Yemen - Honor Crimes Against Women

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Attached is the United Nations Crimes of Honor Resolution, which is
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the Reference Documents subsite.

http://www.yobserver.com/article-11025.php

      By Hakim Almasmari
      Oct 3, 2006, 23:04

Honor Crime in Yemen:
Unjust Against Women

While Yemen struggles to prove it is fertile ground for freedom and
democracy, its efforts are often thwarted by ingrained traditions at odds
with those concepts. One of the more horrific cultural practices—and one
proving difficult to eradicate—is the murder of women by their family
members who suspect them of adultery.

Such murders are called “honor killings,” as women are killed to preserve
the honor of her family. Such murders have been committed in Yemen and other
parts of the Middle East for hundreds of years. And they still occur today.
More than 400 women were killed for reasons of “honor” in 1997, found a
survey by the women’s studies department of Sana’a University. This is the
only year for which estimates of the number of honor killings exist.

Only one other study of honor killings has been done, and it put forth no
estimates on how many women are murdered each year. There is no official
tally of the number of women who have died as a result of honor killings in
Yemen, as most are committed without the knowledge of the government. Police
officials in Sana’a say that such actions are rarely reported. United
Nations Children’s Fund defines honor crimes as an ancient practice in which
men kill female relatives in the name of family honor, for having any kind
of sexual activity outside marriage, even when they have been victims of
rape.

Locals believe that it would be almost impossible for such cases to be
reported to the law. First, usually the female victim is killed by her own
family members—the people closest to her. And the killers are not likely to
report themselves. Also, outsiders do not interfere with other people’s
family issues, which they see as being solved from within. Khalid al-Anesi,
a prominent lawyer for human rights cases and executive director for HOOD
organization, the largest human rights organization in Yemen, claims that if
cases were reported to the police, they would not do anything to help,
because they have the same mentality, and believe that the family is doing
the right thing to preserve its pride.

“In most cases locals would never report honor killings to police, because
they believe that police forces feel the same way, and would resort to the
same solution if it happened to their families,” said al-Anesi. “Usually
when something happens to a victim, the family is the one who tries to bring
the suspect to trial. In this situation, the family are the suspects and no
one will ever bring the case up,” added al-Anesi. In 2005, The Arab Sisters
Forum for Human Rights (ASF) conducted a study on honor crimes. They found
that most honor crimes against women were committed merely because of
suspicion of the women’s sexual behavior. Any woman who draws suspicion,
even if she is virtuous, could be at risk.

The study also disclosed that honor crimes are committed at all levels of
society, said Nabil al-Mohamedi, a lawyer who participated in a public
discussion on honor killings. He said that Yemeni law states that a man must
be surprised and observed by four witnesses in the act of committing
adultery with a woman, before accusations against the woman can be
considered valid. Without four witnesses, a woman cannot be put to death.
If relatives simply have suspicions about it happening, a woman should not
be punished.

“The relative must be in the act of committing adultery and not be, for
example, only in a shameful position or naked,” al-Mohamedi, said.
According to the study, some girls are victims of honor crimes not because
they practice deeds in conflict with laws or with Sharia, but because they
refuse to yield to their families’ marriage decision. From the legal point
of view, Article 232 of the Penal Code of Yemen states that “if a man kills
his wife or her alleged lover in the act of committing adultery, or
attacking them, causing disability, he may be fined or sentenced to
imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year.”

Unfairly, women are the only ones singled out for punishment for sexual
crimes, while the men, even rapists, may be treated with impunity. Most of
honor crime victims are women and most of honor crime perpetrators are men.
“Everything shameful in Yemen has to deal with women. Men act as if they are
forgiven by god, and have prior permission to follow their desires, even
though some might be unlawful,” said Abeer Nasser, a university student who
feels her own parents pay too much attention to her behavior, while her
brothers are left free from their supervision.

It is estimated by the United Nations Population Fund that as many as 5,000
women and girls are murdered by family members each year in so-called “honor
killings” around the world. Yet if not for the crimes committed by men, many
of these women would yet be alive.
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