May
8, 2000
The
Washington Post featured today the appalling plight of
women in Pakistan who are mutilated or killed by husbands or
family members for so-called "honor crimes," which
sometimes includes seeking a divorce.
The
story of Zahida Perveen, whose husband gouged out her eyes, and
cut off her earlobes and nose because of an alleged affair,
illustrates the horror women face in countries such as Pakistan
and Saudi Arabia where violence against women in the name of
male honor has been largely socially sanctioned.
There
were 20 killings reported in Jordan in 1998, 36 honor crimes in
Lebanon between 1996-1998, 200 women attacked with acid by
husbands or relatives in Bangladesh between 1996-1998, and 52
violent crimes against women reported in Egypt in 1997, some of
which perpetrated by the victim's mother or sister, according to
UNICEF and national women's groups.
Women's
rights advocates in Pakistan say that many cases are never
brought to trial because police are bribed by the men's
families, or the cases are dismissed as domestic accidents.
The
military ruler of Pakistan, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, condemned
honor killings as he launched a national human rights campaign
in the hopes of increasing awareness of this tragic issue, but
women's rights advocates point out that no steps have been taken
"to bolster investigations or prosecutions."
The
Human Rights Commission of Pakistan has reported that in the
past two years, more than 850 women suspected of immoral
behavior were killed by their husbands, brothers, fathers or
other relatives in Punjab, Pakistan.
