Noor Almaleki
Noor Almaleki was 20 years old and living in Pheonix when she and her friend, 43-year-old Amal Khalaf, were struck by a car driven by Noor’s father. While Amal survived, Noor later died, and her father, Faleh al-Maleki, was later convicted of killing his daughter.
The case of Noor Almaleki has drawn attention, most recently last weekend on CBS’s “48 Hours: Mystery” program, as a suspected case of a so-called “Honor Killing”—one committed here in the United States.
And yet, while the case of Noor Almaleki has made national headlines because it happened in Arizona, so-called “honor killings” happen around the world at an alarming rate, often with little press and no justice for the victim.
Women around the world suffer so-called “honor violence” at the hands of relatives, usually male, in an effort to reclaim family “honor.” If a woman or girl is accused or suspected of engaging in behavior that could taint her family’s status, she may face brutal retaliation from her relatives that often results in violent death.
So-called “honor” crime is rooted in a global culture of discrimination against women, and the deeply rooted belief that women are objects and commodities, not human beings entitled to dignity and rights equal to those of men. Women’s bodies, particularly, are considered the repositories of family honor, and under the control and responsibility of her family (especially her male relatives). And large sections of society share traditional conceptions of family honor and approve of “honor” killings to preserve that honor.
That’s the narrative that is used to justify these brutal attacks on women and girls, but here are the facts:
- The UN estimates that around 5,000 women and girls are murdered each year in so-called “honor killings” by members of their families
- “Honor” killings are widely reported in regions throughout the Middle East and South Asia, but these crimes against women occur in countries as varied as Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, Ecuador, Egypt, India, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Morocco, Pakistan, Sweden, Syria, Turkey, Uganda, United Kingdom, and the United States.
- Like other forms of violence against women, “honor” violence against women may be considered a form of torture, whether enacted by the state or by an individual.
- While “honor” crime is committed predominantly against women and girls, “honor” crime is also on the rise against LGBT people, particularly gay men
- In many countries, the punishment for “honor” crimes are inadequate or non-existent—laws either do not recognize “honor” crime or have insufficient sentencing for such crime. And in countries where laws have been passed to curb “honor” crime (for example, in Jordan), such laws often go un-enforced.
- According to the Iranian and Kurdish Rights Organization, “Honor Killings are on the rise”, especially in Europe and the US.
Women in Lahore, Pakistan protest "honor" killings. (Arif Ali/AFP/Getty Images)
Make no mistake: there is no honor in violence against women, and no cultural, social, or religious belief is ever a valid reason to commit violence against women, or deprive anyone of their fundamental human rights.
The murder of women in the name of “honor” is a gender-specific form of discrimination and violence and should be regarded as part of a larger spectrum of violence against women, as well as a serious human rights violation. Violence against women in a global epidemic, and it effects women in every country, at every level of society.
The continued coverage of the case of Noor Almaleki reminds us that women across the world—including our own country—are at risk of such types of gender-specific violence. But so, too, should countless attacks on women’s rights that are part of a culture of discrimination against women.
Any attack on women’s human rights threatens to reduce women to objects or devalue them as less than fully human, and as such, aids and abets in a global culture in which such horrific violence, as happened to Noor and as happens to countless women, is not only possible, but is all too common.
Learn more about violence against women as a human rights issue and take action on behalf of women around the world.
^Agreed. Become educated about your cause before you advocate anything for it. Yes, raising awareness is great, but is this the root of the problem? Probably not. It’s like pulling over speeders in your city because you have a drastic increase in people not stopping for stop signs.
I depart from all comments above! Each has merits even if truculent.
I actually take exception to the simple-minded rah-rah-rah statements at the end of the article. We do not need you to wave your fingers at us and draw the conclusions for us in paternal intonations. Treat us with intelligence! “Make no mistake [proclamation, proclamation, pulpit-pulpit-pulpit]… yawn. We don’t need it. Just tell us the story and leave off the “to sum it all up” stuff.
I am on board with the issue, and also take the view that misogyny is present as an underlayment in most cultures on the planet now. Whether subtle or blatant, efforts to maintain control of the creative force embodied in Woman is alive and thrashing everywhere we go.
Happy to be a curmudgeon ~
Oh, we have honor killings in the good old USA, and some of them committed by nice, upper-middle class Christian white men. We don’t call them honor killings, but any time a woman is shot by her ex-husband, or a raped and left to die by a family member or neighbor, we’ve got an honor killing. And how many women (mostly, but also men) in this country are abandoned by police when they’re beaten by their partners? The sentiment behind the violence is still the same: “Your behavior offends me, so violence is justified.”
I believe the context is more specific and does not include what we traditionally consider crimes of passion in western countries, although cases where a husband treats a wife as property and inflicts physical harm and even kills are hardly unheard of. The difference is that our societies do not turn a blind eye to such cases as a rule of thumb.
Having said that, honor killings have been documented in nice Christian countries of Congo and Uganda, as well as parts of South America, while at the same time being virtually unheard of in Indonesia, the most populous Muslim country in the world, or Bosnia, the only European country with a Muslim majority. And even if we were to attribute all of the 5000 estimated killings to Muslim peoples, that makes it what, 3,2 women killed for every 1,000,000 Muslims?
But like I said in my previous post, such things are irrelevant to people who will read this article because they are looking to reinforce their own prejudice, rather than out of genuine interest in well-being of women world-wide.
Honor violence is digusting…..but I will not let a violent woman beat on me either. Sorry, ladies, but that’s where I draw the line.Thats why my ex is my ex.
Who said it was right?? Violence against others is plain wrong and well done for getting out…
wtf amanda? Can you please stop capitalizing random words. I am sure we are able to understand you without the capitalization.
Staying on the topic of Honor Killings – and let’s Be honest – where do the OVERWHELMING majority of “honor killings” (an ancient tradition still sometimes observed; a male member of the family kills a female relative for tarnishing the family image) come from? Imagine two unwed 17 year old females – both had boyfriends and both were having pre-marital sex. Both couples were a little irresponsible both girls ended up pregnant. If you had to be one of those girls would you rather take your chance with – A. Being the daughter of a Christian Pastor John Smith in rural town, Indiana, USA or B. Being the daughter of an Imam Mohamed al-Habib in some remote village outside of Khuzdar, Pakistan? Hint – 1 in 5 homicides in Pakistan are “Honor Killings” source – http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/health/jan…/pakistan_0406.html. If you wanted to make the biggest impact in combating obesity in the USA would you prioritize your efforts with Colorado or Louisiana? Hint – Colorado’s population is the least obese per capita in the USA– Louisiana is the worst. If you really want to address the issue of Honor Killings – throw your POLITICAL CORRECTNESS out the window – and fight this issue head on.
Thank you for staying on topic
Honor Killings are just a continuation of family violence–which affects one in four women in the US. Whatever your religion, socioeconomic status, race, or ethnic background you know somebody being affected by family violence. Women in the US are most likely to be murdered by a member of their family–regardless of their religion or background. Our organization is working within the US Muslim community to combat all family violence–which includes domestic violence, “honor” killings, forced marriages, FGM (part of child abuse) elder abuse, and child abuse. We are not alone in this regard–there are many community organizations working to fight this. Honor killings are also carried out as homophobic killings as well–often with gay and lesbians as targets. It’s a broad issue and falls under family violence.
In general, however, while the intentions are good, I find that articles like this simply spur more Islamophobia and do nothing to really help the organizations who are working on the local level to combat these things. And yes, as mentioned above, honor killings are not unique to Muslims–they are practiced by Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Druze, etc. throughout parts of South East Asia and the Middle East.
Except women in the west have the law on their side and are able to escape their families and marriages if they are emotionally able….I wonder how many honor killings in the east actually result in convictions?….Islam in fundamentally anti-women ,whatever muslims would have us believe.The koran is a specific guide to life and you dont have to look far into it to find evidence of this misogyny…
Thank you all for reading our blog and engaging in this discussion. I want to remind people that in the discussion forum, this is an opportunity for us to debate ideas and issues, not to make attacks at other people’s religions.
Violence against women is not particular to any one religion, and neither is so-called “honor” crime. Such extreme types of violence against women are, as we have noted, present in cultures and countries across the world. The root causes of violence against women are not rooted in one specific religion or culture; they are, unfortunately, pervasive throughout the world. Find out more at http://www.amnestyusa.org/women
Just like every act of terrorism — but lets face facts and simple math. Noor Almaleki is dead cause her dad was a radical islamist that believed his daughter dishonored the family. His religious beliefs drove him to murder. You are just spinning your wheels on this issue if you refuse to acknowledge and educate.
Its always a bit of a dilemma debating issues that touch on Religious and Socio-ethnic divides. The truth is that in many cultures, people who “dis-honour” their family by “shameful” conduct and usually ostracized. This happens to a higher number of women than men, ’cause naturally woman are the weaker sex and tend to get the short end of any negative law. There is a tendency for Honor Killings amongst and culture with strong values be it Christian, Muslim, Hindu, et al. Its just that statistics are based on crimes that are actually committed and not the presence of a propensity to.
All girls and women are precious and should not be targeted. Every women should feel safe and secure. Those who commit violent acts towards others cannot blame their victim, culture or religion. To live righteously we must live for justice. The justice that women will not be oppressed and dominated by men.
So is there a pandemic honor killing phenomena in US? I assume you have figures to state it.
The article states that “Women around the world suffer so-called “honor violence”; in Italy there have been a couple of cases in last 2 years, far from an epidemic phenomena, and pretty related to a specific culture (religion and ethnic group). I assume that USA figures will not differ so much.
So I wonder how does it becomes a gender issue, in your mind?
Basically since you do not dare to appoint to a specific ethnic or religious culture the issue, you do the most shameful thing, make it a gender issue i.e., fostering a culture of hatred against males.
If there is anything epidemic, than it is misandry.
Further, look at the figures of suicides and deprivation of fatherhood rights in USA, those are epidemic…
ps
also men and boys are as precious as women and girls.
Can you name one example of a Christian father killing his daughter for wearing jeans and dating a boy? Or a Jewish boy that kills his sister because he doesn’t approve of her becoming “westernized”? If you want to post about violence in general against women, domestic violence, etc… that would be wonderful and those are very worthy causes. BUT – If you want to get specifically serious about Honor Killing — get real and recognize where it comes from and what “teachings” cause it.
@fabrizio
In Canada there have been 17 known deaths of women due to honor killings since 2000, all of which ended in first degree murder convictions. Of the 17 Canadian victims, 12 were killed by Muslim family members and 5 by Sikhs.
Canada has a very low murder rate overall so yes, for sure this is a significant number of killings of young women statisticaly for Canada.
One huge misconception I see here in the comments is that this is only a male on female crime. In fact, in nearly all cases, both in North America, the Middle East and Asia, as often as not the mother of the victim is fully aware of the murder plans in advance, the mother approves of the idea of killing the daughter, the mother is often an active participant in the killing. In many many cases the mother of the victim has been shown to be the main instigator of the murder.
An typical example of maternal involvement in the killing of the children is the horrific Shafia Family murder of 4 female family members, 3 of them just young teenage girls, that ended in the conviction on first degree murder and sentance to life in prison just a few months ago in Ottawa, Canada of the **mother** of the murdered children. The Canadian court found the mother of the murdered children was a full active party to the crime in this case.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shafia_family_murders
I will just say one last thing, which is that trying to put all the blame for “honor” killings on the religion Islam as some of the commentors here seem to want to do is just as wrong headed as the feminists trying to misapropriate “honor’ killing to the feminist agenda by wrongly claiming it is “gender specific” against all the factual evidence.
First of all, non-Muslim families also do plenty of these killings of daughters too, as has been pointed out above. Just yesterday in Toronto Canada, a non-muslim, a Sikh women was arrested and charged with murdering her pregnant sister-in-law. This is a regional cultural tribal practice, which spans all the religions of the area.
Secondly, in mant documented cases these crazy killers, even if they are in name Muslim have rarely set foot in a mosque let alone could be considered deeply religious, radical or fanatical. For example in case of the Shafia quadriple mass murder trial that ended in Canada last month with the father, mother and brother’s first degree murder convictions, evidence showed the killer father and killer son had very rarely if ever attended Muslim prayer services in many years, and the killer mother did not even wear a muslim headcovering or veil of any kind. Yet they put 3 of their own young daughters into the grave.
And thirdly mainstream Muslim preachers across North America, representing the +95% non-radical non-extremist North American Muslim community have made repeated calls from the pulpit in recent years and months condeming in the strongest terms “honor” killings and have issued repeated religious edicts, fatwas, forbidding violence of any kind towards daughters. The vast vast majority of North American Muslims would never dream of killing thier own children for any reason any more than a Christian or Jewish family would, are nothing but horrified and embarassed by the acts of a tiny minority of crazy child killers from within thier ethnic groups and would like to see this practice completely stamped out as much as anyone eles.
Helpful info- i agree with just about everything you posted. However it was your own post and cited source that stated 91percent worldwide were Muslim. Also – AIs credibility and effectiveness combating this problem would improve if they took the same route you claim main stream Muslim preachers take. Good for them for recognizing this is a problem among RADICAL Islam (among a handful of others to a much lesser degree. I salute the main stream Muslim preachers you reference.
Well, Brian – the glass house i referred to in this case, was any society or culture who believes that they have a mandate or “right” to kill, under any circumstance. And I was especially thinking about capital punishment.
Then you can find situations where killing is ‘understandable’, like in wars, in self defense and so on, but that does not mean that it gives us the RIGHT to do it, only that circumstances made us do it. And society may therefore accept it under such circumstances, like if you defended your children.
Now some cultures accept honor as a justifiable reason for killing, but the civilized world does not and it is not supported by human rights.
Neither is capital punishment.
Now it may seem as I don’t like USA, but that is wrong. I think USA is really great, but it does not mean that I like everything American.
In Sweden we have our own glass houses, heaps of them. Our late Prime Minister Palme always told other countries how to behave, but forgot our own violations and bad habits.
But we don’t have this glass house, except for through imported cultures. I like multi-cultured environments, but we have to get rid of some types of behavior (whether they are cultural or not).
I sincerely don’t know the best way, except zero tolerance and pointing a finger at bad behavior.
No Neanderthals will be allowed into Canada in the future. All Neanderthals in country, born here or not, must move to uninhabited Artic islands.My apologiewto the good Neanderthals offended by this post
To Moron:
Neanderthals don’t exist anymore.
Apparently Morons do.
Clearly, honor killings are a problem everywhere. I know for certain it is not only people of Islam who perform such acts. American fathers, brothers, and uncles have been known to act violently towards female members under the name of religious and familial honor. I believe what Americans who seem to want to point fingers at certain people should instead work to stop this from happening. Anyone is capable of committing heinous acts. If honor killings were more exposed, especially in the US, perhaps some could be stopped. Every nation should work to stop such things from happening to the women of our world.
Mbenzi: Once again, its Moran, not Moron…sound it out while you practice tying shoes and posting your boring, half-baked drivel.
If Neanderthals don’t exist, how do you explain your existence?…or are you the missing link, i.e. Mbenzi Man?
I am formerly a man, now a she-male. My problem is not honour killing but honour fucking, as in, “It would be my honour iffen you fucked me”, which every second woman says to me in the change room when they see how well-hung I am. Help!
Jesus that was a supreme effort, you managed an article on abuse of women's rights in predominantly 'Islamic countries' and predominantly by 'Muslim men' in the most gutless and unconvicted manner, I have absolutely no respect for you. Why did you bother? Why bring attention to this travesty and kowtow to the perpetrators by not naming them, you are sending a message that is extremely dangerous, as Muslim men they can do whatever they like because even AI won't name them. You do not represent humanity or human rights. I once considered you one of the greatest organizations in the history of mankind.
ALL I SEE NOW IS SPINELESS COWARDS!
Yeah,except men go to prison for this while in middle eastern countries it is swept under the carpet and tolerated…
Violence against women must end. America needs to set an example for other countries to follow by and reveal that there is no honor in honor killings.
I don't doubt that there are honor killings in the U.S. based on the atamount of crime. Religion and culture do not cause honor killings but they can have a positive affect to curtail hate crime and honor killings. Most American crime is economic or induced by alcohol or drug abuse. Research backs this up. That being said,_there is a rise in hate crime which goes unreported in part because the police will not be of aid in securing cease and desist or restraining orders before it becomes a more violent crime. And then when these individuals regress and either rape or commit a gang race attack there aren't any suspects. Domestic violence likewise that includes theft COMPUTER FAILURE extortion psychological abuse reckless endangerment doesn't qualify for services or victims assistance without prosecution which maybe unrealistic given powerful male cliques ___Domestic violence shelters are inadequate and