Honour: Crimes, Paradigms, and Violence Against Women

A$39.95

Lynn Welchman

Sara Hossain

Norma Khouri brought the issue of honour killings into the news in Australia. Whatever one thinks of Khouri, the story she had to tell was based on the reality of many women’s lives, not only in Jordan but also in Italy, Kurdistan, Latin America, the UK, South Asian and Nordic countries. The purpose of this book is to support human rights activists, policy-makers and lawyers by explaining what constitutes honour crimes and how they vary across different country contexts. It develops a human rights framework as an alternative to a cultural relativist approach. It urges the reform of many national legal systems which enable men to rely on the pretext of ‘honour crimes’ in order to get a reduced sentence. Like other acts of violence against women, they have no justification.
In the Australian context, the provocation rule could be considered a descendent of the ‘honour’ defence. This rule has enabled men to claim provocation – an insult to their honour – as an excuse for murdering wives, girlfriends and former partners. Amnesty International is running a massive campaign dealing with violence against women. This book draws out those further connections by focussing on the legal protections, the social ‘obligations’ and the deadly consequences for women.
This marvellous collection of essays is an important contribution to our collective understanding of the range of violence, mainly against women, that goes under the shorthand of 'honour crimes'. Like many such terms, it silences and conceals structures of domination, of violence and sexual regulation as much as it reveals the kind of defences that patriarchy summons to its aid.

2006 | ISBN 9781876756611 | Paperback | 236 x 158 mm | 400 pp

Lynn Welchman

Sara Hossain

Norma Khouri brought the issue of honour killings into the news in Australia. Whatever one thinks of Khouri, the story she had to tell was based on the reality of many women’s lives, not only in Jordan but also in Italy, Kurdistan, Latin America, the UK, South Asian and Nordic countries. The purpose of this book is to support human rights activists, policy-makers and lawyers by explaining what constitutes honour crimes and how they vary across different country contexts. It develops a human rights framework as an alternative to a cultural relativist approach. It urges the reform of many national legal systems which enable men to rely on the pretext of ‘honour crimes’ in order to get a reduced sentence. Like other acts of violence against women, they have no justification.
In the Australian context, the provocation rule could be considered a descendent of the ‘honour’ defence. This rule has enabled men to claim provocation – an insult to their honour – as an excuse for murdering wives, girlfriends and former partners. Amnesty International is running a massive campaign dealing with violence against women. This book draws out those further connections by focussing on the legal protections, the social ‘obligations’ and the deadly consequences for women.
This marvellous collection of essays is an important contribution to our collective understanding of the range of violence, mainly against women, that goes under the shorthand of 'honour crimes'. Like many such terms, it silences and conceals structures of domination, of violence and sexual regulation as much as it reveals the kind of defences that patriarchy summons to its aid.

2006 | ISBN 9781876756611 | Paperback | 236 x 158 mm | 400 pp

Reviews

The contributors are passionate and analytical, legally informed and sensitive to the dangers of culturalist and Eurocentric discourses. This book must find its way to the shelves of every concerned lawyer, activist and citizen.

—Nandini Sundar, Professor of Sociology, Delhi University

An extremely timely and insightful book! The collection of essays in this volume will deepen our understanding of the many faces of violence against women. By challenging the invocation to justify crimes committed in the name of honour, the authors vocalize the silent but brave resistance of women worldwide whose lives are encroached upon with claims of dishonour. Combined efforts of activists, academics and women in their everyday lives in countering such social myths will amass in relocating the shame and dishonour from the victim to the perpetrators where they belong. 

—Yakin Ertürk, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women

This is an excellent contribution to debates about 'crimes of honour', violence against women, and the politics of culture. Setting new standards for collaborative work between activists and academics, it is not only a major resource for those working in the field of legal studies, but also for social scientists and policy makers.  

—Professor Annelies Moors, ISIM chair at the University of Amsterdam

This urgently needed volume provides invaluable insight on how we should understand the concept of honour crimes as it impacts predominantly on women and girl children in different contexts throughout the world. The volume helps to debunk the view that honour crimes is a 'Muslim' phenomenon, that it is separate from the issue of violence against women and that the struggle for women's human rights is somehow 'alien' to non-western or minority communities. Above all it offers an opportunity to develop strategies of resistance in the light of shared knowledge. Thoughtful and thought provoking, the volume is an indispensable tool for anyone seriously committed to eradicating violence against women in all communities. 

—Pragna Patel, Southall Black Sisters, London

This collection of essays offers a significant contribution to our understanding of certain forms of violence against women that can be termed 'honour crimes'.  It successfully brings together activists, service providers, lawyers, lecturers and professors and manages to challenge many common essentialising discourses and assumptions about this issue  ...this book is a valuable resource for scholars, activists and policy makers alike.

—Emma Fulu, Lilith 2006

Table of Contents

Preface: Violence Against Women and 'Crimes of Honour' - Radhika Coomeraswamy

Introduction: Honour, Rights and Wrongs - Lynn Welchman and Sara Hossain

1. The United Nations and International Advocacy on 'Crimes of Honour' - Jane Connors

2. 'Crimes of Honour': Value and Meaning - Purna Sen

3. The Role of 'Community Discourse' in Combatting 'Crimes of Honour': Preliminary Assessment and Prospects - Abdullahi An-Na`im

4. 'Honour Killings' and the Law in Pakistan - Sohail Warraich

5. Women Murder in Lebanon: 'Crimes of 'Honour' between Reality and the Law - The Lebanese Council to Eliminate Violence Against Women

6. Crimes of Honour as Violence Against Women in Egypt: An Analysis and Future Prospects - The Centre for Egyptian Women Legal Assistance

7. Researching Women's Victimization in Palestine: A Socio-Legal Analysis - Nadera Shalhoub Kevorkian

8. Culture, National Minority and the State: Working against 'the Crime of Family Honour' among the Palestinian Community in Israel - Aida Touma-Sliman

9. Changing the rules? Developments on 'crimes of honour' in Jordan - Reem Abu Hassan and Lynn Welchman

10. Honour-based Violence among the Kurds: The Case of Iraqi Kurdistan - Nazand Begikhani Killing

11. 'Crimes of Honour' in the Italian Penal Code: an Analysis of History and Reform - Maria Gabriella Bettiga

12. 'Legitimate Defence of Honour': Illegitimate Impunity for Murder. A Critical study of legislation and case law in Latin America - Silvia Pimental, Valéria Pandjiarjian and Juliana Belloque

13. Women's Struggles Against 'Honour Crimes' in the UK - Hannana Siddiqui

14. Forced Marriage in Bangladesh: Of Consent and Contradiction - Dina Siddiqi

15. From Fathers to Husbands: Of Love, Death and Marriage in North India - Uma Chakravarty

16. Tackling Forced Marriages in the Nordic Countries: Between Women's Rights and Immigration Control - Anja Bredal

Bibliography

Index