ABSTRACT
Over the last three decades, violence against women (VAW) has become a matter of major public and academic interest (Gangoli, Razack and McCarry 2007; Hester, Kelly and Radford 1995; Thiara and Gill 2010). Investigative work has started to reveal the extent to which various forms of violence – ranging from domestic violence to sexual violence, and from culturally sanctioned forced marriages to female genital mutilation (FGM) – are inflicted on women around the world (Horvath and Kelly 2007). However, although considerable progress has been made toward understanding the nature of VAW, much remains to be done, both to address its consequences and to prevent it from occurring. In the UK, there has been little empirical research into a particular form of VAW: so-called honour crimes. The concept of ‘honour’ crimes includes all forms of violence directed towards individuals (almost always women) in the name of honour.1 There is an urgent need for research in this field to focus on Iranian/Iraqi Kurdish communities, where the incidence of honour crimes is increasing (Begihkani 2005). Criticisms have also been made about the paucity and ineffectiveness of measures designed to reduce and, ideally, eradicate such crimes (Baxi, Rai and Ali 2008). Progress towards greater understanding has partly been impeded by
semantic wrangling over the use of the term ‘honour’ in relation to VAW. Critics suggest that the concept places undue emphasis on male honour, and argue that the term encourages the widespread incidence of non-fatal violence to be discounted. The Council of Europe’s definition (2002) does recognise some of the complexities of the issue, but it does not consider the spectrum of behaviours focused on maintaining and restoring honour that is directed at vulnerable and relatively powerless individuals, usually women and children. These behaviours may involve control, domination and intimidation, as well as physical violence; however, definitions and remedies focus solely on physical force, ignoring the other types of harm that may be inflicted through other means. The lack of consensus over the definition of honour crimes has led to countless debates about what actually constitutes honour-based violence (HBV); as yet, these debates have not produced an
accepted working definition or understanding which would advance efforts to tackle and prevent these abuses (Welchman and Hossain 2005). For the purposes of this chapter, a working definition is required.
Although HBV does affect men from time to time, male cases represent a tiny minority; thus, this chapter will focus on the crime as it affects women. HBV is a highly gendered form of violence, both in terms of its victims and in terms of its perpetrators; men are generally only targeted through their association with ‘transgressive’ women. Thus HBV is usually an expression of patriarchal power, with women as its victims. HBV is thus considered to constitute any form of violence perpetrated against females within the framework of patriarchal family structures, communities and/or societies where the main justification for the perpetration of violence is the protection of a social construction of honour as a value system, norm or tradition. This parallels the Council of Europe definition, but encompasses more of the specific injuries or wrongs enacted against women within patriarchal cultures. Crucially, this leads to the radical suggestion that the notion of HBV should be overthrown entirely, and that the problem should be seen as a specific manifestation of VAW. Only by seeing honour crimes as part of the VAW paradigm can the situation be freed from notions that treat cultural values as a justification for these crimes.
