Recent shocking news of murder of four women in Canada in the name of "honor killing" has brought this centuries old crime to forefront. As seen in most of the cases the perpetrators in Canada were close family members; parents and brother. At their sentencing the judge aptly stated "It is difficult to conceive of a more despicable, more heinous, more honorless crime. The apparent reason behind these cold-blooded, shameful murders was that the four completely innocent victims offended your completely twisted concept of honor, a notion of honor that is founded upon the domination and control of women."
Human rights watch has defined honor killings as "acts of vengeance, usually death, committed by male family members against female family members, who are held to have brought dishonor upon the family. A woman can be targeted by (individuals within) her family for a variety of reasons, including: refusing to enter into an arranged marriage, being the victim of a sexual assault, seeking a divorce-even from an abusive husband-or (allegedly) committing adultery. The mere perception that a woman has behaved in a way that "dishonors" her family is sufficient to trigger an attack on her life.
Norma Khouri, a Christian Arab writer traces the origin of honor killings in the belief that a woman and her virtuosity is the possession of her family. According to Ms. Khouri this "cultural norm" started under the rule of Hammarabi and other Assyrian tribes dating back to 1200 B.C. Matthew Goldstein stated the honor killings were accepted as a noble act in ancient Rome, where men who did not punish the women accused of adultery were hounded.
In ancient Rome, rape of a woman was tantamount to end of any hope of honorable life and "honor killing" was considered a sympathetic act of the family members. Roman law Pater familias provided complete power to the men of the family over their children and wives. Ancient Roman Law condoned killing women who had committed adultery by their husbands. For long time in Greece, the laws provided powers to husbands over wives as women were believed to be socially below the men. In many ancient cultures including Babylonian, Egypt, Native American and Persian cultures, women convicted of infidelity were given harsh sentences. Chinese husbands would cut off the hair of wives accused of illicit relationships and crush them to death by elephants.
Though religions are "claimed" to be the source of teachings for honor killings, this practice is going on for thousands of years. It stems from the belief in patriarchal society that woman is a property and her sexuality should be controlled. In Latin America it is called "crime of Passion" and treated with minimum sentence; in India brides are burnt for lack of dowry. Usually many male and at times female members of the family are part of this atrocious act. Cultural norms play a major role in these acts to go unpunished. Unfortunately laws in many countries in Middle East and South Asia are very lenient for this crime and even with persistent efforts of human rights groups the governments at times have not been able to change it due to cultural/political pressures. Though historically this terrible act is practiced in different parts of the world, now days it is seen more in Muslim countries. There are many factors contributing to this; strong male controlled societies, governments not taking steps to match the punishment to the crime and in some cases lack of education play a role. Islam has given equal rights to men and women; each adult person is responsible for his/her acts and family does not have the right to take the life of a woman based on their perception of right/wrong and "honor". Sadly some religious leaders in Muslim countries also condone these acts and try to justify according to our faith.
According to some estimates about 5000 women and girls are killed yearly in the name of honor; though most of the human rights groups over the world believe this number is much higher. Many cases are reported as accidents or suicides.
Men who migrate to West from these patriarchal societies at times feel out of control, alienated, becoming more rigid in their ideas. A poll conducted by BBC Asian network showed that 1 in 10 of the 500 Sikhs, Christians, Muslims and Hindus would condone honor killings.
Lot of work is needed to eradicate this crime by educating the societies about equality of the sexes and stricter penalties for the offence. This is not an issue of a faith or certain part of the world, this is Universal issue as it affects woman anywhere.
