Victims of honor killings are often women and girls, except in the Netherlands
Honor crimes can be committed against men, boys, lesbians and transgender people, but honor crimes against women and girls are more common.
Women and girls have been murdered for the sake of family honor, as young as 7 and as old as 70 by their husbands, fathers, brothers, sons, uncles, cousins and in some cases strangers hired by their families.
Women and girls have been murdered because they (presumably) had a sexual relationship, had a boyfriend, married without family permission, opposed an arranged marriage, could not prove their virginity on their wedding night, were victims of rape, left a violent spouse or used a cell phone and posted a picture on Facebook.
They have been shot, stabbed to death, beheaded, poisoned, electrocuted, stoned and even buried or burned alive.
Only the infamous Dutch National Expertise Center on Honor-Related Violence (LEC EGG) reported in 2019 that more men than women are victims of honor-related violence. However, the honor killing experts at the Dutch police refused to share the underlying data with our organization.Victims of honor-related violence
|
What is an honour killing? |
|
An honour killing is a murder in the name of honour. If a brother murders his sister to restore family honour, it is an honour killing. According to activists, the most common reasons for honour killings are as the victim:
Human rights activists believe that 100,000 honour killings are carried out every year, most of which are not reported to the authorities and some are even deliberately covered up by the authorities themselves, for example because the perpetrators are good friends with local policemen, officials or politicians. Violence against girls and women remains a serious problem in Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Iran, Serbia and Turkey. |
