This mishap in society of these women being killed is looked upon as a severe and serious breach of International Human Rights Law. “Human rights are freedoms established by custom or international agreement that impose standards of conduct on all nations. Human rights are distinct from civil liberties, which are freedoms established by the law of a particular state and applied by that state in its own jurisdiction” (Dictionary.com).
There are various different and disturbing examples of how the law and customs, which are entrenched within the patriarchal society, erratically allocate more guilt to women than to men in any action supposed to violate ‘norms’ of sexual and moral behavior.
The issue of women rights often causes uneasy discussions. In those societies, the woman is still treated in a traditional manner, with negligence to her basic rights. She is regarded as being inferior to man, and not deserving to enjoy the same rights. This is generally within Middle East countries including Pakistan. This belief is based and built upon a long series of customs and traditions. “Despite the fact that British women have attained some of their rights in the last few decades, there are still some instances of discrimination and violence practiced against them”. )
Some of those are reflected in the phenomenon of killing women on the background of the honour of the family. This acts as a barrier preventing women from progressing in their lives.
“The fact that women are killed is a bitter truth. However, when women and children are murdered by their own close relatives and loved ones is a concept that has its roots mainly in the Middle East where women’s sexuality has always been the centre of power and production”( http://www.islam-watch.org)
Patriotic sentiments and power itself with religion control the society. he honour killings of Pela and Fadime in Sweden; and Hursu in England, raised a lot of questions by the academics and pro cultural relativists. There uncertainty was that “honour killing lives in the original culture that is still left in certain parts of the world and has nothing to do with religion”. If we accept this explanation then we have given all religions a free hand in interfering in women’s lives”.( www.islam-watch.org)
There is no doubt that honour killing is more antique than for example Islam, Hinduism or Christianity. However the question that arises over and over is why is it still happening in society even after all the development in the society? Another question that comes to mind is whether or not the original culture exists in Europe?
Obviously the political and religious situation and the consequence culture in the Middle East have a lot to do with the issue. After all it is not any coincident that most honour killings happen in the region or have their roots in the Middle East. For me, honour killing involves physical and physiological violence against women at home and in the society.
Women who choose to take control of their lives, choose their own partners, exercise their freedom, or choose to have sex before marriage are targets for honour killings.
The person who kills under the name of honour is trying to confirm and mark their position in the society, in the family and community. He/she uses religion to achieve such a position. Families who lose their honour are not taken seriously in the community that is the sole reason for the taking place of honour killings. This is, without doubt, the consequence of the political power that dominates people’s lives. The same system and power imposes laws and regulations such as compulsory veil, negates the right to choose one’s life and prohibits freedom of speech in the society.
However it is hard to say whether Honour killings are increasing or decreasing in Britain but there may still be many reasons for the increase or decrease in these brutal activities that take place today. Britain is seen as a western society compared to Pakistan which is seen as a traditional society, and this is where the clash occurs within both societies because for example if a family move from Pakistan to Britain they have their traditional morals and values within their family as that is how they have lived and been bought up in Pakistan, however they may actually keep their morals and values alive within their household but this will not fit the western society they are living In and this is where the conflict within the families gradually starts to be built furthermore as women are independent and stand up for their rights in Britain. A major reason why honour killings maybe increasing in Britain maybe because how “women's desire for independence had caused friction within their families. The number of honour killings has gone up because more women are realizing that they have rights.” Said Dianna Nammi - the co-founder of the London-based International Campaign against Honour Killings. (By Miller: 2006: telegraph.co.uk). The above statement suggests that women who have moved from different countries and now live in Britain their perception has changed as they are living in an Western Country now and this has a major affect on the family because the traditional morals are still alive, but the women may start to rebel against their family wishes as they want to fit into society and know their rights.
‘Up to 17,000 women in Britain are being subjected to "honour" related violence, including murder, every year, according to police chiefs.’ (2008, newspaper: the independent). The above statement shows the increase in honour killings within Britain each year; furthermore it shows that the police are actually taking honour killings as a serious issue and they feel it clearly needs to be tackled. ‘The home office is drawing up an action plan to tackle honour based violence … and a civil protection bill coming into effect later this year will give courts greater guidance on dealing with forced marriages’ (2008, newspaper: the independent). Additionally this illustrates an important point as the action plan which will come into action will hopefully bring forward victims as they will know that help is available, and to the best they will receive the help and support needed to tackle their situation.
On the other hand the honor killings in Pakistan can maybe be described as to where the roots of the honor killings occur due to the traditional ways of the society. There is a totally different perception of life in Pakistan compared to Britain for example in Britain the state maybe seen as more strict and take certain crimes as more major offences compared to the Pakistan state and this maybe because the state agree with honor killings as they think it is dishonor to the family, which is clearly against the family norms and values however this is purely shown as biasness towards the states opinion. However this may have been the issue over a number of years but now the Pakistani state are starting to actually take honour killings seriously and feel that it is unjust and something needs to be done to try and tackle this issue in some way or another. ‘President Pervez Musharraf signed a bill last week making honour killing an explicit criminal act punishable by death. Rights activists say it is a small step forward and that more must be done to change tribal and feudal attitudes that treat women like property.’(By Tohid, csmonitor.com) The statement shows a step forward from the President and how they now class honour killings as an ‘explicit criminal act’ this shows that it has been recognised as a major problem although honour killings have been happening for years on end. Additionally something has started to be done to tackle this issue within cities of Pakistan
The number of honour killings appears to be steadily increasing as the perception of what constitutes honour widens.
Expressing a desire to choose a marriage partner and actually contracting a marriage with a partner of one's choice in a society where majority of marriages are arranged by parents are considered major acts of disobedience. Women who marry a man of their choice take resources to state law, placing themselves outside the traditional shame by the public nature of their action; they shame their guardians leading them to resort to violence to restore their honour.
Often fathers bring charges of zina (acts outside parental agreement) against their daughters who have married partners of their choice. But even when such a complaint is before a court, some men resort to private justice in the name of honour killings and use Shariah law as a defence.
The lust for money appears to have motivated many men to accuse their mothers, wives or female relatives of dishonouring their families and also the desire to obtain land may also lie behind some fake honour killings. “Land is the Main issue in the sindh society and the rest follow from that. Unable to repay loans, some men kill women of their own family to associate someone in the debtor's family and ensure that the loan would be extinguished in compensation” (
The Shariah law plays a small role in why the honour killings occur. Shariah law is Islam's legal system. It is derived from both the Quran, as the word of God, the example of the life of the prophet Muhammad, and fatwas also known as the rulings of Islamic scholars.
“The women and the man guilty or adultery or fornication - flog each of them with hundred stripes. Let no compassion move you in their case. (Quran – 24:2)
This verse in the Quran represents a part of the honour killing. It shows that no mercy should be given to a crime that occurs in that society.
‘Brigadier Ali Alush, a senior official in the interior ministry, told the conference that honour crimes have accounted for seven per cent of homicides so far in 2008.But he acknowledged that the figure was probably an understatement because such crimes often go unreported.“The problem with these crimes is not the numbers, but rather the deed itself,” said Raghda al-Ahmed, vice-president of the women’s general union. “Even if there is only one murder, it remains a source of shame in our history.” Women and human rights advocates have fought for many years for the honour crimes law to be changed.’(Ginger, 2007)
But not all politicians support improvement and law reform. ‘Ghalib Inaiz, a member of the parliament’s legislative committee, told the conference that the honour crime law “is derived from Islamic sharia, and we cannot change it because a person cannot give up his honour, and he should receive a commuted sentence if he kills one of his relatives if he catches them in the act.’ (Melvvin, 2007)
Honour crimes are seen as an involvement of the “dominant culture”, in other words local tradition rather than religious tenets. Men grow up thinking they are above their wives, mothers, daughters and sisters. This is the primary reason for the occurrence of such crimes.
“Islam does not permit unlawful relationship, but killing a girl for this reason is a cold-blooded murder and is a serious offence under the Islamic law,” chairman of Shariyat Court Maulana Irfan Mufti Zulfikar said: Killing of an innocent girl is a shameful act, members of the religious court observed.” (By Joanne Jowan, 2008)
Reference List
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3) (last accessed 10/12/2008)
Islam, Gender, & Social Change: Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad: 1998:Published by Oxford University Press US,
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