Nature of Honor Killings and approach of the Human Rights System towards them

An honor killing is the homicide of a female member of a family by other male members of the same family, due to the belief of the perpetrators that the victim has brought dishonor upon the family. The perceived dishonor is normally the result of one of the following behaviors: refusing to enter into an arranged marriage, being the victim of a sexual assault, seeking a divorce, etc. Honor killings are labeled as a kind of violence against women. The first step to eliminate honor killings is to identify their nature as to three factors of gender, culture and religion. The study of England’s judicial precedents indicate that to consider so-called honor killings as a gender based violence would amount to a better protection of women. The augmentation in the rate of honor killings has invoked the international human rights system to respond. The 2002 UN resolution on the fight against honor killings could be mentioned as an example. Iran has also encountered the same issue for years. This justifies a brief study of Iran’s criminal justice system towards honor killings.