Honor killings (Research Paper Sample)

Honor Killing
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Institutional Affiliation
Honor Killing
Although there are some massive steps made in the global fight for women’s rights by numerous women's rights movements, girls and women across the globe are still facing numerous challenges. Women and girls are still engaged into early marriages, trafficked into forced labor, and sex slavery. Women are denied admission to political participation and education, and some of them are ensnared into disputes where rape is carried out as a weapon of combat (Pope, 2012). Across the globe, there are numerous deaths associated with childbirth and pregnancy, and women are denied the opportunity to make individual choices in their personal life. The Middle East is the worst of all where women experience massive aggression on their rights. Syria refugee women camping in Lebanon suffer sex abuse while women in Saudi Arabia are banned from driving. Human Rights Watch concentrated its ability on the recognition of women’s empowerment and gender parity (McConnell, 2013). The aspect of violation of women rights has also led to increased cases of honor killings. This is where a family kills another family member for disgracing it and bringing shame to the society. The organization protects the rights and advances the lives of women and teenagers on the ground. Despite that honor Killing has had its place in Middle Eastern society historically and traditionally, it is a significant impedition to the development of women's right in the region.
Understanding Honor Killing
Honor killing refers to a murder undertaken by a family on a fellow family member who is thought to have brought shame and become a disgrace to the family. The obvious "shame" could occur as a result of the victim declining to enter into a planned marriage or for having an association that the family regards as unsuitable. These cases have been reported in most parts of the world with the Middle East leading. Despite the efforts of the courts to prosecute and sentence the doers, the killings are still on the rise. Women suffer most from honor killings than men as observed in the following examples.
Examples of Honor Killing Cases
A good example of an honor killing case is the Jordanian court hearing held on 29 January 2014. During this case, the court lessened the prison term of a man who murdered his own daughter because she ran away from home without informing her husband (Sheeley et al., 2007). The sentence was lessened from death to 10 years in detention. On the mentioned date, the court primarily destined the man to death, but it issued him a lessened jail sentence after the relatives let go of all lawful allegations against him. The man admitted to shooting and murdering his daughter who was almost 30 years. She came out of her husband’s house and stayed away for numerous days without the consent of her husband. According to him, the killing occurred in November 13, 2013 in the town of Ruseifeh, east of the city Amman (Sheeley et al., 2007). The criminal who is 50 years man also admitted that he murdered the woman as a means to cleanse the honor of the family.
In this case, the right of the woman to live was violated a great deal because the ideology of family honor dominated the entire family. Slay is liable to be punished by a bereavement sentence in Jordan, but in what is termed as honor killings, courts normally commute or lessen penalties if the family of the victim asks for clemency (Simons & Zoldak, 2010). These cases have increased in the recent past and according to the criminal reports released in the United States late last year, between 15 and 20 females are killed in honor killings in Jordan every year, in spite of the government’s commitment to restrain such offenses. The United States reports more than 300 cases of honor killings every year with women being the most affected (Husseini, 2009). According to United States criminal statics, 70 percent of all the citizens who die in the country as victims of honor killings are girls and women. Despite the efforts of numerous women movements and human rights organizations to fight for the rights of women and promote equality, there is still extremely extensive work to be done.
Another example of an honor killing is the anatomy of an honor killing where the Palestinians ordered a father to kill his divorced daughter. Thamar Zeidan was killed by her father through chocking to death. The woman was taking a nap during the afternoon hours where the father caught up with her and choked her to death. Despite the fact that this incident was in the mind of the father, it was catalyzed by the pressure from the community which wanted Zeidan dead for divorcing her husband (McConnell, 2013). Since when did divorcing a partner become law with a harsh penalty like death? Does it mean there is no law in Palestine where civilians have to take the law into their own hands? How can the Palestine government allow Palestinians to pressure Mr. Munther to kill her daughter because she divorced her husband? Honor killings are hardly ever discussed in Palestinian community, but the mother and sister of Ms. Zeidan went public to emphasize the case and disclose the huge pressure her father experienced to the extent of undertaking the crime.
According to a report filed by the Media Line Extended, the family members of Thamar Zeidan blamed her of shameful and scandalous acts in an appeal that was broadly followed in her Deir Al Ghusun village located near West Bank in Tulkarem. This was a reaction to orders to re-establish the family’s honor (Simons & Zoldak, 2010). The external pressure from the Palestinian civilians made Munther kill his daughter. The extended relatives from Zeidan’s family accused her of shameful and scandalous actions in an appeal that was pushed by the Palestinians. The extended members demanded that Munther restores the religious and cultural morals of their family. In the process, Zeidan was innocently killed due to pressure from the extended family members who demanded sanity in the family deeds. According to them, divorce was an extremely dangerous act that ashamed those in the society and the person involved had to be uprooted from the family.
This news was posted on more than five regional mosques during the prayers held on Friday with above 50 relatives, engrossing Abed Al-Rahman Zeidan who is a famous Palestinian lawmaker (Simons & Zoldak, 2010). Zeidan’s mother admitted that her husband was under extreme pressure to get rid of Zeidan. She added on that the family was ready to expel them from the West Bank region. Some people suggested that Mr. Munther was mentally challenged because he could not get rid of his daughter. Eventually, the man gave in to the pressures and murdered Zeidan (Husseini, 2009). After the killing, Munther’s wife admitted that her husband was a peaceful person and what he did was totally out of temperament, but the stress was extreme.
In 2013 alone, Palestine recorded 27 honor killings, which is an increase from the 13 people who were killed in 2012. This shows that the crime continues to increase regardless of the efforts of the administration to control it.
Reasons for Honor Killings
Honor killing has been in existence for centuries now because the initial cases were reported in ancient times. Several people value protecting the name of the family because they do not want any form of shame brought by one or more members of the family (Pope, 2012). A family has always been respected in the society because it is the basis of proper ethnic values and cultural standards. Every family attempts to keep its name clean in the society so that it does not receive blame or become a laughing stock. Most of the honor killings in ancient times revolved around cheating in marriages, divorce issues, and failing to undertake family responsibilities among others. In all these cases, the blame was put on women. For example, when a married woman is caught cheating with a married man, all the blame is put on the woman and might fall victim of honor killing where the husband takes charge (McConnell, 2013). The married man caught in the same act with this woman is ignored because he is a man. This shows how biased the society was in terms of promoting equality. The aspect of equality was extremely rare in such cases because the woman was always inferior. As time went by, these biases developed into laws that are now used in some areas of the globe such like the Middle East (Husseini, 2009). The Palestinians are biased because they forced Mr. Munther to kill his daughter Zeidan because she divorced her husband.
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