Honor killing

An honor killing (American English), honour killing (Commonwealth English), or shame killing^[1] is a traditional form of murder in which a person is killed by or at the behest of members of their family or their partner, due to culturally sanctioned beliefs that such homicides are necessary as retribution for the perceived dishonoring of the family by the victim.^[2][3][4] Honor killings are often connected to religion, caste, other forms of hierarchical social stratification, or sexuality. Most often, it involves the murder of a woman or girl by male family members, due to the perpetrators' belief that the victim has lost her innocence by bringing dishonor or shame upon the family name, reputation or prestige.^[5][6][7][8] Honor killings are believed to have originated from tribal customs.^[9]

Although condemned by international conventions and human rights organizations, various communities often justify and encourage honor killings. In cases where the victim is an outsider, not murdering this individual would, in some regions, cause family members to be accused of cowardice, a moral defect, and subsequently be morally stigmatized in their community. In cases when the victim is a family member, the murder evolves from the perpetrators' perception that the victim has brought shame or dishonor upon the entire family, which could lead to social ostracization, by doing stigmatized or taboo activities that would violate the moral norms of a community. Typical reasons include being in a relationship or having associations with social groups outside the family that may lead to the social exclusion of a family (stigma-by-association). Examples are having premarital, extramarital or postmarital sex (in case of divorce or widowship), refusing to enter into an arranged or forced marriage, seeking a divorce or marital separation, engaging in interfaith, interracial relations or even friendships, having relations with someone from a different caste, disability, being the victim of a sexual crime, dressing in clothing, jewelry, and accessories that are associated with sexual deviance, engaging in a relationship in spite of moral marriage impediments or bans, and homosexuality.^{[10][11][12][13][14][15][8][16][17]}

Though both men and women commit and are victims of honor killings, in many communities conformity to moral standards implies different behavior for men and women, including stricter standards for chastity for women. In many families, the honor motive is used by men as a pretext to restrict the rights of women. Honor killings are performed in communities with the intent to punish violations of social, sexual, religious or family norms or hierarchies. In many cases, the honor killings are committed by family members against a female relative considered to have disgraced her family.^[18]

Honor killings are primarily associated with South Asia, the Middle East and the Maghreb, but they are also rooted in other societies, such as the Philippines, Northern Caucasus, Latin America, East Africa, and historically in Ireland and Mediterranean Europe. They sometimes also happen in Roma Gypsys, Travellers, and Muslim groups in Eastern Europe.^{[19][20][18][21][22][23][24][25][26]}.They are also prevalent in some of their respective diasporas in countries which do not otherwise have societal norms that encourage honor killings.^{[27][28][18][21]} Honor killings are often associated with rural, clan and tribal areas, but they occur in urban areas as well.^[29][30]