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Book Details
Abstract
This volume brings together the practical insights and experiences of individuals and organisations working in diverse regions and contexts to combat 'crimes of honour'. Authors examine strategies of response to such manifestations of violence against women, focusing largely on 'honour killings' and interference with the right to choice in marriage, and the related use and legal treatment of the defence of 'honour' and 'provocation' in different countries of Europe, the Middle East, Latin America and South Asia. This timely volume is distinctive in approach and content, highlighting activist and practice-orientated academic perspectives from both the South and the North.
The authors give voice to the struggle to locate 'crimes of honour' firmly within the international framework of violence against women and human rights, rather than positioning these abuses as specific to particular cultures or communities. The first of its kind, this book serves as a resource in addressing 'honour crimes' and, more broadly, violence against women, and will be of interest to a multi-disciplinary academic audience as well as to lawyers, policy-makers and activists.
'This book must find its way to the shelves of every concerned lawyer, activist and citizen.'
Nandini Sundar, Delhi University
'An extremely timely and insightful book.'
Yakin Ert?rk, UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women
'This book is by far the best recent work on the issue and is indispensable reading.'
Philip Alston, director of the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice, New York University School of Law
'This is an excellent contribution to debates about crimes of honour, violence against women, and the politics of culture.'
Annelies Moors, ISIM chair at the University of Amsterdam
'Thoughtful and thought provoking, the volume is an indispensable tool for anyone seriously committed to eradicating violence against women in all communities.'
Pragna Patel, Southall Black Sisters, London
Lynn Welchman is senior lecturer in the law department at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.
Sara Hossain is a barrister practising at the Supreme Court of Bangladesh, and a member of Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK), a national human rights and legal aid organisation.
Table of Contents
Section Title | Page | Action | Price |
---|---|---|---|
Cover\t | Cover | ||
Contents | v | ||
Acknowledgements | viii | ||
Preface: Violence against women and ‘crimes of honour’\r | xi | ||
Notes | xiv | ||
Introduction: ‘Honour’, rights and wrongs | 1 | ||
‘Crimes of honour’ | 4 | ||
Crimes of honour, crimes of passion | 10 | ||
Crimes of honour and Muslim and minority communities | 13 | ||
Colonial laws | 16 | ||
Playing for the other side | 17 | ||
Strategising responses and creating alternatives | 19 | ||
Notes | 20 | ||
1. United Nations approaches to ‘crimes of honour’ | 22 | ||
United Nations work on violence against women | 22 | ||
Beyond the Platform | 27 | ||
Crimes of honour | 28 | ||
Conclusion | 36 | ||
2. ‘Crimes of honour’, value and meaning | 42 | ||
The ‘honour’ motif | 43 | ||
Actions of men and women | 48 | ||
Common frameworks | 53 | ||
Alliances | 58 | ||
Conclusion | 61 | ||
Notes | 62 | ||
3. The role of ‘community discourse’ in combating ‘crimes of honour’: preliminary assessment and prospects | 64 | ||
‘Crimes of honour’ and the state | 66 | ||
Sexuality, family and community | 67 | ||
‘Crimes of honour’ as human rights violations | 69 | ||
Towards a ‘community discourse’ approach | 72 | ||
Notes | 77 | ||
4. ‘Honour killings’ and the law in Pakistan | 78 | ||
The historical, social and legal context | 80 | ||
Post-1990: a new law but the problems deepen | 83 | ||
Recent trends: a more positive direction? | 96 | ||
The state’s failure to utilise discretion positively | 98 | ||
Responses | 101 | ||
Conclusion | 104 | ||
Postscript | 105 | ||
Notes | 106 | ||
5. Murders of women in Lebanon:‘crimes of honour’ between reality and the law | 111 | ||
‘Crimes of honour’ in Lebanon | 111 | ||
Socio-historical context | 112 | ||
The concept of ‘crime of honour’ in Lebanese law | 114 | ||
Legal analysis of the research sample | 119 | ||
Social analysis of the research sample | 128 | ||
Conclusion | 134 | ||
Notes | 135 | ||
6. ‘Crimes of honour’ as violence against women in Egypt | 137 | ||
Background to the study | 137 | ||
Crimes of honour in Egypt | 138 | ||
Crimes of honour and the law | 142 | ||
Crimes of honour and court rulings | 147 | ||
Crimes of honour in the press | 154 | ||
Strategies of response: together against crimes of violence and ‘honour crimes’ | 155 | ||
Notes | 157 | ||
7. Researching women’s victimisation in Palestine: a socio-legal analysis | 160 | ||
Conceptualising domestic violence | 161 | ||
Field studies | 169 | ||
Notes | 180 | ||
8. Culture, national minority and the state: working against the ‘crime of family honour’ within the Palestinian community in Israel | 181 | ||
Case analysis | 183 | ||
The Palestinian community: from taboo to opposition | 193 | ||
Conclusions | 197 | ||
Notes | 198 | ||
9. Changing the rules? Developments on ‘crimes of honour’ in Jordan | 199 | ||
Notes | 207 | ||
10. Honour-based violence among the Kurds: the case of Iraqi Kurdistan | 209 | ||
The law and honour | 211 | ||
The limits to reform | 217 | ||
Against the tide: the voices of Kurdish women | 223 | ||
Conclusions | 225 | ||
Notes | 227 | ||
11. ‘Crimes of honour’ in the Italian Penal Code: an analysis of history and reform | 230 | ||
The idea of ‘honour’ in Italian law and society | 231 | ||
‘Honour killing’, Article 587 of the Rocco Code | 234 | ||
Relevance of the cause of honour in other provisions of the Rocco Code | 238 | ||
Conclusions | 239 | ||
Notes | 240 | ||
12. The ‘legitimate defence of honour’, or murder with impunity? A critical study of legislation and case law in Latin America | 245 | ||
‘Crimes of honour’ in Latin America: overview | 246 | ||
The Brazilian legal context | 251 | ||
Methodology | 255 | ||
Conclusion | 260 | ||
Notes | 261 | ||
13. ‘There is no “honour” in domestic violence, only shame!’ Women’s struggles against ‘honour’ crimes in the UK | 263 | ||
‘Swallowed her whole’ | 265 | ||
It’s different for women | 266 | ||
From forced marriage to honour killings | 268 | ||
‘Mature multiculturalism’ | 270 | ||
Reinventing old ‘solutions’ | 272 | ||
Negotiating the space between race and gender | 274 | ||
From honour killings to domestic violence? | 275 | ||
Bridging the space | 277 | ||
Notes | 279 | ||
14. Of consent and contradiction: forced marriages in Bangladesh | 282 | ||
Legal provisions informing marriage practices in Bangladesh | 283 | ||
Theoretical analysis of forced marriage | 290 | ||
Analysis of legal remedies | 298 | ||
Conclusion: patriarchal complicities and possible remedies | 302 | ||
Notes | 304 | ||
15. From fathers to husbands: of love, death and marriage in North India | 308 | ||
Prologue: a late beginning | 308 | ||
The social and ideological context of violence of choice marriages: the notion of izzat in North India | 309 | ||
Narratives of violence | 312 | ||
The criminal justice system in action | 316 | ||
The law in action: making sense of the judicial ‘mind’ | 319 | ||
Making a difference: the importance of support | 324 | ||
By way of an interim conclusion | 326 | ||
Notes | 327 | ||
16. Tackling forced marriages in the Nordic countries: between women’s rights and immigration control | 332 | ||
Norway | 332 | ||
A note on mainstreaming | 341 | ||
Denmark | 342 | ||
Conclusion | 346 | ||
Notes | 349 | ||
References | 354 | ||
About the contributors | 370 | ||
Index | 375 |