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An extremely concerning issue that I feel doesn't get enough national attention is honor killings, specifically those committed in middle eastern countries. Every year thousands of women and girls are killed by family members because the victims bring "shame" to their family. Various reasons can be enough to warrant an honor killing in numerous cultures: refusing an arranged marriage; wanting a divorce; being raped; being homosexual; or various other actions that can be received as inappropriate for women in that culture.
Honor killing are something most people think doesn't happen anymore. It's barbaric and uses violence to control especially women and young girls in cultures. The most horrifying point in honor killings is many of the killer will get away with it. Many laws allow people to find loopholes around being punished for killing family members. In certain countries families are allowed to forgive the killer, meaning they will serve no time. Many countries excuse killing if the women was caught cheating on her husband or most sexual acts. This allows many families to complete honor killings without facing serious consequences. Some progress is being made though, laws are being written almost every year in an attempt to help. Pakistan has just this year proposed a new bill that would revise a previous honor killing law, closing loopholes for killers.
Despite all this progress many people worry that no law will fully eradicate honor killings. There is a deep rooted patriarchal society in these cultures that puts less value on women's lives compared to the overall honor of the family. It's difficult to remember that cultures all have different value systems than our own. These value systems allow for certain things we find barbaric, like honor killings, to be an unspoken truth in those cultures. It will take many years of educating the youngest generation to change this underlying culture. I hope that in my lifetime there continues to be improvements regarding honor killings and the importance of women's lives in cultures.
This is very unfortunate and it saddens me to hear this. Most of the middle eastern countries that allow this to happen is because of the sharia laws that they follow.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this sad, but unfortunately true information. The truth behind these killings is that the culture has taken these barbaric steps with these Honor Killings, not the Islamic religion. I discussed this with my husband, who is Muslim, and he says that no where in the Islamic religion are they taught or told to perform Honor Killings. He is strongly against this & has spoken at several conferences in Jordan about stopping these Honor Killings and incorporating laws against it. In fact, their prophet, Mohammad, pardoned a woman who cheated on her husband. So, I appreciated your sharing this unfortunate information and I have read that it continues to happen even though there are efforts by the middle eastern governments to stop this. I have to say, your blog was very well written and a controversial topic that you handled eloquently. Great job!
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