Honor killing: Encyclopedia II - Honor killing - Honor killing in national legal codes

Honor killing - Honor killing in national legal codes

According to the report of the Special Rapporteur submitted to the 58th session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (2002) concerning cultural practices in the family that reflect violence against women (E/CN.4/2002/83):

Some of these, including those of Turkey, have since been abrogated.

Countries where the law can be interpreted to allow men to kill female relatives in a premeditated effort as well as in flagrante delicto (in the act of committing adultery) include:

• Jordan: part of article 340 of the Penal Code states that "he who discovers his wife or one of his female relatives committing adultery and kills, wounds, or injures one of them, is exempted from any penalty" [9]. This has twice been put forward for cancellation by the government, but was retained by the Lower House of the Parliament[10].

Countries that allow men to kill female relatives in flagrante delicto (but not in premeditation) include:

• Syria: Article 548 states that "He who catches his wife or one of his ascendants [sic], descendants or sister committing adultery (flagrante delicto) or illegitimate sexual acts with another and he killed or injured one or both of them benefits from an exemption of penalty."

Countries that allow husbands to kill only their wives in flagrante delicto (based upon the Napoleonic Code) include:

• Morocco: Article 418 of the Penal Code states "Murder, injury and beating are excusable if they are committed by a husband on his wife as well as the accomplice at the moment in which he surprises them in the act of adultery."
• Haiti: Article 269 of the Penal Code states that "in the case of adultery as provided for in Article 284, the murder by a husband of his wife and/or her partner, immediately upon discovering them in flagrante delicto in the conjugal abode, is to be pardoned."

In Turkey, murder laws formerly contained a specific provision for reduction in sentence from an maximum of 24 years imprisonment to 8 years if the perpretrator was "provoked". The sentence was raised to 24 years in 2003. After EU pressure, Turkey prohibited family members from being able to claim "provocation" and thereby receive lighter sentences. [11][12]

In two Latin American countries, similar laws were struck down over the past two decades: according to human rights lawyer Julie Mertus "in Brazil, until 1991 wife killings were considered to be noncriminal 'honor killings'; in just one year, nearly eight hundred husbands killed their wives. Similarly, in Colombia, until 1980, a husband legally could kill his wife for committing adultery." [13]

Countries where honor killing is not legal but is frequently ignored in practice include:

• Pakistan: Honor killing are supposed to be prosecuted under ordinary murder, but in practice police and prosecutors often ignore it [14]. Often a man must simply claim the killing was for his honor and he'll go free. On October 26, 2004, Pakistan's lower house of Parliament passed a bill that would make honor killings punishable by a prison term of seven years and the death penalty in the most extreme cases. The bill must be approved by the upper house before becoming law. The bill was introduced by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf due to the hundreds of honor killings that occur each year in Pakistan, government officials reported. Nilofer Baktiar, advisor to Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, stated that in 2003, as many as 1,261 women were murdered in honor killings. [15]

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Honor killing in national legal codes", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki