International Campaign Against Honour Killings

Over 5000 women and girls are killed every year by family members in so-called 'honour killings', according to the UN. These crimes occur where cultures believe that a woman's unsanctioned sexual behaviour brings such shame on the family that any female accused or suspected must be murdered. Reasons for these murders can be as trivial as talking to a man, or as innocent as suffering rape.

International Campaign Against Honour Killing (ICAHK) is an international network which aims to be part of a strong group of all women's rights organisations and individuals, all human rights activists and everyone who is fighting for equal rights and freedom.

ICAHK is an independent and non-government network that aims to raise an international awareness about the issue of violence against women, in particular honour killing; also to build a strong network within women’s rights movements, organisations and individuals around the world to put an end to "honour" crimes.

ICAHK attempts to establish dialogue and co-operation on the issue of honour crime with human rights organisations, international NGOs, the United Nations, Amnesty International, organisations representing workers, women’s groups and also European Governments to ensure that women’s equal rights are secured.

We wish to make it clear that we believe in the secular societies, regardless of gender, religion, ethnicity, and political opinion; the right to live, the right of each and every individual to practice and enjoy their freedoms in all spheres they choose. ICAHK was established on the 25th November 2003 by Diana Nammi with the slogan: Save Lives. During the last three years, ICAHK has grown dramatically and many men and women around the world have shown their support for this campaign and its activities, so we decided to increase our capacity and activities by having its first discussion board, and by developing the website.

ICAHK wants to build an international network of activists against Honour Related Violence. If you wish to join us, please send us a message through the feedback form.

You can help us by:

* monitoring the press for related stories in your region and language
* translating material
* adding new languages to the site
* sending in your experiences and thoughts, which we will read, and may publish.

If you are part of an existing group fighting against honour crime, please keep us up-to-date with your activities and photographs so we can find inspiration in each other's efforts.

Of course the ICAHK is not only about Middle-East. The web page is in many langage (Arabic, french, english, german, turkish, farsi, russian...).

http://stophonourkillings.com/index.php

Hi! I'm manager of the ICAHK site Pascal has linked above, and I'd like to thank him very much for doing so. If anyone has any questions or ideas, please email me and let me know. We're a fairly young website and need to develop our coverage.

Hello Joanne and welcome !!

International Campaign Against Honour Killings Monthly Roundup: September 2006

There was much coverage this month of reports from Afghanistan, as the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission reported a huge rise in 'honour' killings : http://www.stophonourkillings.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=591
According to AIHRC, some 185 women and girls have been killed by family members so far this year, a significant increase on the previous year. But rights activists say that the real number is much higher as many such cases go unreported, particularly in rural areas. There is more information in from Radio Free Europe :
http://www.stophonourkillings.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=631
Other bad news from Afghanistan is the assassination of politician Safia Ama Jan, an eloquent critic of the repression of women under the Taliban, who worked for the education of Afghan women and girls. The Taliban have taken responsibility for this murder :
http://www.stophonourkillings.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=648

In Pakistan, the attempt to reform the Hudood Ordinance foundered in the face of Islamist opposition :
http://www.stophonourkillings.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=617
The Observer (UK) has a good article about the consequences of the Hudood Ordinance: Fareeda's fate: rape, prison and 25 lashes.
http://www.stophonourkillings.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=608
Another story of retributive rape surfaces from Pakistan this month: where a young Pakistani woman and her mother were abducted and raped for 12 days, because of her uncle's elopement with a woman of a different family.
http://www.stophonourkillings.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=638
The woman was selected for this brutal treatment because she was a university graduate and school-teacher, the pride of her family. She is no longer in employment as her employers don't wish to be associated with a rape victim.

Two disturbing reports this month highlighted the persistence of 'swara' in Pakistan.
http://www.stophonourkillings.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=565
This practice involves the settling of tribal disputes by the exchange of girls in marriage. Girls exchanged in such a fashion often live lives of complete misery, being beaten and abused for the crime of their relatives: and an increasing number are murdered soon after their weddings, according to this report from IPS:
http://www.stophonourkillings.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=656%5D#
Zarmina Bibi, 19, married in February 2006, was allegedly shot dead by her brother-in-law two months after her marriage. Her mother-in-law claimed the girl was cleaning her husband's rifle and it went off. Zarmina's mother believes her daughter was murdered by the in-laws, Rafaqat Bibi, a social activist working in Mardan -- and no relation to Zarmina -- told IPS.

In Kurdistan this month the UN released figures indicating that in the governates of Erbil and Sulaymaniya, there have been at least 275 'honour' killings in the first six months of 2006.
http://www.stophonourkillings.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=622
Over the same period in Sulaymaniya alone, 830 women have attempted suicide by self-immolation.
http://www.stophonourkillings.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=666
This bare paragraph from Turkish paper Radikal concerning the Kurdish city of Diyabakir in Turkey gives some indication of the horror of some women's lives:
http://www.stophonourkillings.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=632
The story of R.G., left pregnant and married to her rapist at the age of 12 in a religious ceremony, was also reported in the press. R.G.'s husband was jailed for another rape. The boy's family, blaming the loss of their son on the girl's "running around," punished her by cutting off her nose.

In Germany, the trial of Ali Karabey for the murder of his sister Gönül (pictured below) has taken place: for background see this article, the first part in a six part series on 'honour' killing.
http://www.stophonourkillings.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=655
He has received a life sentence.
http://www.stophonourkillings.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=665
Also in Germany, women's rights activist Seyran Ates has given up campaigning after being attacked for a second time.
http://www.stophonourkillings.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=551
She was previously shot in 1994 by Turkish right-wing youth organisation the "Grey Wolves".

In Palestine, four women were reported murdered in Nuseirat Refugee Camp and Rafah this month :
http://www.stophonourkillings.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=571
http://www.stophonourkillings.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=570
http://www.stophonourkillings.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=569
and the Hamas death squad that shot dead Yousra al-Azzam while she was enjoying a picnic with her fiancé have been freed.
http://www.stophonourkillings.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=595
The assassination has been deemed 'accidental' by a religious court and the killers ordered to pay blood money (at half the value of a man).

In Britain, surveys by the BBC revealed that 10% of British Asians support the principle of 'honour' killing;
http://www.stophonourkillings.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=493
in the same month, six-year old Alisha Begum (below) became the youngest recorded victim in Britain.
http://www.stophonourkillings.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=623

Other good articles this week: Chavez's Embrace of Iran Leader Insults Women,
http://www.stophonourkillings.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=654
High price for defying caste, family, the story of an Indian woman who lost her husband and many of his family in an 'honour' killing, and for once a happy ending in this 'Romeo and Juliet' story of a British Muslim and an Indian Hindu.
http://www.stophonourkillings.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=613

Campaigns

Stop Stoning! Seven women are currently under sentence by stoning in Iran, so please use these same addresses to protest this inhumane and brutal practice again. We can't give up until the sentence is removed from the statute books.
http://www.stophonourkillings.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=323
Their details are here.
http://www.stophonourkillings.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=658

Also in Iran, please read Save Kobra! A father's plea. Kobra Rahmanpourwas forced into marriage with a man 43 years older than him, whom she killed in self-defence. She is awaiting execution by hanging.
http://www.stophonourkillings.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=598
"Please lend your support to my family, to my handicapped child who constantly asks for her sister, Kobra, and to the rest of Kobra’s relatives and loved ones who are horrified by the prospect of the execution our kind and beautiful child, our beloved Kobra. We ask that you sign the petition to save Kobra’s life, even though we realize that we do not have much time left. Yet, during these last hours, we plead with you to lend us a helping hand: By signing this petition, please voice YOUR objection to Kobra’s unjust punishment and support our efforts to save her life."
Abolfazl Rahmanpour

Tribal justice is NO justice.
http://www.stophonourkillings.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=503
In 1999 in Sulaymaniya, Iraqi-Kurdistan, Saleh Ahmed Sharif (known as Saleh Mzlai) raped and murdered a young woman called Mohabad Abdulla. He is also believed to have killed her sister Joana for testifying in court against him. Under a so-called tribal deal brokered by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, the political party that controls the region (of which he was a member), Saleh Ahmed Sharif has been freed after agreeing to pay off the relatives of Mohabad and Joana and now walks free. Please sign the Organisation for Women's Freedom's petition to the Kurdish authorities to protest.
http://www.petitiononline.com/OWFI2006/petition.html

Justice for Banaz. We are getting close to 500 signatures, so please help us reach this target.
http://www.stophonourkillings.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=250

To remember: Ghulam Fatima, and her daughters Ishrat, 5, and Muqadas, 3,
http://www.stophonourkillings.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=485
Razia and Eli Baksh,
http://www.stophonourkillings.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=478
Irshad Ahmad,
http://www.stophonourkillings.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=487
Jam Zadi,
http://www.stophonourkillings.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=528
Safia Ama Jan,
http://www.stophonourkillings.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=648
Fida Hussain and Nargas,
http://www.stophonourkillings.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=541
Asif, and a teenaged girl,
http://www.stophonourkillings.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=557
Aliya Bibi and a man,
http://www.stophonourkillings.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=564
Maha Akram El-Hamayda,
http://www.stophonourkillings.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=569
Fatheya Kamel Kullab and Amani Kamel Kullab,
http://www.stophonourkillings.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=570
Faiza ‘Eid Abu Sawawin,
http://www.stophonourkillings.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=571
Jyoti,
http://www.stophonourkillings.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=607
Kuria Devi
http://www.stophonourkillings.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=637
and six-year old Alisha Begum.
http://www.stophonourkillings.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=623

Remember also, that dozens upon dozens of other lives have been lost in the name of honour this month.

The ICAHK website has launched a new feature: an International Directory for support organisations which help the victims of "honour" crime. ICAHK's experiences suggest that there is a necessity for a database like this, in an age of global travel and communication. If you know an organisation which is able to support victims of "honour" crime, please direct them to this page:
http://www.stophonourkillings.com/index.php?name=Business_Directory&op=suggestion&cid=0
We ask individuals not to add the details on behalf of organisations, as there may be security risks in doing so, but to ask the organisation to supply the details themselves.