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Religion, culture and the politicization of honour-related violence : a critical analysis of media and policy debates in Western Europe and North America Anna C. Korteweg and Gökçe Yurdakul

By: Korteweg, Anna C.
Contributor(s): Yurdakul, Gökçe.
Material type: materialTypeLabelArticleSeries: UNRISD Programme Papers on Gender and Development.Publisher: Geneva, Switzerland : United Nations Research Institute for Social Development, 2010Description: vii, 47 pages ; 30 cm; electronic document (58 pages) ; PDF file: 507.31 KB.ISSN: 1994-8026.Subject(s): ASIAN PEOPLES | CULTURAL ISSUES | FORCED MARRIAGE | HOMICIDE | LAW REFORM | MEDIA | MIGRANTS | POLICY | VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN | GERMANY | THE NETHERLANDS | UNITED KINGDOM | CANADA | FAMILY VIOLENCEDDC classification: 361.25 KOR Online resources: Click here to access online UNRISD Programme Papers on Gender and Development, 2010, no.12Summary: "Over the past decade, the issue of honour-related violence (including honour killing and forced marriage) has entered media and policy debates in immigrant-receiving countries like the Netherlands, Germany, Britain and Canada. In some of these countries, media debate has instigated policy debate. For example, in Germany, the brutal 2005 murder of 23-year-old Hatun Aynur Sürücü by her brother sparked a political debate on family violence within Muslim immigrant communities, focusing not only on honour killing but also on forced marriage. In both the Netherlands and Britain, incidences of honour-related violence led to (immigrant) women’s NGO advocacy for prevention, protection as well as prosecution. Politicians’ receptiveness to these efforts was in part facilitated by media discussions of murders and other incidents, such as the murders in the Netherlands of Kezban Vural by her husband in 1999, high-school student Zarife by her father in 2003 and Mrs. Gül by her exhusband in 2004; and the murders in Britain of Rukhsana Naz by her mother and brother in 1998, 16-year-old Heshu Yones by her father in 2002 and 20-year-old Banaz Mahmod by her father and uncle in 2007. In Canada, by contrast, discussions of the murders of 17-year-old Amandeep Atwal in 2003 and 16-year-old Aqsa Parvez in 2007, both by their fathers, did not instigate policy debate. This paper analyses how media, parliaments and other state institutions, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) conceptualize honour killing and honour-related violence in order to uncover how such conceptualizations inform policy responses. The analysis reveals three main trends: i. discussions that link honour killing to Islam and/or the backwardness of immigrant communities in ways that lead to the stigmatization of entire immigrant communities; ii. culture-blind portrayals of honour-related violence as domestic violence or violence against women that do not pay attention to cultural specificities; and iii. debates that are contextually specific, framing honour-related violence as a contextually informed form of violence against women that occurs within particular immigrant communities but where this violence does not essentialize the culture and practices of those communities as a whole. The paper shows that these discursive conceptualizations inform different policy approaches to the issue. Korteweg and Yurdakul contend that discussions of honour-related violence that stigmatize are more likely to lead to general anti-immigrant policies or policies that impede settlement. Debates that frame honour-related violence as a variant of the generally widespread problem of domestic violence and violence against women are more likely to lead to policies that directly target these forms of violence". (From the Summary). Record #5012
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UNRISD Programme Papers on Gender and Development, 2010, no.12

"Over the past decade, the issue of honour-related violence (including honour killing and forced marriage) has entered media and policy debates in immigrant-receiving countries like the Netherlands, Germany, Britain and Canada. In some of these countries, media debate has instigated policy debate. For example, in Germany, the brutal 2005 murder of 23-year-old
Hatun Aynur Sürücü by her brother sparked a political debate on family violence within Muslim immigrant communities, focusing not only on honour killing but also on forced
marriage. In both the Netherlands and Britain, incidences of honour-related violence led to (immigrant) women’s NGO advocacy for prevention, protection as well as prosecution.
Politicians’ receptiveness to these efforts was in part facilitated by media discussions of murders and other incidents, such as the murders in the Netherlands of Kezban Vural by her
husband in 1999, high-school student Zarife by her father in 2003 and Mrs. Gül by her exhusband in 2004; and the murders in Britain of Rukhsana Naz by her mother and brother in
1998, 16-year-old Heshu Yones by her father in 2002 and 20-year-old Banaz Mahmod by her father and uncle in 2007. In Canada, by contrast, discussions of the murders of 17-year-old
Amandeep Atwal in 2003 and 16-year-old Aqsa Parvez in 2007, both by their fathers, did not instigate policy debate.
This paper analyses how media, parliaments and other state institutions, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) conceptualize honour killing and honour-related violence in order to uncover how such conceptualizations inform policy responses. The analysis reveals three main trends:
i. discussions that link honour killing to Islam and/or the backwardness of immigrant communities in ways that lead to the stigmatization of entire immigrant communities;
ii. culture-blind portrayals of honour-related violence as domestic violence or violence against women that do not pay attention to cultural specificities; and
iii. debates that are contextually specific, framing honour-related violence as a contextually informed form of violence against women that occurs within particular immigrant communities but where this violence does not essentialize
the culture and practices of those communities as a whole. The paper shows that these discursive conceptualizations inform different policy approaches to the issue. Korteweg and Yurdakul contend that discussions of honour-related violence that
stigmatize are more likely to lead to general anti-immigrant policies or policies that impede settlement. Debates that frame honour-related violence as a variant of the generally widespread
problem of domestic violence and violence against women are more likely to lead to policies that directly target these forms of violence". (From the Summary). Record #5012