Reza Ashrafi allegedly beheaded his 14-year-old daughter Romina in Iran on 21 May 2020. Romina had run away with her 34-year-old boyfriend, because her father refused to grant them permission to get married. A girl in Iran can legally marry at the age of 13. Five days after Romina ran away, though, the police found her and brought her back home despite Romina’s pleas that she feared violent repercussions from her father.
Ashrafi confessed to murdering his daughter with a farming sickle and is currently in custody in Iran. The sentence for such an offence—called an “honour killing”—is three to ten years. In the wake of Romina’s murder, the president of Iran, Hassan Rouhani, has pressured his government to “speed up harsher laws” against honour killings to ensure the protection of girls and women.
An honour killing “is the murder of a person accused of ‘bringing shame’ upon their family”. The crime is generally carried out on female family members for acts including adultery, engaging in an unapproved relationship, or even for being the victim of rape.
Experts estimate that there are approximately five thousand honour killings internationally each year, two thousand of which occur in India and Pakistan. These figures are likely much larger, though, as “such crimes are widely suspected to be underreported”. For example, there are, officially, approximately 12-15 honour killings per year within the United Kingdom (UK); however, the charity Karma Nirvana, which supports victims of honour-based crimes, estimates the real number to be much higher. Karma Nirvana reports receiving approximately “800 messages per month from concerned people”.
GOVERNMENTS MUST TAKE DECISIVE ACTION TO PROTECT THE VULNERABLE
17-year-old British-Pakistani Shafilea Ahmed’s parents murdered her in 2003. Shafilea was suffocated and choked to death in front of her siblings, because her parents were dissatisfied with her Westernisation—including resisting an arranged marriage in Pakistan.
In light of Shafilea’s death, the UK established a national Day of Memory on 14 July—Shafilea’s birthday—to remember the victims of honour killings. Symbolic days of remembrance, while important, are not enough, though. State governments need to raise awareness of this ongoing, criminal practice and work to end honour killings globally.
Shafilea, like Romina, was sent home after expressing her fear of family violence to her teachers and social services. Jasvinder Sanghera, the founder or Karma Nirvana and an activist against forced marriage, is concerned that an at-risk girl’s community does not often help under these circumstances, because “people don’t want to offend communities or individuals or be called racist”. However, Sanghera adds, “culture is no excuse for abuse”.
Honour killing is not a cultural or a religious practice. It is murder and a clear violation of women and girls’ fundamental human right to life, codified in the non-binding Universal Declaration of Human Rights and additional, binding treaties, including the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). Codifying the principle of non-discrimination against women, article 5(a) of CEDAW says that states should implement measures to eliminate “prejudices and customary and all other practices which are based on the idea of the inferiority or the superiority of either of the sexes or on stereotyped roles for men and women”. Despite these instruments—and even though there are 189 states party to CEDAW—there are still thousands of girls and women being murdered by their families because they are accused of having brought “shame” on their family.
It is clear that this practice is being overlooked by governments worldwide. In order for this heinous crime to end, state governments must invest more time and attention in fully realising the rights of those affected by honour killings and protecting this vulnerable population. Simply signing a treaty is not enough; states must actively pursue the elimination of discrimination and the uphold the right to life across cultures and borders.
After having completed the Bar Professional Training Course (2018), Safia currently working as a Costs Advisor in a law firm. Her life goal is to make a positive change in the society we live in, no matter how small that change might be.