'Honor' Killing: The Crimewave that Shames the World

[superconnected]

'Honor' Killing: The Crimewave that Shames the World
It's one of the last great taboos: the murder of at least 20,000 women a year in the name of 'honor'. Nor is the problem confined to the Middle East: the contagion is spreading rapidly.

by Robert Fisk

It is a tragedy, a horror, a crime against humanity. The details of the murders - of the women beheaded, burned to death, stoned to death, stabbed, electrocuted, strangled and buried alive for the "honor" of their families - are as barbaric as they are shameful. Many women's groups in the Middle East and South-west Asia suspect the victims are at least four times the United Nations' latest world figure of around 5,000 deaths a year. Most of the victims are young, many are teenagers, slaughtered under a vile tradition that goes back hundreds of years but which now spans half the globe.

A 10-month investigation by The Independent in Jordan, Pakistan, Egypt, Gaza and the West Bank has unearthed terrifying details of murder most foul. Men are also killed for "honor" and, despite its identification by journalists as a largely Muslim practice, Christian and Hindu communities have stooped to the same crimes. Indeed, the "honor" (or ird) of families, communities and tribes transcends religion and human mercy. But voluntary women's groups, human rights organizations, Amnesty International and news archives suggest that the slaughter of the innocent for "dishonoring" their families is increasing by the year.

Iraqi Kurds, Palestinians in Jordan, Pakistan and Turkey appear to be the worst offenders but media freedoms in these countries may over-compensate for the secrecy which surrounds "honor" killings in Egypt - which untruthfully claims there are none - and other Middle East nations in the Gulf and the Levant. But honor crimes long ago spread to Britain, Belgium, Russia and Canada and many other nations. Security authorities and courts across much of the Middle East have connived in reducing or abrogating prison sentences for the family murder of women, often classifying them as suicides to prevent prosecutions.


http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/the-crimewave-that-shames-the-world-2072201.html
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I don't want to post this on LBN because it will get mixed up with the bible burning crap.

I do want to post it though for women. It should not be over-looked.

[EmilyKent]

1. We've always had it in the west.

We just call it 'domestic violence'.

[left coaster]

3. It's true..

Violence against women is a global epidemic.. and largely ignored, globally speaking.


Cue up tumbleweed roll on.. 3... 2... 1...

[pscot]

4. Not even close

[Fumesucker]

5. Homicide is the second leading cause of death of pregnant women..

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/20316.php

And it's almost always a spouse or boyfriend that's the perpetrator..

[WinkyDink]

13. Not for some notion of "honor". Not by fathers or brothers.

[EmilyKent]

26. Yes, it's always about 'honor'.

Not behaving according to male rules.

[left coaster]

2. It shouldn't be overlooked by ANYONE..

And I do thank you for posting, superconnected.

[maxsolomon]

6. percentage breakdown by religion?

every instance cited in the article are crimes committed by muslim men against muslim women.

pointing out the exception, where 1/20000 crimes isn't committed by a muslim, helps to excuse islam of its responsibility to leave the dark ages.

[wookie72]

7. From the arcile

"In Jordan, women's organisations say that per capita, the Christian minority in this country of just over five million people are involved in more "honour" killings than Muslims – often because Christian women want to marry Muslim men. But the Christian community is loath to discuss its crimes and the majority of known cases of murder are committed by Muslims. "

So it isn't quite as simple as Is;am being the cause of it. It's obviously a cultural thing as well.

But I agree with some of the other posters; why was, say, the murder of Nicole Brown SImpson not considered an "honour killing"?

[maxsolomon]

8. husband versus father/brother

i'm not going for the cultural relativism angle, folks.

i missed that paragraph, but it is worth noting that it occurred in a majority muslim nation.

[Turborama]

10. 2nd paragraph in the OP....

A 10-month investigation by The Independent in Jordan, Pakistan, Egypt, Gaza and the West Bank has unearthed terrifying details of murder most foul.

Men are also killed for "honor" and, despite its identification by journalists as a largely Muslim practice, Christian and Hindu communities have stooped to the same crimes. Indeed, the "honor" (or ird) of families, communities and tribes transcends religion and human mercy

. But voluntary women's groups, human rights organizations, Amnesty International and news archives suggest that the slaughter of the innocent for "dishonoring" their families is increasing by the year.

[wookie72]

11. Yeah, those big bad Muslims must have talked them into it.

So if the husband does it, that's different?

[Quantess]

12. Yes, of course it's different when the whole family gets involved.

It takes on a new level of culturally sanctioned violence and oppression.

[wookie72]

15. And it *never* happens in the WEstern world?

All those old stories about shotgun weddings, etc, were just colourful fables?

[WinkyDink]

16. You do known that expression doesn't mean "killing"?

Nobody is arguing there are no such murders in the West. Indeed, they are too well-known in Sicily, e.g.
The POINT is, however, that "honor killings" are ENDEMIC to, let's just say, large parts of the Third World.

[wookie72]

17. Um, I imagine someone might get killed

if the wedding didn't go off as planned.

[WinkyDink]

19. Let's bring the 19th c. into the fray, now. Yes, hillbilly culture is the quintessential America.

BTW, the target of such was never the intended bride.

[wookie72]

21. SO if the guy got killed, no biggie?

And actually, judging by a lot of the actions these days, hillbillies are a pretty good representative of the American psyche.

[WinkyDink]

24. OFGS, stick to the topic: Women being murdered by kin.

[wookie72]

25. Yes, it's terrible

But I'm not sure why you have to make it a favor of religion and not culture. There are plenty of Islamic communities where it does *not* happen.

[EmilyKent]

27. And 'our' world.

[WinkyDink]

14. Yes. Being killed by kin is WAY different in kind. If a woman is murdered by her child, is that not

a shock to the social fabric more than if she were slain by a stranger?

[wookie72]

18. DO you feel the same way

about the Hindu practise of putting women on their husband's funeral pyre?

My point is that to focus on the Islamic nature of the killings rather than their overall misogyny is short-sighted.

[WinkyDink]

23. Suttee has been mostly eradicated. I am FULLY aware of the heinous bride-murders-by-kerosene

in India, by husband and often mother-in-law.

What I am also aware of is how too many people will EXCUSE Islam by pointing to other, non-Islamic examples.

As a 60-year-old woman, I have lived a life conscious of misogyny. I am of the opinion that both the West and the Middle East are brothers under the skin, to wit: one area wants to control and degrade its females by encouraging a lack of clothing; the other by imposing excessive covering. Fundamentalists in both regions wish to deny women reproductive rights, the granting of which has been proven to advance human rights in general.
I am aware that the most dangerous place for an American woman is her work-place, because of being tracked down by a violent man.

I accept as truth what Gaven deBecker has written: Men go through life wishing not to be humiliated. Women go through life wishing not to be killed.

But one expects not to need such a wish when thinking of ONE'S BLOOD RELATIVES, A DISTINCTION YOU ARE OBSTINATELY REFUSING TO SEE.

[maxsolomon]

20. Lebanese "culture" is influenced by it's majority religion

but have it your way - ultimately, there's no qualitative difference between the west, where distraught men kill their wives for leaving them, or cheating on them, and the Islamic world (of which lebanon is a part), where men kill their daughters and sisters for 'offenses' we find laughable.

are you saying we must eliminate spouse-killing in America before we can criticize this LARGELY islamic practice in islamic countries? or merely that people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones? or that it's the not the monotheism, but the misogyny (that is an integral part of the religion)?

[wookie72]

22. It's the misogyny

Which is NOT an integral part of the religion. Misogyny exists in every culture, both secular and religious.

[EmilyKent]

28. Absolute agreement.

Doesn't matter what you call it, it all comes down to the same thing. Misogyny.

[gophates]

29. Gee and our media won't cover that Xians are as culpable

There with the honor killings and here with the domestic violence. But hey, let's just blame the different people.

[Chemical Bill]

9. K&R. n/t

[G_j]

30. put simply: Patriarchy

destroying the world on so may levels.

[Number23]

31. K&R Thank you for posting. Nice to see that honor killing amongst men is also included

in this article.

[newtothegame]

32. Racist post. nt