Honour killing

[Jessie Fong]

A woman was killed because she refused to enter into a marriage.
Another because she committed adultery.
Yet another woman was killed for being in a relationship that displeased her parents.

This is what they term "honour" killing --- taking the life of a person accused of "bringing shame" upon their family.

Honour killing is the murder of a person accused of "bringing shame" upon their family.

In some parts of the world where women have been raped, some of them have also been murdered for the "dishonour" and "disgrace" it brought to their family.

Honour killing is believed to have originated from tribal customs where an allegation against a woman can be enough to defile a family's reputation - 'a life without honour is not worth living.'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/honourcrimes/crimesofhonour_1.shtml
One of the most well-known cases is that of Banaz Mahmod, from Surrey, whose murder in 2006 was organised by her father and uncle.

She had left an unhappy arranged marriage after which she started a relationship with another man. The 20-year-old was strangled and hidden in a suitcase which was then buried underneath a Birmingham property.

.... "Honour is supposed to be a positive word. Clearly, calling a killing an 'honour crime' is a contradiction of terms.


Do you agree to this Honour Killing?
Please share your thoughts.

[vajrastorm]

The two words - 'honour' and 'killing' - are like water and oil. They cannot coexist nor come together.
Killing as an act of honour? As a crime of honour? More likely the latter. If so, then as a crime there is no other way of seeing it than as a transgression,a violation of the right of another to life?

'Honour' is a noble word and has a noble meaning and import. We accept the use of 'honour', as in 'honouring a promise or pledge or commitment'; but not as in killing for honour, especially when the meaning of 'honour' has been so badly twisted to mean 'face' or 'name'. Take for instance,the killing of a woman( who had refused to enter into a marriage) because she had disgraced the family by breaking a pledge which her parents had made to the other party!. In this instance, the word more aptly used in the place of 'honour' is 'face'!

In ancient times, tribes coined the term 'honour killing' to assuage their sense of righteousness and dignity, in accord with their sentiments as expressed in the following axiom of theirs : 'a life without honour is not worth living'. Only,  'honour' here is again synonymous with 'face'.'Dishonour' means 'disgrace', 'loss of face', 'shame'. How strongly, do people in ancient times and today hold on to the 8 worldly concerns!  And how tragically and senselessly does this lead to the  so-called 'honour killing' !

[diablo1974]

Is there such thing as Honour Killing? i personally do not agree in this explanation. Killing and Honour do not coexist together....they exists in different entity. Adding the word honour onto the act of harming or killing is a cover for something unjustified due to social and cultural context. So these two words should not go together as a word.

[RedLantern]

Whether they are committing an "honour" or otherwise,murderers aren't celebrated anywhere.Those who kill their wives or daughters,do so to regain their honour /remove a stain from the family's reputation,but even if the murder accomplished that,it doesn't create anything worthy of celebration.Remember!,they just killed a family member.
Domestic violence is not celebrated in the West,or in Buddhism,Christianity,Judaism,etc and perpetrators are ostracized and imprisoned.Just as self-immolation is not a Buddhist tendency,honour killing has no direct connection to to religion and such types of murders reflects patriarchial belief systems.

[buddhalovely]

Yes, mass rape and honor killings, maternal mortality, and sex trafficking and forced prostitution impact one woman every single minute. Is there any question that this desecrates any reasonable vision of the world we want to live in? And yet, too many of us, point a finger or throw up our hands.

Honor killings still happen, and the data reflect why: Majorities of Muslims surveyed rejected the practice in only 14 out of 23 countries. Support for honor killings appears to be highest in Afghanistan, Iraq, Egypt and Jordan.
Survey respondents were generally more likely to support honor killings when the “offense” was committed by a woman rather than a man, although the margin is typically quite small. The difference was highest in Jordan, where Muslims are more than twice as likely to oppose an honor killing of a man than of a woman.

[samayakeeper]

In this context, honour is deemed as 'saving face', similar to saving the pride of the person or the person's family name. In some societies, just to save the 'honour' of the family name when a woman had done disgraceful acts, she would be stoned publicly, maimed or even killed. And the killers got away scot free and it was considered justice was served. All because of ego.

A mother smashing 2-year old head into the wall
It is clear that person was mentally unstable from the medical point of view. To prevent from such a heinous act would be hard unless the husband, relatives or close friends of that person knew of that person's state of mind before the act was committed. Even so, no one could determine when, why and how the act would be committed. Usually after the act was committed then only would the person be tried in a court of law, found guilty due to insanity and sent to an asylum.
From Buddhism point of view, I too have heard as what dondrup wrote. I think to prevent it from happening may mean whether that person has the merit to meet dharma, done purification practices, and the mind transformed.

Young monks struggle with gender issue
I agree with what most people opined here. Whatever we label these special people, they are, well, people. Not different from you and I. In normal physical sense with one head and a brain, two hands and two feet, skin, internal organs, five senses, consciousness. Never mind the color, race or creed. Why are we different?

[Tenzin K]

In general how can killing be an honour action especially in this subject about shameful.
I agree with the wrong doing betraying your partner but not to the extend for having to kill. Human life it’s not just about family reputation but more on how you spend your life truthfully, honestly and compassionately for others.
 
It sometimes really amazes me how people can go through an entire lifetime of 80-90 years and be only concerned with themselves. I have seen it in a few of my relatives and it is really quite interesting to watch – their family dislikes them, they have no friends and they are on death’s door and yet they continue to look after only their own interests.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama has a wonderful saying:
If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.
I think he is right. A lifetime spent working for the benefit of others is a lifetime well spent. People who work in charity or nursing or healthcare sleep very well at night and I am convinced they will be much more at ease when old age comes and death is near.

So, sit down for a minute and reflect, are you wasting your precious human life?