Honor Killings

Honor crimes are acts of violence, usually murder of women committed by male family members. Female victims in this situation are perceived by one or more males in the family to have brought dishonor upon the family name or prestige. A woman's activities are closely monitored by her own parents as well as her husband's family. Her virginity and “sexual purity” are considered to be the family's responsibility, and in the name of that responsibility she is dominated by males her entire life—first her father and brothers, then her husband, and finally her sons. Victims are usually killed for “sexually immoral” actions, ranging from openly conversing with unrelated men to losing virginity before marriage or for violating the sanctity of marriage through adultery, even if they became victims of rape or sexual assault. However, a woman can be targeted for murder for a variety of other reasons as well, including refusing to enter into an arranged marriage based on caste, ethnicity, and religion. Women are sometimes killed for trying to seek a divorce or separation—even from an abusive husband. Usually, the mere suspicion that a woman acted in a manner that could be sufficient to damage her family's name may trigger an attack. In patriarchal societies, women's honor and family reputation are generally based on men's feelings and perceptions rather than on objective truth. In such a man's world, a woman may be killed by her husband, father, son, brother, or other relative for alleged family dishonor. Ironically, other women in the family, including mother, sisters, and in-laws of the victim, often defend the killings and occasionally help set them up. Overall, one of the major causes of honor killings is a general pattern of male dominance in some of the patriarchal societies. It seems that a sense of honor provides such families continued power and control over women.

Honor killings have taken place historically in one form or another in perhaps all countries. Though such crimes are widely suspected to be underreported, the U.N. Population Fund estimates that more than 5,000 women are killed annually for reasons of honor. These crimes against humanity are not specific to any one religion nor are they limited to any one region of the world. However, they have been specifically cited to have rather significantly and consistently occurred in various parts of the Middle Eastern and South Asian cultures. Media and research publications and human rights organizations, such as the United Nations, frequently report honor-related murders in countries such as Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Brazil, Ecuador, Egypt, India, Italy, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Pakistan, Palestinian territories, Turkey, Uganda, and Yemen.

There appears to be an increased awareness of honor killing in contemporary societies. However, some countries remain reluctant to take the necessary [Page 438]steps to end immunity for honor killings. For example, although the Supreme Court of Brazil struck down “defense of honor” as a justification for the murder of a wife in 1991, many years later courts in that country still fail to prosecute and convict men who claim they killed their wives because of their alleged infidelity. Nonetheless, in many countries, honor crimes are either condoned indirectly through government inaction or defended as legitimate cultural practices. As a result, police fail to investigate these crimes, and prosecutions are rare or nonexistent. In the few cases where a man is prosecuted for the killing, the woman's alleged behavior becomes the focus of the trial, rather than the possible culpability of the defendant. In a rare case when a man is found guilty, the defendant's claim that it was a crime committed to restore sullied family honor allows the courts to reduce the sentence. In India, for example, the government enacted strict penalties for violence against women during the 1980s. However, honor killings based on intercaste and interreligious marriages continue to take place in rural areas, where they are unreported to police because of an indirect support and apathy prevalent among village residents. In addition, honor murders are ruled as accidents or family disputes when reported. Police and government officials are often bribed to ignore crimes and hinder investigations. A woman beaten, burned, strangled, shot, or stabbed to death is often ruled a suicide, even if there are multiple wounds and there is no possibility the woman could have killed herself.

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