Crimes of honour or honour crimes are those crimes committed by a man by killing a woman from his family because of a sexual relationship between her and another man of a forbidden nature according to the prevailing social values, or they committed solely on the suspicion of such a relationship or because someone flirted with a girl who may be a completely distant relative related to them… Crime sometimes leads to the murder of a woman’s partner in that relationship. In addition, the circle of crime expands in tribal communities to reach the killing of women, whose degree of relation to the killer is the second or third degree!
The phenomenon of honour killings is a serious crime that threatens human rights, including women’s rights. This crime coincides with the uneven legal protection between men and women in Arab and Islamic communities.
The heritage of our Middle Eastern community is one of habits and traditions full of wheat and chaff, ugly and beautiful. Our communities are not above human communities, and denying the darkness and gravity of some of their customs and even their values is a kind of blind fanaticism that makes us worse.
One of the worst of these customs and values is what is related to women, where women were placed humanely in the second class in many respects… This is a broad subject, but one of its aspects is a “rude” social norm that considers men to be entitled to use violence against women even if it comes to murder. The so-called modern countries, whether in Syria or Lebanon or their neighbours, have legally maintained the excuse that a man would kill his wife, sister or mother simply for suspicion of practicing something not related to customs and traditions, starting from “talking to a strange man or a relative to sexual intercourse or just a suspicion!” The lawmaker has called it a crime of honour, which in itself lacks honour and fundamental human values. These concepts have been common in all human societies for centuries, but many of these societies have found enough courage in the 20th century to stand up and say, “These concepts are ugly and unjust habits that must be excluded.” There have been many movements in the Middle East over the past century trying to fight these habits. But as the geopolitical situation changed since the 1980s, the dictator political authorities allied themselves with the religious authorities, especially the Islamic ones, and with political Islamic to curb attempts to raise the collective human awareness and eradicate the values of ignorance from our societies. Furthermore, the media had the worst roles in general in the process of expanding the circle of social sanctity to include all customs and traditions.
It must be emphasized that the issue of “honour crimes” does not concern women without men. It is a very important and dangerous issue and directly relates to the rights of citizenship, civil peace, public order, respect for the law and respect for man’s human and natural rights. In addition, the issue cannot be solved simply by changing the law and tightening penalties; although this step is important, it is not enough. There is a need for awareness campaigns that take on the task of changing the system of backward cultural concepts outdated and leaked to us from the ages of decadence and the time of the abuse of women, depriving her of her humanity and dealing with her as a cheap commodity.
The first step in this trend is not to call this kind of crimes honour crimes because there is no honour with murder and no honour for a murderer who preys on the weak party. There is no honour for the person who sets himself up as a judge and dictator and takes the law into his own hands. There is no honour for those who deprive others of their right to life, nor is it an honour for those who deal blindly with double-standards. There is no honour for those who allow themselves to invade women and boast about rounds and sexual adventures and deny to others any error, no matter how simple. There is no honour for those who kill just because of suspicion, nor there is honour for those who allow themselves to commit the most heinous aggressions and then kill their victim to hide their “honor”!! There is no honour for those who respond easily and quickly to their evil animal tendencies, thirst for blood and disregard for the value of life, and there is no honour for a society that accepts a killer in its ranks.
killing is an unjustified crime; it is the most heinous and brutal crime, and it is a shame to associate honour with murder. In addition, so-called honour crimes are often associated with treachery, dishonesty and injustice, and are carried out in a cowardly manner. The most dangerous about it is that the mentality of the society and its culture does not deny these crimes and does not condemn them, and that many are lenient with them. As soon as they hear of any news of a girl’s death, instead of condemning the crime and condemning the offender, they begin to question what that girl has done!! This in itself encourages the series of killings.
In the crime of non honour there are rituals of ignorance, which thrive in shedding blood, tearing apart the body, slaughtering, and cutting off the limbs. All this is because the male of the family suspected that the girl’s behaviour was suspicious or foreboding, while forensic evidence showed that the majority of victims killed under what became known as “honour killings” were virgins.
So, for what sin is she killed, and wrapped with thick cloth so that one eye can see if it is allowed to see other than the walls of the gloomy house, like prison?
Also, for what reason a man asks to examine his fiancée’s virginity, although he committed every obscene act, and he was never recorded that he was honest, committed, faithful in terms of work or friendship, or that he was honest in anything. What humiliation our daughters, sisters and relatives are driven to… What humiliation is intended to them while they stand before a doctor giving them glad tidings that they are virgins, and that the accursed Satan did not come close to vaginas?!
Who should have to remove his disgrace, then?
A society that keeps silent towards the systematic murder of its girls and women should wash its shame and lack of honour, and know that by killing innocents it denies its humanity and instills the death blade into its heart. A girl who moans with her wounded voice her curse will continue to chase the perpetrators and their accomplices.
The knives and the weapons used to kill innocent women are cowardly knives that were moved by cowardly souls in a cowardly society. Those who closed their eyes on this continuous slaughter of women, which is half the society, but half the world, and all meaning.
Mercy for the lives of the oppressed who are victims of traditions and customs.
إرسال تعليق