Honour Killings: When Pride Goes too Far

Not to be confused with domestic violence, honour killings are purposeful and planned acts of murder, targeting a female family member by a male family member (Deb & Subhalakshmi, 2020).  From the perspective of the murderers, these women have brought shame and dishonour upon their families and thus tarnished their image. Often the family members do not show signs of remorse or regret, in fact, they themselves feel they are the “victims”. Another characteristic is that the killings are often preceded by violent acts such as rape by the family member intending to kill them. There are several direct ‘reasons’ why a male family member would feel he has the right to kill someone out of honour.  It could be that a woman fell in love with someone from another caste or religion, dressed in an ‘unacceptable’ manner, engaged in homosexual activities, committed alleged adultery, or refused to enter an arranged marriage.  Reasons for honour killings go beyond the acts of the woman herself. Murders have also taken place due to a woman seeking divorce due to an abusive husband or having been raped by other family members (Deb & Subhalakshmi, 2020). 

A psychological look behind the motives for honour killings reveals that the need to belong to a certain group, the stereotyped role of a man and psychiatric disorders play a large role (Deb & Subhalakshmi, 2020). Family honour is further fueled by the desire to be part of a community and to be considered a decent and respectable member of it. In some communities, going against social conventions leads to the expulsion of its members. The fear that others will find out that shame has been brought upon a family name by one of the females can take over and result in said honour killings. This is worsened by the fact that male-dominant societies, for example, in certain communities in parts of India and Pakistan, have a stereotyped role of the man of the family. He is meant to act as a protector of the family and ensure social conformity, at all costs. It is not unlikely for there to also be psychiatric issues at play. Many men who have killed out of honour have been seen to show signs of anger management issues, mood disorders and paranoid schizophrenia (Deb & Subhalakshmi, 2020).

Sadly, honour killings take place worldwide. In 2004, they were reported in Brazil, Bangladesh, Egypt, Italy, Jordan, Morocco, Pakistan, Sweden, Turkey, Uganda, and the UK. In past years though, the most prominent cases were seen in India and Pakistan. Some recent headlines in India are as follows (Desk, 2022): 

July 2021: a boy, 17, is beaten to death by the family of a Brahmin girl he was having an affair with 

October, 2021: newly-wed inter-caste couple murdered by the woman’s relatives in Fazilka district 

November, 2021: 55-year old man kills his daughter along with six-month-old baby, to avenge “the disgrace” she brought to family by marrying a man from another caste 

These headlines also show that male family members can also be victims of honour killings, although it is more seldom. This is not all being ignored and unnoticed. In 2004, the U.N. officially brought the resolution to end honour killings and honour-related crimes at a meeting in the Hague about the rising amount of honour killings in Europe (Chesler, 2010). In India in 2018, the Shakti Vahini case took place and the high court officially ruled the crime of honour killings as a violation of human rights (NHRC, n.d.). It was made illegal for Khaps to take the law into their own hands and to prevent two adults from marrying each other for whatever reason. Khaps are the community assembly in northern India, that have had the say on issues such as marriage in their areas. In 2004, Pakistan’s national assembly ruled the honour killing act, making them punishable crimes for the first time (The Diplomat, 2022). The issue here was a loophole. If the killer were to be excused by an heir of the family, then their murder charges would be dropped. In 2016, the anti-honour killing law tried to close this loophole but it is still in Pakistan’s rule books and in practice, making it hard to protect the women. This is worsened by the fact that honour killings are widely considered private family matters in affected areas and therefore rarely reported. This makes it very difficult and nearly impossible to intervene. Furthermore, such killings are unfortunately seen as justifiable by many in the societies where they often take place. In 2021, over 470 cases were still reported in Pakistan, but human rights defenders estimate the true number to go above 1000 (The Diplomat, 2022). The estimation of the true number of cases goes to show that reporting such crimes within the community is not common.

The question remains, whether anything can really be done about honour killings around the globe. Despite the efforts of local governments, the high rate of unreported incidents and the fact that many in the community find them acceptable makes it extremely hard to intervene. From our side, a big first step is to be aware of what is going on as honour killings can be seen as a fundamental violation of human rights and deserves the media’s as well as our attention. In my personal opinion, honour killings should be treated like any murder case is. Regardless of the incentive and reason someone has behind taking someone’s life, it should be punishable under every law.  Whether it is our place though to intervene in something that is so deeply rooted in a society’s culture is another question entirely, one that does not necessarily have an objective answer.