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Summary honour killing
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JOURNAL OF SOCIAL WELFARE AND FAMILY LAW, 2017VOL. 39, NO. 1, 3–21
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09649069.2016.1272755
GENERAL SECTION
Not domestic violence or cultural tradition: is honour-based
violence distinct from domestic violence?
Mohammad Mazher Idriss
Manchester Law School, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, UK
ABSTRACT KEYWORDS
This paper addresses an important conceptual question surrounding Honour-based violence;
the categorisation of honour-based violence (hereafter ‘HBV’) – Is domestic violence; violence
HBV a subspecies of domestic violence (hereafter ‘DV’)? According against women
to academic commentators such as Reddy, Aujla and Gill, HBV falls
within the broad spectrum of DV. Utilising data extracted from
interviews conducted with 30 key agents, this paper will seek to
provide incontrovertible evidence that HBV is different to DV because
the characteristics it presents offer some differences. Furthermore,
the overall strategies used to investigate HBV by UK law enforcement
agencies differ to that of DV. Being this specific about HBV does
not necessarily mean that one succumbs to cultural-essentialist
assumptions about the prevalence of such violence in particular
communities either. Rather, an understanding that HBV can be
different will help identify the serious dangers it presents and the
strategies needed to support victims.
Introduction
Honour-based violence (HBV) is the infliction of violence predominantly upon women who
are deemed to have brought shame and dishonour upon their family for reasons usually
involving their sexual behaviour. As a phenomenon, there has been increased recognition
of HBV and honour killings in the UK in the last decade following high-profile criminal
prosecutions convicting honour killers. Tulay Goren; Heshu Yones; Banaz Mahmod; and
Shafilea Ahmed were all young female (and Muslim) victims of honour killings who were
killed (primarily) by male figures for supposedly acting in too ‘western’ a manner and
for engaging in relationships outside marriage. Banaz was killed in 2006 on the instruc-
tions of her father and uncle for dating a boy they did not approve of – Banaz kissing her
boyfriend outside a London tube station and it being witnessed was the last straw and
prompted the order of her killing. Five people, including her father and uncle, were con-
victed for taking part in her murder. As part of a debate, there is discussion about HBV
and its relationship to other forms of violence including whether it should fall within part
of the paradigm of domestic violence (DV) and violence against women in general (here-
after ‘VAW’). This raises some important conceptual questions: Is HBV a form of DV or
CONTACT Mohammad Mazher Idriss M.Idriss@mmu.ac.uk
© 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
,4 M. M. IDRISS
should it be considered as something distinct? A generally accepted definition of DV is the
cross-government definition:
any incident or pattern of incidents of controlling, coercive, threatening behaviour, violence
or abuse between those aged 16 or over who are, or have been, intimate partners or family
members regardless of gender or sexuality. The abuse can encompass, but is not limited to,
psychological; physical; sexual; financial; and emotional.
Reddy and Aujla and Gill argue that HBV ‘should be approached primarily as a subspe-
cies of gender-based violence’ (Reddy, 2014, pp. 28, 40–41) because of the need to avoid
the ‘inappropriate focus on the alleged cultural aspects of such violence, which treats the
phenomenon as a species separate from wider domestic violence’ (Aujla & Gill, 2014, pp.
155–159; Reddy, 2014, p. 28). By singling out HBV, it draws attention to race, culture and
religion and puts the ‘political spotlight’ on the immigrant population in the UK (Eshareturi,
Lyle, & Morgan, 2014, p. 376). The argument is that if we view HBV as a subspecies of DV,
we avoid stereotyping HBV and amalgamate it within DV and the wider experiences of VAW.
While one can understand the need to avoid supporting any cultural stereotypes about
HBV, it is not clear why one should draw the conclusion that HBV has to be defined as
a subspecies of DV. I agree there is a need to avoid stereotypes that single out HBV as a
‘cultural tradition’; HBV does disproportionately target women more so than men; and
there are similarities between HBV and DV that allow such acts to fall ‘absolutely within
a broader continuum of forms of violence against women’ (Sen, 2005, p. 43). However,
there are several key features that make HBV different. Contrary to the position of some
authors, I argue, based on interviews with 30 key agents, that HBV is different from DV.
This is based on three main strands of argument: (a) the involvement of the community in
deciding on ‘punishment’; (b) the involvement of third parties in meting out violence; and
(c) the longevity of the desire to mete out punishment. If these views are correct and HBV
is viewed separately, does this mean one has succumbed to cultural-essentialist explanations
about HBV? Is it possible to view HBV separately from DV, while simultaneously rejecting
the argument that particular communities perpetrate HBV? The answer, it is submitted, is
yes. As Terman notes, ‘to be specific is not to be racist’ (Terman, 2010, p. 26).
Literature review – similarities between HBV and DV
It is true that acts of HBV share similar features with other forms of VAW. HBV is a patri-
archal form of violence and relates to male domination over women (Reddy, 2014, p. 31;
Sen, 2005, p. 50). It acts as a method to police the behaviour of women and their sexual
autonomy, thereby allowing men to exercise control (Ortner, 1978, p. 23). A central com-
ponent is the ability to protect male honour by forcing women to comply with acceptable
norms of behaviour as set and controlled by men (Sen, 2005, p. 50). HBV also dispropor-
tionately targets women more than men and so should be subsumed under DV because
it is an example of female oppression and gender inequality (Aujla & Gill, 2014, pp. 154,
155; Reddy, 2014, pp. 31, 32). If men are targeted, it is usually because they are seen to have
dishonoured a female. In the honour killing cases of R v Chomir Ali [2011] EWCA Crim
1011 and R v Ibrahim and Iqbal [2011] EWCA Crim 3244, both cases involved male victims,
although the latter was a case of mistaken identity. Thus, there appears to be a growing
acceptance that men are potentially the targets of HBV just as in DV cases. Dyer cites 22
women and 7 men were victims of honour killings/attempted honour killings in the UK
, JOURNAL OF SOCIAL WELFARE AND FAMILY LAW 5
in the last 5 years (Dyer, 2015, p. 16). Whoever HBV is committed against, at the centre
is male domination over those who are weaker, bearing some similarity with DV (Reddy,
2014, p. 32; Rexvid & Schlytter, 2012).
Although acts of HBV are generally understood to be a form of patriarchal violence, like
DV, this does not preclude women inflicting violence upon other women/men, or women
adopting a role in policing other women’s behaviour (Pope, 2004, p. 108; Sen, 2005, p. 50).
HBV may equally involve female-on-female violence or even female-on-male violence. In
a number of academic works, mothers have been implicated in the infliction of HBV upon
daughters (Akinpar, 2003, pp. 425–426; Elden, 2010, pp. 128–130; Husseini, 2010, p. 157;
Wilson, 2006, pp. 32–33).
One explanation for female-on-female violence is that patriarchal communities
will often look to mothers and make them responsible for teaching daughters what is
acceptable behaviour within their social settings (Wilson, 2006, p. 30). Older women in
particular will strive hard to work in the interests of families and even their own sur-
vival, showing their disapproval towards daughters who dishonour the family. This may
also be termed as ‘bargaining with patriarchy’, where women use strategies and coping
mechanisms to protect themselves from violence by men (Kandiyoti, 1988). Women also
cooperate in their own subordination, where mothers reproduce patterns of behaviour,
programming into their daughters that they should fear and consider sex shameful as
part of the loyalty to the patriarchal system (Ortner, 1978, p. 32). The first person usually
subjected to criticism will be mothers, who have a vested interest in the maintenance of
honour, either for the family’s interests or because of their own survival as they too do
not want to be subjected to violence (Wilson, 2006, p. 31). These reasons may explain
why women inflict HBV – they are coerced into loyally following patriarchal norms to
secure their own survival (see e.g. Stanko, 1990).
Both HBV and DV involve the physical abuse of victims; however one wishes to explain
it – abuse is abuse and both involve physical, emotional and psychological violence perpe-
trated against victims that, in extreme cases, can lead to death. Another similarity between
the two is that there is currently no single offence of HBV or DV in English criminal law,
with the criminal justice system instead pursuing a range of criminal offences to convict
offenders, including murder, ABH, GBH and false imprisonment, which are deemed appro-
priate and sufficient to tackle both forms of violence, although forced marriage was recently
criminalised in June 2014 (see Idriss, 2015a, 2015b). Nor can it be claimed that DV is less
barbaric than HBV – both can involve extreme violence (see e.g. R v Su Hua Liu [2007] 2 Cr
App R (S) 12; R v Bevan [2010] EWCA Crim 255; and R v Zelder [2009] EWCA Crim 2958).
Allowing HBV to be subsumed under the DV framework also ensures victims can still
receive appropriate support from DV agencies – it allows existing resources to be pooled
and integrated; avoids the duplication of work; avoids diverting staff unnecessarily; aids in
signposting to other specialist service providers; and minimises the cost on the criminal
justice system as the DV framework is already established and in operation (Aujla & Gill,
2014, p. 160; Eshareturi et al., 2014, pp. 374–376).
HBV and DV: the blurred distinction
While the above arguments recognise the similarities between HBV and DV, the distinction
between the two can also sometimes be blurred (Siddiqui, 2005, p. 266; Thapar-Björkert,
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