose term  “honor killing” applies to killing of both males and females  in culture that  practices.

Women  can be targeted  for a variety of reasons including, refusing to enter into an arranged marriage, being  the victim of sexual assault, seeking a divorce even from an abusive  husband or  allegedly committing adultery. As noted by Christian Arab writer, Norma khouri, honor killing originate from the  belief  that a woman’s chastity is the property of her families, a cultural norm that dates back to 1200 BC, under the rule of Hammarabi and other  Assyrian tribes. Lavinia, in Shakespeare’s  “Titus Andronicus” is killed by her father after  having  been raped and mutilated. In Lewis Grassic Gibbon’s novel “ Spartacus” , the romans are described  as killing their women who had been raped by the rebel slaves. In ancient Rome, being raped was seen as a dishonorable to the  point of destroying a woman’s life and reputation  and honor killing was supposed to a “merciful” act.

“Changing cultural and economic status of women has also been used to explain the occurences of honor killing” belabored by Sharif Kanana, the professor  of anthropology at Birjeit  University. According  to Dr. Shahrzad Mojab the professor  of women studies  at  University of Toronto , followers of Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Christanity have used their religion as a rationale to commit  honor killing. However she stated that  honor killing “don’t  have any definite connection  with  religion at all.” She also pointed out  that honor killing have been practiced before any major religion came into existence.

Human Rights Advocates have compared  honor killing to crime of passion in latin America and also the killing of women for  the lack  of  dowries in India as well as in some parts of Terai of Nepal. Women who are killed in the name  of honor are very inhuman and brutal activities. Women are compelled to be  the  victim of several issues like acid  throwing, breast  ironing, bride burning, bride buying, dating violence, domestic violence, foot binding, forced prostitution, human trafficking, marital rape and female genital  mutilation. One of  the journalists in Larkana, in February 1999 said, “women in Pakistan are killed like hens, they have no way to escape and no say in what happens to  them.”

In 2008, a woman was killed in  Saudi Arabia by her father for chatting to a woman on Facebook. In the beginning of same year two Texas teenager Amina and  Saradh Said were shot dead by their father because the girls (daughters) were dating  boys that were not Muslim. The most recent form of honor killing for seeking divorce occurred in 6^th April 1999, Samia Sarwar, mother of two young sons were shot dead in her lawyers office in Lahore. Honor killing also affects gays in Europe. In 2008 a man had to flee  from Turkey after his boyfriend was killed  by his own father.  In 2011 in  Cerignola, Italy a man stabbed his brother 19 times because his homosexuality was dishonor to the family. There are  honor killings for rape, seeking divorce, seeking marriage, hiding murder, lust for money, property and land.

Every year  around the world  an increasing number of women are killed in the name of  honor. Precise statistics on how many women die annually in such honor killing are hard to come, as many crimes go unreported and many perpetrators go unarrested. The Turkish organization “papatya” has documented 40 instances of honor killing in Germany since 1996. Statistically , honor killing have high level support in Pakistan’s rural society, despite widespread condemnation from human right group. In the year of 2002, 254 women and 137 men were killed in  the name of “karo-kari” i.e. honor killing  in the Sindh province of Pakistan. Over the course of six years more than 4000 women have been died  as victims honor killing in Pakistan from 1999 to  2004. In 2005  the average  number of  victims  is about  10,000. According to UNICEF, in 2000 AD, two thirds of killing in Palestine’s territories were honor killing. In a study of female murders in Alexandria and Egypt, 47% of  women were killed after the women had been raped. In the country of Peru, 70% of the murders of women in a  year was  committed by a husband, boyfriend or lover and most  often jealousy or suspicion of infidelity are cited as the reasons for the murders. A June 2008 report by Turkish prime ministry’s Human Right Directorate said that in Istanbul alone there was one honor killing every week and reported over 1000 during  the previous five years. There are no exact official numbers about honor killing of women in Lebanon. Many honor killing are arranged to look like accidents but  the  figure is believed to be  40-50 per  year. A 2007 report by Amnesty International said that the Lebanese  media in2001 reported 2-3 honor killing per month in Lebanon. Although the number is  believed  by lawyer to be higher.

Among Rajput’s, marriage with members of other castes  can provoke the  killing off married  couple  and immediate family members. This form of honor killing is attributed  to Rajput culture and  traditional views on  the perceived “purity” of  a lineage. The Indian state of Punjab has large number  of honor killing. According  to data  compiled by Punjab Police, 34 honor killing were reported  in the state between 2008 and 2010: 10 in 2008, 20 in 2009 and 4 in 2010. Similarly in our country also women violence are   proliferating. Insufficient dowries has compelled many women to commit  suicide and event they are burned alive too. Dheganidevi who was burned  alive accusing her to be witch in Chitwan 17^th February 2012 which was very shocking  crime. Not only the exact  honor killing like others countries are not in prevalence in Nepal but such crimes equivalent to honor and passion is  also gradually fertilizing here. One of the Sunwar woman was  also killed  in the issue of touching  hearth  few months  ago.  Hundreds of women in our country are killed in barbarian and brutal way.

with the taste of every precocious technologies and  knowledge, still people are not able to establish mutuality and love  among the members of  society. None of the corners of this world is free from crime and  especially of women violence. The more  advanced and informed society,  the more  disturbance and predicaments. Women are much suffered and more insecure in comparison to feudal society than this semi capitalistic society. Even though the  women empowerment is symmetrically innovated, so far  radical change is  compulsory to remove violence against  them. Over and above the law should be strictly  implemented to eradicate the notion of honor killing  from every existing  societies. Thus to complete such assignment to ensure the women security the existing societies need many more  social doctor and social engineer whose homework can streamlined the needs and welfare of women. Then only women can set the Thames  on Fire ,otherwise, utopia  the dream   of  present sociologists would be a mere vanity.