The Brutal Reality of Honour Killings

When Murder Becomes Tradition: The Brutal Reality of Honour Killings

Anfal Al-Brashdi

In a time where many women live in constant fear of violence, especially from strangers, some face an even more terrifying reality: the threat of death at the hands of their own families. What kind of values encourage a father to kill his daughter, a brother to kill his sister, or a husband to kill his wife? More importantly, how can a society not only turn a blind eye, but actively allow, and in some cases even encourage, the perpetuation of this practice?

These questions form the foundation of this paper, which explores a tradition known as honour-based violence (HBV) and the systems that enable it. This article examines the socio-cultural and legal structures that allow such acts to persist. It further investigates the patriarchal values and community codes that underpin these crimes, and critiques the failure of legal systems - both nationally and internationally - to adequately protect individuals vulnerable to HBV, and hold perpetrators accountable. However, to fully understand HBV, it is important to consider the universal reality of gender-based violence (GBV). While it is typical that honour killings are discussed through cultural or religious contexts, feminist scholars, such as Chandra Talpade Mohanty, caution that viewing violence against women in non-Western contexts purely through a cultural lens can risk reinforcing colonial ideas of Western superiority. While HBV is undeniably shaped by culturally specific concepts such as ‘ird’ and ‘sharaf’, this paper resists simple culturalist explanations. Instead, it approaches HBV as a culturally specific manifestation of global patriarchal violence, one that reflects universal structures of gender inequality and violence against women, even as its expressions differ across societies.

Finally, this report highlights the tension between cultural relativism and universal human rights, especially in the context of women’s rights. It argues that HBV cannot be justified under the guise of cultural practices and calls for a more consistent, rights-based approach to prevent and prosecute these crimes effectively.

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