Honor Killings
By: Claire Doyle S4
What are Honor Killings?
"I am proud of what I did. No, I don't regret what I did. Even if the government hangs me. I wouldn't care. I did this for my honor."
What Are Some Reasons People Commit Honor Killings?
-Marrying without permission
-Dressing inappropriately
-Desire to marry by own choice
-Rejection of marriage proposal
-Homosexual acts
Demographics
-Young adults and adolescents
-Violently enforcing beliefs and morals
Perpetrators
-Parents/superiors
-Don't understand severity of actions
"There is no honour in violence." -Kurdish Womens' Action Against Honour Killings
What is Honor-Based Voilence?
In the Middle East and North Africa Region
"With the exception of Iran, laws which allow for ‘honour’ killing are not derived from Islamic precepts, but from the penal codes of the Napoleonic Empire which legislated for crimes of ‘passion.’ Such laws have come under sustained opposition from women’s rights activists leading to some reforms: the Kurdistan Region of Iraq removed the provision for lighter sentencing for killers with ‘honourable’ motives in 2002 – although it remains in force in the rest of Iraq; Syria has recently increased the minimum sentence for an ‘honour’ killer from one year to two; and Palestine has recently removed the provision which it inherited from Jordanian law in the face of a particularly gruesome high-profile murder. However, such changes have limited applicability where these are not followed through by the criminal justice system, which may still tend to overlook murders and excuse their perpetrators. The availability of reduced sentencing causes murders which had financial or other motives to be represented as related to ‘honour’ so that the perpetrators of unrelated crimes can benefit from the reduced sentencing applied to ‘honour’." - http://hbv-awareness.com/regions/
Themes Seen Associated with this Topic
Human-Environment Interaction: In Pakistan, there are a lot of groups that were established with the purpose of speaking out against this vicious act of hate, and they interact with the other groups and mosques around the country for support. They are looking to change the laws and incorporate a negative connotation with the phrase "honor killings" and explain why the phrase itself is an oxymoron.
Opinions
My personal opinion is that nothing like this should ever occur and the people who do this are too enveloped in the idea of being perfect and maintaining a social status that it's almost pathetic. Wanting to marry whoever you want isn't immoral, what's immoral is killing people over that.