Honour Killing

The belief that so-called "honour killings" are justified continues to be common among Jordanian teenagers, a new Cambridge University study says.

The study by researchers from the university's Institute of Criminology found that almost half of boys and one in five girls interviewed in the capital, Amman, believe that killing a daughter, sister or wife who has "dishonoured" or shamed the family, is justified.

United Kingdom: The murder of Banaz Mahmod by her family in 2006 shocked the country. A documentary now tells her story. 

One week after its foundation, women’s rights organization Zhiyan [Life] Group organized a demonstration against honor killing in the Kurdistan Region.The demonstrators condemned the killing of Nigar Rahim, a Kurdish girl in the Garmiyan region, who was raped by one of her brothers and later killed by another.The spokesperson for Zhiyan called on all the civil organizations in Kurdistan to join her group in its campaign.

This thematic report addresses the topic of gender-related killings of women. Rather  than a new form of  violence, gender-related killings are the extreme manifestation of existing forms of violence against women. Such killings are not isolated  incidents that arise suddenly and unexpectedly, but represent the ultimate act of violence which is experienced in a continuum of violence. Women subjected to continuous violence and living under conditions of gender-based discrimination and threat are always on ―death row, always in fear of execution‖. Globally, the prevalence of different manifestations of gender-related killings is reaching alarming proportions. Culturally and socially embedded, these manifestations continue to be accepted, tolerated or justified—with impunity as the norm.  States‘ responsibility to act with due diligence in the promotion and protection of women‘s rights is largely lacking as regards the killing of women.