Why do Honour Killings occur?
Religion does not play a part in these honour killings, although many of the perpetrators have tried to justify their actions on religious grounds. The key factors are cultural and generational divisions, the victim’s refusal to toe a line and a reaction against a family or clan’s self-proclaimed code or rules. In that sense, honour killings are much more about male-dominated societies or communities that try to stop women taking their own decisions. In other words the killer believes it is culturally acceptable for them to murder to preserve, in their mind, the good name of the family. More recently, in the age of migration around the world, the murders have come where a family reacts violently to a son or daughter taking on the trappings of a western culture. For instance, accusations of dishonor may emerge because someone from an older migrant generation remains utterly tied to the culture or code of their village – and fails to accept that their children have been brought up in a m
