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Questions: 1, 2, 3 & 4

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Here is a picture protesting the act of dowry.

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Here is a picture protesting the act of dowry.

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*small print at the bottom*
CAUSES: greedy, demand, tradition, business source, prestige, generation to renegade, ancient dowry system, unaware of rules
SOLUTION: say no to give dowry, stop demands, chage mind for girls, love
FOOD FOR THOUGHT: do you think marriages have become a business transaction on our today?
(click to view)

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This is a popular quote seen in many of the protests to end honour killings, that means exactly what it states; there is no honour in taking the life of someone else.

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Burning Brides: A Narrative Perspective 

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Burning Brides: A Narrative Perspective 

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Here is an article that depicts a narrative of a woman from India who has lost her life from being a victim of bride burning. The article goes through the process of why bride burning usually takes place and explains that "this accounts for the death of at least one woman every hour in India, adding up to 8000 women a year". Since women are the unfavored gender in India, this relates to why women are strongly taken advantage of in a matter such as bride burning.

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Bangalore: It was after sunset on a Sunday last November when Sushila found her daughter Laxmi lying naked on the front step of the house she shared with her husband and two children on the outskirts of Bangalore.

Laxmi had burns to more than 80 per cent of her body and in the darkness Sushila could hear more than she could see.

A demonstration in Patna on January 28 against dowry deaths. Courtesy Frontline magazine, India.
Photo: Leigh Henningham

"I heard her crying, she was in agony, but I didn't know how bad it was," says Sushila. "There was no one to help her, no one wanted to come to her. I was the only person she could call for help and I live 12 kilometres away."

Laxmi was eventually taken to the Victoria Hospital in central Bangalore, which has a 50-bed burns ward, one of the most advanced in the country.

She survived three days, enough time to describe to police how she came to be doused in kerosene by her mother-in-law and set alight by her husband.

In many cases the husband's family decide after the marriage has taken place that the original dowry was not sufficient.

"They know the bride's family is vulnerable, because of subjugated role of women in our society, and what begins is a process of extortion. Demands for money turn into threats of violence, and when the family can't pay any more, the bride is killed."

Bride-burning accounts for the death of at least one woman every hour in India.

Leafing through a pile of emails on her desk, Fernandes reads one cry for help from a woman who had reached out for help.

"You might think this only affects poor, uneducated communities, but this woman is from an educated family," she says.

According to Satya K, the social worker from Vimochana who interviewed Laxmi in the Victoria Hospital burns ward before she died, it was Majunath's mother who compelled her son to set his wife on fire.

"She was screaming abuse at Laxmi, saying that she had ruined her son, and, according to Laxmi, it was the mother-in-law who urged her son to light her."

Her clothes soaked in kerosene, Laxmi burned quickly, and in desperation she lunged for husband and hugged him in an attempt to put the flames out.

"There was so much kerosene that instead of putting the fire out, she set him on fire also."

Early on the morning of November 24 th, Majunath was also admitted to Victoria Hospital with third-degree burns to 40 per cent of his body. Majunath told police that the fire was accidental and that he had tried to help his wife.

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India burning brides and ancient practice is on the rise

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Bangalore: It was after sunset on a Sunday last November when Sushila found her daughter Laxmi lying naked on the front step of the house she shared with her husband and two children on the outskirts of Bangalore. Laxmi had burns to more than 80 per cent of her body and in the darkness Sushila could hear more than she could see.

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Similar to honour killings, bride-burning (commonly known as Dowry Death) is when a woman is murdered, usually burned alive, by her husband or his family for her family not being able to compensate additional money or goods (dowry). The wife is typically doused with kerosene and set on fire if these demands aren't met. These women can also be harassed to the point of them being pushed into suicide. This is a practice commonly seen in India, where women already have very limited rights and are seen as more of a financial burden than human beings. Here is video that goes into greater detail and historical context about "dowry" and why bride burning is so prevalent in India.

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Honour Killings: A Global Issue (continued)

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Honour Killings: A Global Issue (continued)

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This is a picture that gives an idea at where there have been reports of honour killing. Though some countries have a higher rates of honour killings than others, it all revolves around women having a lack of power and living in a patriarchal society where they are seen as property rather than human beings. The less rights women have in a country, the more likely honour killings are to take place. It's about men wanting to assert their power/dominance and maintaining their families societal respect. (click picture to view)

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Honour Killings:  A Deeper Perspective (video contains some graphic images) 

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Honour Killings:  A Deeper Perspective (video contains some graphic images) 

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This video get's into the mind of man from Jordan, another country where honour killings are heavily practiced, who executed the act with no remorse. Majority of these men feel they are doing a great service to their family and often feel proud of what they did and are willing to do it again if the opportunity presents itself. The mere thought of their family's name losing societal status triggers these men to commit these murders against their own family, since they will most likely get away with it or spend a minimal amount of time in jail. This video so focuses on a woman's perspective who is a journalist constantly writing about honour killings being committed in her community. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADXjjkhqQbw

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Though honour killings are of higher percentage in places such as Pakistan, India, and Israel, they also occur in places such as Brazil, Sweden and even here in Canada. Below is an article on the rising number of honour killings that have been a cause for concern in Canada over the years. The articles describes a few popular cases of honour killings that have taken place, including the most recent case involving the Shafia family murders of 3 daughters and a ex wife, in Kingston Ontario, by their father and new wife. This is an act North America is not entirely informed on nor understand, thus it creates controversy when immigrants in Canada claim "honour killing" as a part of their cultural practice in hopes to gain a lenient sentence when the act is committed.

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More prevalent in the Muslim world, it's a phenomenon many parents here can't even begin to comprehend.

The killing of one's own child - usually a daughter - because her behaviour is believed to have brought shame to the family.

It is the fate of some rape victims, as well as women accused of infidelity or premarital sex in countries such as Pakistan. But in the West, it's increasingly popping up in courtrooms as first-generation Muslims struggle to balance the strict old-world ways of their parents with a desire to fit into a more liberal society.

On June 16, the father and brother of a slain Mississauga, Ont., teen were sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to the December 2007 murder of Aqsa Parvez, a 16-year-old girl of Pakistani descent who wanted to wear western clothes and get a part-time job like her Canadian peers.

Days ago, an Afghan mother was arrested in Montreal, accused of stabbing her 19-year-old daughter after she stayed out all night in a case that's now being probed as a possible honour crime.

And then there's the case last year of Muhammad Shafia, his second wife, Tooba Muhammad Yahya, and their son, Hamed Shafia, accused of killing Shafia's first wife and three daughters, who were found in a vehicle submerged in a canal in Kingston, Ont.

Dr. Amin Muhammad is a psychiatrist at Memorial University in St. John's, N.L., who is currently working on a report for the federal government about honour killings in Canada. He said there've been 13 such cases in the country since 2002.

"We are seeing an upward trend," he said. "More cases are coming to the forefront in the legal system."

Noting honour killings are not in any way condoned in the Qur'an, Islam's holy book, he suggested the idea is coming up more as a defence for murder by people hoping to take advantage of Canada's cultural sensitivity in order to receive a more lenient sentence.

He also said he suspects mental-health issues are behind most cases.

"We cannot rule out personality disorder among the perpetrators or some sort of psychopathology," he said.

"I think all such cases should be evaluated from a mental-health perspective."

Muhammad said that since the UN began cracking down on the issue of honour killings, no country is any longer officially supporting the practice.

That said, a report Muhammad published two years ago found a number of countries actually allow for a partial or full defence against criminal charges on the basis of honour killing, including: Argentina, Bangladesh, Ecuador, Guatemala, Turkey, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Iran, Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Venezuela, Peru and Egypt.

While many recent cases in western society involve Muslims, Muhammad said honour killings have also been committed in the name of Hinduism, Sikhism and Christianity.

But just as most Canadians shudder in disbelief at these stories, so too do the majority of Muslims.

Imam Zijad Delic of the Canadian Islamic Congress said there is "nothing Islamic" in taking a human life.

He calls it a personal issue more than a cultural one and suggested perpetrators of so-called honour crimes are not unlike the white, Canadian-born and bred mother who suddenly kills her children in that both are ultimately unable to deal with the challenges of domestic life.

While new Muslim immigrants struggling to integrate into Canadian society are often reluctant to talk openly about the problems they may be experiencing at home with their children, he said, the issues are being addressed in mosques and community centres.

"Last Friday, my sermon in Toronto was about Canadian-Muslim family dynamics and I had about 600 people listening," he said.

"They will not go into a public forum to talk about it but they would come to workshops and listen."

Delic said young people often approach him for guidance when facing a cultural conflict with their parents and that just as Greek and Italian families eventually found a balance between traditional and liberal values, so too will Muslims.

"We are going through the process of integration and I'm quite positive that we are at this point of time reasonably integrated," he said.

"You cannot judge Canadian-Muslim communities on the basis of what happened to Aqsa Parvez."

According to the United Nations Population Fund, an estimated 5,000 women and girls are murdered every year in so-called honour killings around the world.

The 2008 report co-written by Muhammad suggests honour killings date back to ancient societies. According to the report, Incan law allowed husbands to starve their wives as punishment for adultery, while the Aztecs permitted stoning or strangulation as punishment for such crimes.

As it's known in Pakistan, where it remains fairly common, karo-kari was only recently outlawed, though "perpetrators are rarely brought to justice," said the report.

According to the report, there are also a number of cases of fake honour killings in which stories of infidelity may be fabricated in order to get rid of somebody for financial or other reasons.

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'Honour killings' on the rise in Canada: Expert

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More prevalent in the Muslim world, it's a phenomenon many parents here can't even begin to comprehend. The killing of one's own child - usually a daughter - because her behaviour is believed to have brought shame to the family.

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Quandeel Baloch was a social media star, model and singer. She went against the norms of her culture and actively stood up for the rights of women. She originated from Pakistan, where honour killings have a very high rate and are deemed as justified. She was a victim of an honour killing by the hands of her own brother as his friends taunted him about his sisters actions and the way she portrayed herself to the world. Her parents were devastated, and her death came as national shock and sparked more people to talk about the controversy of honour killings. Here is an article that reviews Quandeel's story and differentiates honour killings from cultural views, religion and domestic violence against women across the globe as some may become judgemental as honour killings usually take place in predominately Muslim communities/countries.

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The killing of Qandeel Baloch is not true Islam-but is part of wider problem

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Honour killings are acts of vengeance that will usually end in the death of a woman committed by one of her male family members (though it can be vice versa, those are very rare occasions). They believe that these women have brought dishonour upon the family, thus having to be punished. A woman can become a target of honour killings for a myriad of reasons, such as: refusing an arranged married, being the victim of rape, or being accused of committing adultery - even if she didn't. It only takes assumption that a woman has behaved in a way that "dishonours" her family name for her male relatives to seek revenge. Sometimes these killings are performed in public as a warning to others of the consequences they will face for dishonouring their family. The men are hardly seen as guilty and their actions are sometimes viewed as justified, so they hardly receive any negative feedback from their communities

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Here is a video on the basic's of what honour killings are why they occur.

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What The West Gets Wrong About Muslim Women http://testu.be/1KtiRha The Best Muslim Countries For Women's Rights http://bit.ly/20yGLvT Subscribe! http://bitly.com/1iLOHml Every year there are an estimated 5,000 honor killing committed around the world. So what is an honor killing, and where are they happening?