Killed in the name of honour
2009; Elsevier BV; Volume: 373; Issue: 9679 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1016/s0140-6736(09)61049-7
ISSN1474-547X
Autores Tópico(s)Health and Conflict Studies
ResumoHonour killings should be seen as a public health problem in Pakistan, according to a study that shows that they account for a fifth of the country's homicides. Kristin Elisabeth Solberg reports.In the eyes of her family, Aisha (name changed), a 30-year-old Pakistani woman, committed the ultimate sin: she wanted to marry the wrong man. It is a sin for which she was nearly punished by death a few weeks ago, when her younger brother beat her black and blue with a mop. It was not the first time he had battered her for bringing shame on the family; he had previously threatened to kill her with a kitchen knife. “This time, I am sure he would have killed me if I didn't manage to escape”, Aisha says with tears running down her cheeks. Life on the run, with her own family as her worst enemy, has been hard.Aisha's story is far from unique in Pakistan, where women enjoy few economic and social rights and honour killings are common. Almost 2000 Pakistani women were killed in the name of honour between 2004 and 2007, constituting more than nine murders every week, according to a recent study. This figure is probably just the tip of the iceberg, however, since many cases go unreported. Moreover, as more women try to assert their rights and parts of the country are being taken over by the fundamentalist Taliban, honour killings seem to be on the rise.Honour killings are certainly not just a Pakistani problem. According to the most recent data from the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), some 5000 women worldwide were killed in the name of honour in the year 2000. The actual figure is probably much higher: many cases are never registered, or are falsely reported as suicides.All over the Middle East and south Asia, women are being killed because their families believe they have dishonoured them. Western countries, such as the UK, Canada, and the USA, have also seen their fair share of such killings, normally within immigrant communities. “Reports to UN human rights bodies show that honour killings have occurred in Bangladesh, the UK, Brazil, Ecuador, Egypt, India, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Pakistan, Morocco, Sweden, Turkey, and Uganda”, says Azza Karam, a culture adviser with UNFPA. “But there are also reports that the practice takes place in the USA and Canada, as well as Iran and Iraq.”While it remains a global problem, honour killings seem to be particularly widespread in Pakistan, a deeply patriarchal country plagued by violence, low literacy levels, and a corrupt and ineffective justice system. “Pakistan definitely stands out as one of the places with the highest recorded cases, and also as a place where little justice is done”, says Nisha Varia, deputy director of the women's rights division at Human Rights Watch.Being a woman in Pakistan is not easy, in any respect. All across the country, women are attacked, set on fire, raped, or beaten for various reasons, ranging from dowry disputes to property rights and marriage choices. Some studies suggest that up to 90% of women face some form of domestic violence from their husbands or in-laws. Many are unaware that their basic rights are being violated.In this climate, it is perhaps unsurprising that 1957 honour killings were recorded in Pakistan between 2004 and 2007, accounting for a little more than a fifth of all homicides in the country, according to a study recently published in the European Journal of Public Health.The study found that nine out of ten victims were killed because of allegations of extramarital relations. 43% were killed by their husbands, 24% by their brothers, and 12% by other close relatives, such as uncles and grandparents. Although more predominant among Muslims, women belonging to Pakistan's minority Christian and Hindu communities have also been murdered, which suggests that the practice is more cultural than religious. “It's a big problem”, says the author of the study, Muazzam Nasrullah. Nasrullah, who was based at Aga Khan University in Karachi at the time of the study, used newspaper reports as the basis for the research and is confident that the real figure is much higher than his study suggests. “This should be treated as a general public health issue and there should be more research into this”, Nasrullah says.Worryingly, anecdotal evidence suggests that honour killings are on the rise in Pakistan. A total of 62 women were killed in the coastal city of Karachi in the first quarter of 2009, compared with 25 in the same quarter last year, according to data from the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, an advocacy group with headquarters in the city of Lahore. Although the figure includes all deaths, not just those classified as honour killings, the trend is alarming, says the Commission's secretary-general, Ibn Abdul Rehman. “Honour killings used to be contained to certain areas, but then it started happening in Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad”, he says.The rising figures could partly be explained by improved reporting mechanisms and more awareness. But non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and human rights activists working in Pakistan told The Lancet that they have seen more cases of honour killings now. Alarmingly, they said that all forms of violence against women seem to be increasing.There could be several reasons for this, according to activists. One is that more and more Pakistani women are aware of, and try to claim, their rights. This is a dangerous path for many, says Rehman at the Human Rights Commission: “The more she tries to assert her rights, the more she will face brutal repression.”This is precisely what happened to Aisha. Her family instructed her to stop seeing her boyfriend, but she refused to follow their orders, further enraging her father and brother. Showing the same defiance that nearly got her killed, she tells The Lancet she is angry with her parents. “My parents should have sat me down and asked me what I wanted to do”, she says. “I'm a 30-year-old woman with rights.”A general rise of brutality in Pakistani society could also account for the rise in violence against women, says Rehman. The fundamentalist Taliban are spreading fast in northern and western parts of the country, with devastating effects on human rights. “The more people turn to fundamentalist religion, the worse it will be for women's rights”, Rehman says.Disappointingly, the Pakistani state offers little justice for the victims of honour killings. Although a 2004 law provides protection against “offences committed in name or on the pretext of honour”, perpetrators are rarely punished. And if he is prosecuted at all, a man who kills for honour is likely to be given a shorter sentence than someone who kills for different reasons.Moreover, under the Qisas and Diyat laws of the Islamic legal code Sharia, perpetrators can be forgiven by the victim's family. “You therefore see cases where the father did the killing, then blames the brother. The brother is prosecuted, the father forgives him and he is freed”, says Rehman.The state also fails to protect women at risk. There are a few government-run shelters scattered around the country, but, according to human rights activists, these shelters resemble “mini-prisons” more than safe havens.When The Lancet met Aisha in Islamabad, 10 days after she narrowly escaped her brother's violence, she stayed with leading women's rights activist Shahnaz Bukhari. “Unfortunately, in my country, there is no fall-back system for such a girl”, Bukhari says. “I don't want her to go home and risk being killed, but there is no place for her.” Bukhari, who heads the NGO Progressive Women's Association, is now trying to open a shelter in Rawalpindi, Islamabad's twin city, with her own money.There are other problems too. Life in Pakistan is not easy for an unmarried woman estranged from her family. Society views Aisha as a tainted woman and she has few job opportunities. She is also deeply scarred by her experiences. Bukhari, a clinical psychologist, says that the 30-year-old is traumatised and depressed and needs counselling before she can rebuild her life.Fortunately, there are some success stories. At Dastak Charitable Trust, one of only a couple of NGO-run women's shelters in the country, women who have fled their families receive vocational training and are encouraged to find a way to support themselves. Shabana Rehmat, a 23-year-old from a village in Punjab, has lived in this shelter in Lahore for 4 years, and is now completing her bachelor degree. She is no longer afraid of her family, who threatened to kill her when they found out about her secret engagement to a childhood friend. She escaped with her life; her fiancé was not so lucky.Rehmat is not surprised by the reports suggesting that honour killings are increasing in her country. “There's a lack of education in our society, and people's attitudes aren't changing”, she says. “Unless this is changed, it will keep on increasing.” Honour killings should be seen as a public health problem in Pakistan, according to a study that shows that they account for a fifth of the country's homicides. Kristin Elisabeth Solberg reports. In the eyes of her family, Aisha (name changed), a 30-year-old Pakistani woman, committed the ultimate sin: she wanted to marry the wrong man. It is a sin for which she was nearly punished by death a few weeks ago, when her younger brother beat her black and blue with a mop. It was not the first time he had battered her for bringing shame on the family; he had previously threatened to kill her with a kitchen knife. “This time, I am sure he would have killed me if I didn't manage to escape”, Aisha says with tears running down her cheeks. Life on the run, with her own family as her worst enemy, has been hard. Aisha's story is far from unique in Pakistan, where women enjoy few economic and social rights and honour killings are common. Almost 2000 Pakistani women were killed in the name of honour between 2004 and 2007, constituting more than nine murders every week, according to a recent study. This figure is probably just the tip of the iceberg, however, since many cases go unreported. Moreover, as more women try to assert their rights and parts of the country are being taken over by the fundamentalist Taliban, honour killings seem to be on the rise. Honour killings are certainly not just a Pakistani problem. According to the most recent data from the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), some 5000 women worldwide were killed in the name of honour in the year 2000. The actual figure is probably much higher: many cases are never registered, or are falsely reported as suicides. All over the Middle East and south Asia, women are being killed because their families believe they have dishonoured them. Western countries, such as the UK, Canada, and the USA, have also seen their fair share of such killings, normally within immigrant communities. “Reports to UN human rights bodies show that honour killings have occurred in Bangladesh, the UK, Brazil, Ecuador, Egypt, India, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Pakistan, Morocco, Sweden, Turkey, and Uganda”, says Azza Karam, a culture adviser with UNFPA. “But there are also reports that the practice takes place in the USA and Canada, as well as Iran and Iraq.” While it remains a global problem, honour killings seem to be particularly widespread in Pakistan, a deeply patriarchal country plagued by violence, low literacy levels, and a corrupt and ineffective justice system. “Pakistan definitely stands out as one of the places with the highest recorded cases, and also as a place where little justice is done”, says Nisha Varia, deputy director of the women's rights division at Human Rights Watch. Being a woman in Pakistan is not easy, in any respect. All across the country, women are attacked, set on fire, raped, or beaten for various reasons, ranging from dowry disputes to property rights and marriage choices. Some studies suggest that up to 90% of women face some form of domestic violence from their husbands or in-laws. Many are unaware that their basic rights are being violated. In this climate, it is perhaps unsurprising that 1957 honour killings were recorded in Pakistan between 2004 and 2007, accounting for a little more than a fifth of all homicides in the country, according to a study recently published in the European Journal of Public Health. The study found that nine out of ten victims were killed because of allegations of extramarital relations. 43% were killed by their husbands, 24% by their brothers, and 12% by other close relatives, such as uncles and grandparents. Although more predominant among Muslims, women belonging to Pakistan's minority Christian and Hindu communities have also been murdered, which suggests that the practice is more cultural than religious. “It's a big problem”, says the author of the study, Muazzam Nasrullah. Nasrullah, who was based at Aga Khan University in Karachi at the time of the study, used newspaper reports as the basis for the research and is confident that the real figure is much higher than his study suggests. “This should be treated as a general public health issue and there should be more research into this”, Nasrullah says. Worryingly, anecdotal evidence suggests that honour killings are on the rise in Pakistan. A total of 62 women were killed in the coastal city of Karachi in the first quarter of 2009, compared with 25 in the same quarter last year, according to data from the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, an advocacy group with headquarters in the city of Lahore. Although the figure includes all deaths, not just those classified as honour killings, the trend is alarming, says the Commission's secretary-general, Ibn Abdul Rehman. “Honour killings used to be contained to certain areas, but then it started happening in Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad”, he says. The rising figures could partly be explained by improved reporting mechanisms and more awareness. But non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and human rights activists working in Pakistan told The Lancet that they have seen more cases of honour killings now. Alarmingly, they said that all forms of violence against women seem to be increasing. There could be several reasons for this, according to activists. One is that more and more Pakistani women are aware of, and try to claim, their rights. This is a dangerous path for many, says Rehman at the Human Rights Commission: “The more she tries to assert her rights, the more she will face brutal repression.” This is precisely what happened to Aisha. Her family instructed her to stop seeing her boyfriend, but she refused to follow their orders, further enraging her father and brother. Showing the same defiance that nearly got her killed, she tells The Lancet she is angry with her parents. “My parents should have sat me down and asked me what I wanted to do”, she says. “I'm a 30-year-old woman with rights.” A general rise of brutality in Pakistani society could also account for the rise in violence against women, says Rehman. The fundamentalist Taliban are spreading fast in northern and western parts of the country, with devastating effects on human rights. “The more people turn to fundamentalist religion, the worse it will be for women's rights”, Rehman says. Disappointingly, the Pakistani state offers little justice for the victims of honour killings. Although a 2004 law provides protection against “offences committed in name or on the pretext of honour”, perpetrators are rarely punished. And if he is prosecuted at all, a man who kills for honour is likely to be given a shorter sentence than someone who kills for different reasons. Moreover, under the Qisas and Diyat laws of the Islamic legal code Sharia, perpetrators can be forgiven by the victim's family. “You therefore see cases where the father did the killing, then blames the brother. The brother is prosecuted, the father forgives him and he is freed”, says Rehman. The state also fails to protect women at risk. There are a few government-run shelters scattered around the country, but, according to human rights activists, these shelters resemble “mini-prisons” more than safe havens. When The Lancet met Aisha in Islamabad, 10 days after she narrowly escaped her brother's violence, she stayed with leading women's rights activist Shahnaz Bukhari. “Unfortunately, in my country, there is no fall-back system for such a girl”, Bukhari says. “I don't want her to go home and risk being killed, but there is no place for her.” Bukhari, who heads the NGO Progressive Women's Association, is now trying to open a shelter in Rawalpindi, Islamabad's twin city, with her own money. There are other problems too. Life in Pakistan is not easy for an unmarried woman estranged from her family. Society views Aisha as a tainted woman and she has few job opportunities. She is also deeply scarred by her experiences. Bukhari, a clinical psychologist, says that the 30-year-old is traumatised and depressed and needs counselling before she can rebuild her life. Fortunately, there are some success stories. At Dastak Charitable Trust, one of only a couple of NGO-run women's shelters in the country, women who have fled their families receive vocational training and are encouraged to find a way to support themselves. Shabana Rehmat, a 23-year-old from a village in Punjab, has lived in this shelter in Lahore for 4 years, and is now completing her bachelor degree. She is no longer afraid of her family, who threatened to kill her when they found out about her secret engagement to a childhood friend. She escaped with her life; her fiancé was not so lucky. Rehmat is not surprised by the reports suggesting that honour killings are increasing in her country. “There's a lack of education in our society, and people's attitudes aren't changing”, she says. “Unless this is changed, it will keep on increasing.”
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