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Honor killing

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Honor killing is the practice of males killing their female relatives or spouses when the female relative or spouse is considered to have damaged the family honor through unwarranted sexual activity. The males involved in the sexual activity, which might have been a rape, are not adversely affected, in general. The murder is considered to be private matter within the affected family, rarely do non-family members or the courts become involved.

Honor killings are not a crime of passion, rather they are premeditated murders. Smiilar practices have been known since ancient Roman times, when the paterfamilias retained the right to kill an unmarried but sexually-active daughter or an adulterous wife; in modern times, honor killing has been observed among the Muslim populations of numerous countries including: Bangladesh, Brazil, Ecuador, Egypt, India, Italy, Jordan, Morocco, Pakistan, Palestine, Sweden, Turkey, Uganda and the United Kingdom. Indonesia, the most populous Muslim country, is notably missing from this list. For this reason, some people claim that it is an Arab cutural practice rather than an Islamic 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 honor killing is not a means to control sexual power or behavior. What's behind it is the issue of fertility, or reproductive power.

Legal codes in Jordan, Morocco and Syria sanction honor killings. Jordanian Law Article 341 states: The act of killing another or harming another was committed as an act in defense of his life, or his honor, or somebody else's life or honor.

The United Nations Population Fund estimates as many as 5000 females are killed each year.

See Also: Islam#The role of women in Islam, dowry murder, machismo

References

  • "Jordan Parliament Supports Impunity for Honor Killing," Washington, DC: Human Rights Watch Press Release, January 2000

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