Women's Studies International Forum 35 (2012) 7585

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Women's Studies International Forum

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Honour-based violence in Kurdish communities

Aisha K. Gill a,, Nazand Begikhani b, Gill Hague b
a b

Department of Social Sciences, University of Roehampton, London, United Kingdom Centre for Gender and Violence Research, School for Policy Studies, University of Bristol, United Kingdom

a r t i c l e

i n f o

s y n o p s i s
While there is a considerable body of literature dealing with various forms of violence against women, comparatively little research has explored the phenomenon of honour-based violence (HBV) within the Kurdish diaspora. This paper seeks to challenge both dominant understandings of HBV and the institutional structures that underpin its context-specific practice as a method for controlling and subjugating women. In doing so, the paper draws on original research involving thirty-four in-depth interviews with stakeholders working to address HBV in Kurdish communities in Britain: the interviewees included police officers, prosecutors, staff from government bodies and staff from women's non-governmental organisations. After exploring the role of shame and honour in Kurdish communities, and how value-systems predicated on gendered understandings of these concepts give rise to HBV, the paper offers a number of recommendations for improving policy and practice, especially in relation to police responses. 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Available online 3 March 2012

Introduction In recent years, violence against women (VAW) committed in the name of honour has begun to attract attention in many countries across the world. This paper draws on a growing body of international literature to explore current understandings of honour-based violence (HBV) and examine the measures that have been implemented to address this problem. In particular, it links these broader discussions to the findings of the first international study of HBV in Kurdish communities in the United Kingdom (UK) and the Iraqi Kurdistan Region (Begikhani, Gill and Hague, 2010), though the focus is on the UK section of this research. The paper concludes with a number of recommendations for developing and enhancing current practice and policy. For the purposes of this paper, HBV is defined as comprising any form of violence perpetrated against women that is associated with patriarchal family, community or other social structures in which the main justification for the violence is the protection of a social construction of honour: honour is defined as a value-system with associated norms and
Corresponding author. E-mail address: a.gill@roehampton.ac.uk (A.K. Gill). 0277-5395/$ see front matter 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.wsif.2012.02.001

traditions. HBV is most commonly committed against young women by male relatives who view the violence as necessary to preserve or restore the honour of the family and/or community by removing shame. Although the word honour traditionally has positive connotations in Western culture, it is also used to justify violence, abuse and even murder; thus, its role in motivating and legitimising VAW needs to be better understood so that it may be effectively challenged. While this article is ostensibly about honour-based violence, the core of the argument is that this phenomenon should actually be defined as a form of VAW. As Welchman and Hossain (2005: 4) observe, the use of the term honour crime is by no means straightforward. First, the application of this and similar terms to forms of violence that overwhelmingly afflict women rather than men lends support to the idea that honour is intricately tied to women's behaviour. Second, the use of the word honour is inherently problematic, not least because it is susceptible to exocitisation (Welchman & Hossain, 2005: 4). Narayan (2000), inter alios, has argued that while academics and policy-makers need to be responsive to the diversity of women's lives both within and across national contexts, they should also be wary of painting a picture of cultural differences that might constitute cultural essentialism. Conceptualising

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HBV as a specific type of VAW that operates through honour codes legitimised by patriarchal values avoids these pitfalls: more importantly, it recognises the critical role played by gender in this form of abuse. Moreover, while there is a tendency in the West to see socalled honour killings as related to specific cultural traditions (Piper, 2005: 101), this and other forms of HBV are not confined to any particular religion, culture, type of society or social stratum (Mojab & Abdo, 2004; Ortner, 1978). Bourdieu (1977) argues that honour is not an aspect of cultural practice, rather it emerges from a constellation of interpersonal exchanges. Thus, even though honour crimes are found in many different societies, each unique cultural context should be individually evaluated to determine how and why these practices have arisen. As Pope (2004) stresses, the forms that honour crimes take change not only from country to country but also from village to village. This is because different meanings are attributed to the notion of honour in different contexts. These meanings also change and evolve over time. Nevertheless, both the mainstream media and many individual politicians and professionals continue to attribute HBV to particular geographical regions, cultural factors, faiths or societies. However, feminists argue that all fundamentalist religious movements use the control of women's bodies symbolically to assert a broad agenda of authoritarian political and cultural control (Werbner, 2007; Yuval-Davis, 2009). Thus, understanding why HBV occurs requires looking beyond simple descriptive labels or cultural stereotypes and, instead, examining the meanings ascribed to the term honour in different communities. In Kurdish communities, honour is a multidimensional concept that encompasses familial respect, patriotism and social prestige. It is determined by the interaction between a person's feelings of self-worth and the worth that his/her peer-group (i.e. honour group) assigns to him/her. As honour is bestowed in social contexts, it is ephemeral and can be withdrawn by the community at any time (Gill, 2009; Maris & Saharso, 2001; Stewart, 1994). Losing honour invites ridicule and disgrace, and subjects the individual and his/her family to shame. Shame functions as a normative discourse, exerting its influence through defining the normal and the abnormal, that which is commonly considered bad (i.e. that which is shameful) and that which is good (i.e. that which is honourable) (Vishwanath, 1997: 324). However, what is considered normal versus abnormal, and what is considered good versus bad, is different for men and women: these concepts and values are expressed in gender-specific ways. Thus, the murder of women in the name of honour is ultimately predicated on socio-cultural notions of proper gender-specific relationships and behaviours dictated by patriarchal values and norms. A wide range of acts are considered shameful, but none more so than those that are seen to compromise female chastity, which is seen as representative of a family's symbolic capital. Therefore, romance and even incidents of public flirting may diminish a family's symbolic capital (Bourdieu, 1977). To protect this capital, a woman who is seen to offend against prevailing notions of honour must be punished. Appropriate punishment removes the shame and, thus, restores the family's honour. As murder is sometimes seen as a valid means to an end when honour is at stake, the families of

many honour killing victims do not publicly express regret or grief over the death. Instead, they frequently condemn the victim for betraying the family for their own selfish personal gratification. Thus, male aggressors come to be seen as victims while women who have been subjected to violence are represented as having brought abuse or death on themselves (Hussein, 2010). Honour killings commonly result from accusations of female adultery. Understanding this requires a consideration of the structural opposition between romantic love and marriage in many societies whose value systems depend on notions of honour (Anitha & Gill, 2011; Lindholm, 1998). In such cultures romance is frequently seen as having no place in marriage: the purpose of marriage is to uphold social structures and the alliances between families and clans. As romance is the structural antithesis of this concept of marriage, it is viewed as a form of personal gratification that contravenes moral norms. Thus, all forms of romance are usually considered illicit: the pursuit of romance triggers condemnation, ostracism and even violence as it threatens an individual's personal honour and also that of her family and wider community (Anitha & Gill, 2011; Stewart, 1994). International responses to honour crimes Over the last decade, there has been a growing international effort to address HBV. In 2000, a resolution on honour crimes was circulated at a special session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA). However, it was not until 2002 that the UNGA adopted the resolution on Working towards the elimination of crimes against women committed in the name of honour (UN GA, Resolution 55/66, 31.1.2001). The Resolution urges States to investigate honour crimes, to punish perpetrators and to raise awareness of the need to prevent and eliminate crimes against women committed in the name of honour, with the aim of changing the attitudes and behaviour that allow such crimes to be committed (Erturk, 2006: 171). It also directly acknowledges that HBV is primarily perpetrated against women and recommends awareness-raising as critical to tackling the phenomenon. While the international framework for addressing HBV that the Resolution represents is an important advance, the application of international law in individual countries is dependent on each state's efforts to comply with their obligations through amending their domestic legislation and institutional arrangements. This requires political commitment to officially condemning HBV, taking action against it and, perhaps most importantly, establishing gender equality and protecting women's rights. There are already a wide range of international instruments that address gender equality: many include requirements that states parties reflect their international obligations in domestic legislation. The 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) is often described as an international bill of rights for women. The Convention defines discrimination against women as Any distinction, exclusion or restriction made on the basis of sex which has the effect or purpose of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise by women, irrespective of their marital status, on a basis of equality of

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men and women, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any other field. The CEDAW purposely provides a broad definition of discrimination in order to encompass matters of equality in all areas of life (Hathaway, 2007). Even though it lacks a focus on substantive rights (e.g. protection from violence), it paves the way for legal reforms that recognise (i) that VAW violates human rights, (ii) that VAW represents a public health problem, and (iii) that instances of VAW constitute crimes against both women and society generally (CEDAW, 1979). However, a major drawback of the UN approach is that it focuses on abolishing harmful traditional practices that are associated with non-Western societies. The unintended implication is that Western societies do not have traditions that are harmful to women and, thus, that VAW in Western societies assumes idiosyncratic and individualised, rather than structural or cultural, forms (Winter, Thompson, & Jeffreys, 2001). Tackling HBV in Europe and the UK The UN Population Fund estimates that 5000 women are killed in the name of honour each year, mainly in the Middle East and Asia (Welchman & Hossain, 2005). However, it is impossible to determine the true incidence of honour killings, or of HBV more generally, as reports to the police are rare and sporadic, not least because both male and female family members often try to cover up honour crimes. Moreover, many victims of HBV are abducted: they disappear and are never reported missing (Dustin, 2006). In Europe, many, but by no means all, of the reported honour killings occur in South Asian, Turkish or Kurdish migrant communities. Both European Governments and various non-state actors have identified HBV as a growing problem that requires urgent action. Sweden, for example, convened an expert panel on HBV in November 2003. The Europe-wide Daphne Project, initiated by the European Union and supported by nongovernmental organisation (NGO) Kvinnoforum, is also based in Sweden. Similarly, in 2004 the Netherlands-based NGO TransAct launched a National Platform Against Honour Related Violence in order to exchange information and expertise as well as foster collaboration throughout Europe. The same year, Stockholm hosted an international conference that culminated in the Stockholm Declaration to Combat Honour-Related Violence in Europe. The strategies outlined in the Declaration, in addition to promoting both preventative and punitive measures for addressing HBV, explicitly recognised that awareness-raising and educational initiatives are vital. In policy terms, honour crimes tend to be treated as distinct from non-honour-based VAW; many UK NGOs that work primarily on women's issues use the term VAW precisely because it encompasses violence experienced by women from both majority and minority communities (Dustin, 2006). Indeed, community and women's groups, including the Iranian and Kurdish Women's Rights Organisation and Kurdish Women's Action Against Honour Killings,

have been both campaigning to bring the true incidence of HBV to light and working to raise public awareness of the connections between different forms of VAW. Tellingly, until recently most Government initiatives on HBV focused specifically on forced marriage rather than on developing a better understanding of HBV and VAW more broadly: the UK Project on Strategies to Address Crimes of Honour, which began in 1999, was a key exception. Government initiatives in the UK predominantly view HBV as a problem only insofar as the experiences of its victims (othered women) and its perpetrators (othered men from othered cultures) temporarily threaten the moral and, by extension, liberal culture of the nation (Gill and Anitha, 2009). Thus, HBV is often viewed not as patriarchal per se but as an expression of the atavistic nature of minority cultures. For this reason, honour crimes are attributed almost exclusively to the supposedly immutable and intrinsic traditions, customs and religious beliefs of these othered cultures, while little or no attention is paid to perpetrators as individuals. The problematic association of HBV with a non-white other is compounded by the general demonising of many minority communities post-9/11. Since 9/11, States in Western Europe have been concerned that the movements of migrants conceal a potential for terror attacks, a threat to security (Jordan, Wurzel, Zito, & Bruckner, 2003: 197). These concerns have provided a publicly palatable gloss for racially-motivated policy decisions. For instance, in 2001 racially-motivated violence in Oldham, Burnley, and Bradford led to the creation of a community cohesion review team, which proclaimed that diversity can have a negative impact on cohesion (Commission on Integration and Cohesion, 2007: 9). Moreover, the violence that prompted these concerns was generally held to have been initiated by immigrants who held backward attitudes and perpetrated oppressive practices (like forced marriage) against women (Fekete, 2006: 7). Unsurprisingly, HBV came to be ideologically conceptualised as an expression of these backward cultural attitudes that were, in turn, conceptualised as standing in sharp contrast to those of liberal (white) British society. Thus, HBV is attributed primarily to religious and cultural traditions rather than gender. However, an examination of the religious texts revered by the most heavily affected communities reveals that the problem lies only partially with religious beliefs: patterns of gender-based socialisation have an even more important role to play. In societies structured around honour codes, women are socialised to be unaware that they have human rights, while men are socialised to believe that it is right and proper for them to control and dominate women in all spheres of life. Thus, human rights laws designed to facilitate individual selfdetermination are often deemed irrelevant by members of patriarchal cultures or viewed as an attempt by the West to assert a form of neo-colonial control over developing countries (Barzilai, 2004). In recognition of this, policy initiatives in the UK often seek to balance the key principle of multiculturalism tolerance and respect for cultural differences with the need to protect the human rights of all members of British society: when and where should the State intervene? Most advocates of multiculturalism promote the accommodation of cultural diversity

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while also agreeing that there are instances in which the State should intervene with respect to the norms, traditions and customs of specific groups. However, Government policies that in seeking to support multiculturalism deal exclusively with problems between communities, but not problems within communities, are destined to fail: such policies will, by their very design, privilege ethnicity over the other axes of inequality that may contribute (perhaps more significantly) to the problems that the policies were created to address. Thus, multicultural ideals often unintentionally give rise to policies in which cultural rights are privileged over all other human rights. Moreover, many policies fail to recognise that there are often differences of opinion within specific groups about cultural norms and traditions. Thus, initiatives to end VAW in general and HBV in particular remain linked to a narrative of Western progress in relation to respect for cultural diversity and, at the same time, latent assumptions that certain cultures must be modernised through the West's example. It is unsurprising that the (19972010) Labour Government's numerous initiatives on HBV revolved around the idea that minority women often find themselves trapped by familial expectations (MP Ann Cryer, quoted in Alexander & Goldsmith, 2007). When HBV is blamed on socialisation into particular religious and cultural systems of belief, it follows that it is right and proper for the state to exert control over cultural issues in order to prevent human rights abuses: this logic allowed the former Government to neatly sidestep charges of prejudice in relation to policies, including immigration policies (e.g. raising the age at which a person can sponsor a spouse whose country of origin lies outside the EU for a visa), that it claimed were critical to efforts to address VAW in migrant communities. This is not to suggest that there is not a cultural dimension to HBV. As Purna Sen argues, just as it is flawed to posit a cultural specificity that fails to see the linkages between particular manifestations of VAW, to deny specificity if it exists is also problematic (Sen, 2005: 50). However, responses to HBV that focus on culture exoticise the act instead of enabling the issue to be viewed as part of the larger struggle against VAW (Gill, 2009). Understandings of HBV that prioritise cultural explanations divert attention from the role of gender and the fact that VAW affects women across the cultural and ethnic spectrum. Kurdistan and the Kurdish diaspora Policy discussions of HBV often fail to progress beyond abstract debates that ignore core practical issues, especially those essential to effective prevention. In September 2008, the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government took the unprecedented step of commissioning an international research project on HBV in both Kurdistan and the Kurdish diaspora as part of a broader strategy that included the setting up of the High Commission to Monitor Violence against Women. Thus, the research behind this article represents the first major international study of HBV in Iraqi Kurdistan and the Kurdish diaspora in the UK. Although the paper is based on data from the UK-based part of the study, it is useful to outline the nature of Kurdish society in order to illuminate the key contextual factors.

Despite feeling that they share a common identity, the Kurds remain extremely diverse, ethnically and culturally. Indeed, scholars have yet to reach consensus on whether the Kurdish people constitute a nation (Mojab & Gorman, 2007). Many Kurds continue to live in small villages in the Kurdish areas of Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran, where they primarily make their living through animal herding and simple agriculture. However, some have moved to cities, including in the industrialised West, seeking a higher material standard of living. For the purposes of this paper, a Kurdish person is defined as having Kurdish ancestry, speaking one of the Kurdish dialects and/or living (or sharing ancestral roots) in the mountainous regions of Kurdistan. For many, being Kurdish also implies tribal patterns of living and relationships based on patriarchal values in which men dominate almost all areas of life (Begikhani, 2005). In the last few decades, many Kurds have fled repression and instability in their homelands to seek asylum in Europe and North America. Migration to Europe began in the 1960s when a significant number of young Kurdish intellectuals moved abroad for educational reasons. From the late 1970s, significant numbers migrated as a result of the increasing repression of Kurds in eastern Turkey. Following the regional conflicts of the late 1960s and 1970s, particularly the 1975 dissolution of the Kurdish movement, small groups began to arrive from Iraqi Kurdistan. In the 1980s and 1990s, migration from Iraq increased dramatically as a result of first the Gulf War and then the repressive actions of Saddam Hussein's regime. In the last decade, the overwhelming majority of Kurds coming to the UK have been asylum-seekers, many fleeing from the recent war in Iraq, though some have been students, professionals and business people. By 1999, the number of Kurds in Europe probably exceeded 750,000 (McDowall, 1997). However, census information on Kurdish immigrants, refugees and citizens residing in the UK and other Western nations is unavailable as most data-sets categorise people on the basis of their country of origin rather than their ethnicity; thus, Kurds are grouped with other Iraqi, Iranian, Syrian or Turkish nationals (Mojab & Gorman, 2007: 63). Safran (1991) claims that the Kurdish community in the UK can be considered a true diasporic group as it comprises individuals and families who have been dispersed from their original homelands as well as migrants who are doubly or triply displaced from the original centre; however, the community as a whole remains culturally and politically connected and committed to the preservation of the Kurdish homeland (Safran, 1991: 834). While Safran (1991) neglects to consider the role of present place of residence and adopted home in the practices and attitudes of individuals within the diaspora, Brah (1996) argues that the term diaspora implies both dispersion (i.e. scattering/uprooting) and accumulation (i.e. gathering/rooting). This understanding encompasses two frames of reference: the homeland (port of departure) and the adopted home (port of arrival). Mojab & Gorman's, 2007 study suggests that the Kurdish diasporic experience aligns with Brah's concept; while Kurds in the UK maintain concrete and psychological attachments to their homeland and also sustain a sense of shared culture, their ethnic consciousness is not solely determined by these attachments. Brah (1996), inter alios, maintains that trans-national subjects engage in self-construction by simultaneously

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accommodating hegemonic demands for assimilation while resisting attempts, on the part of the host state, to regulate their activities. Groups like the Kurds claim a diasporic identity in part because their status as Kurds (i.e. as racially distinct immigrants) must be kept visible in order for it to be contested so that their ethnic identity can be maintained (Mojab & Gorman, 2007). Research methodology One of the key features of feminist research is the importance placed on improving the situation of the group(s) under examination; research topics are often chosen and investigated, and findings disseminated through publication, with a view to changing public policy and advancing social justice. As Harding (1987: 127) writes, feminist politics is not just a tolerable companion of feminist research but a necessary condition for generating less partial and perverse descriptions and explanations. In line with these principles, the study commissioned by the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government explicitly aimed to contribute to social action and change by driving forward initiatives designed to tackle VAW. The project was carried out by a consortium of researchers from the University of Roehampton and the Centre for Gender and Violence Research at the University of Bristol, working in partnership with Kurdish Women's Rights Watch. Ethical approval was obtained from the ethics committees of both universities, which also provided ethical oversight throughout. Ethical approval extended to the research protocols, including the oral consent procedures. However, approval of, and adherence to, protocols is not sufficient to ensure ethical conduct: even the most careful researchers, and the most diligent ethics committees, cannot anticipate all the dilemmas that may arise in the course of a research study, particularly one involving work in a conflict zone (Lincoln and Tierney, 2004). The researchers also recognised the ethical importance of stressing in publications on the study that HBV is a widespread phenomenon: Kurdish societies and communities must not be singled out or stigmatised simply due to the fact that they form the focus of a number of current studies of HBV. The research focused on exploring (i) the nature and extent of HBV in Kurdish communities, (ii) current policy, practice and NGO responses to HBV, (iii) the experiences of victims and their families, and (iv) media coverage of and attitudes to HBV. The central aim of the study was to analyse practice and policy in order to guide the development of more effective responses to this pervasive form of VAW. In-depth interviews Between 2008 and 2010, the research team conducted thirty-four semi-structured interviews, including eight with police officers, six with lawyers/senior prosecutors, three with officers from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (including one with an officer from the Forced Marriage Unit), one with a teacher, two with Independent Police Complaints Commissioners, and ten with staff from front-line women's organisations working on HBV issues in London. The research conducted in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region involved 120 semistructured interviews with Government officials, police,

women's NGOs and other non-state actors, as well as 12 indepth interviews with HBV survivors and victims' families, and additional informal interviews with victims of honourrelated burn injuries: this part of the study is reported in Begikhani, Gill and Hague (2010). Jorgensen (1989: 91) suggests that in-depth interviews are especially valuable when observation has resulted in the identification of particular people who are especially knowledgeable about a matter of interest. Snowball sampling was employed as this method of recruiting participants provides an effective way of accessing key individuals within a specific field, especially when the researcher would otherwise find it difficult to make direct contact with appropriate individuals and/or when the response rate is expected to be particularly low. While this form of sampling is often effective in terms of resolving issues of access, as it was in this study, it may result in the findings privileging the views of likeminded individuals rather than those of the relevant population as a whole: the selection of interviewees based on the recommendations of other participants commonly creates a sample with similar experiences and perspectives. However, as the sample included stakeholders in very different professional roles (e.g. police officers versus staff from women's NGOs) a diverse range of views was explored; thus, the sample is probably as representative as possible given the difficulties inherent both in accessing suitable participants and in persuading them to contribute to time-consuming interview research. Before interviews, participants were given an information leaflet about the research and were asked to sign a consent form; this stated that respondents could withdraw from the study at any time, without explanation. All the representatives from the women's organisations involved in the study were asked if the name of their organisation could be used in the report: all consented despite the fact that, as several of the organisations are small and have a limited number of staff, some participants may be identifiable. Quotations are only specifically linked to participants who gave their consent to be explicitly identified. As each interview lasted between one and two hours, interview schedules structured around a series of open-ended questions were developed to ensure that interviewers explored key cases/issues in depth. Given the diverse nature of the sample, four interviews scheduled were designed for use with the four key categories of interviewee: (i) criminal justice professionals, including lawyers and police officers; (ii) staff from NGOs; (iii) civil servants; and (iv) survivors of HBV. The interviews were conceived as semi-structured to allow for topics raised by interviewees to be explored even if this took the interview beyond the scope of the relevant interview schedule. As a result, the interviews represented a mixture of conversation and embedded questions (Erlandson, Harris, Skipper, & Allen, 1993), with schedules used flexibly to guide, rather than control, interviews. This method allowed for thick description data to be obtained (Geertz, 1973). This approach falls within the tradition of interpretive constructionist thinking. Responsive interviewing aims to recognise that both the researcher and the interviewee bring their own feelings, personality, interests, and experiences to the interview situation (Rubin & Rubin, 2005). During the

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interview, a dynamic relationship is created that may challenge both the researcher's and the interviewee's understanding of the issues being discussed. Thus, the interview setting provides an arena for dialogue and conversation that can be used to create a depth of understanding, rather than breadth (Rubin & Rubin, 2005: 30). A strategy of engagement on the part of interviewers, instead of a more traditional approach that privileges disengagement and distance, is a vital aspect of many feminist methodologies, which emphasise the connections between knowledge, theory, language and experience (Kitzinger, 2007; Ramazanolu, 2002). According to this approach, the interviewee does not merely supply data; instead, the researcher and interviewee create meaning together during the interview. A key issue in recruiting participants, and in encouraging them to speak openly and honestly during interviews, is trust. Therefore, at the start of each interview, the interviewer explained the aims and objectives of the research and her own position in relation to the project. Whenever power dynamics and cultural differences are at play, researcher positioning has a particularly significant impact on results (Skinner, Hester, & Malos, 2005). Mohanty (1987) argues that the politics of location present in a research situation derive from the historical, geographic, cultural, psychic and imaginative boundaries that provide grounds for political definition of both the researcher and research participants (Mohanty, 1987: 31). The implication is that the personal, social and political positionings of researchers and their research participants should be openly examined (Behar & Gordon, 1995). For instance, Shome (1999) argues that her experience of whiteness as a Westernised Indian woman in academia is circumscribed by her location in relation to her nationality, gender, class, geographical location, and history; moreover, she notes that these locations shift according to the site from which they are experience/perceived by different subjects. Drawing on Haraway's concept of situated knowledge (1991), she suggests that researchers cannot enter into an examination of culture without acknowledging the role of their own subjective position in relation to these sites and locations. The research team adopted best practice principles from trans-national research on gender issues (Naples, 2002), consciously working to avoid ethnocentrism and to respect traditional cultural practices while, at the same time, promoting women's human rights. The researchers worked to achieve these goals by characterising the interview relationship as one centred on speaking with participants. This approach implies sensitivity, reflexive and reflective examination, relationship-building, and ethical accountability between researcher and researched. Moreover, speaking with those seeking to tackle HBV in Kurdish communities provided an opportunity, albeit one fraught with social and political difficulties, to raise awareness of the importance of accountability in preventing these crimes and also of the socio-cultural power dynamics that underpin this form of VAW. Analysis A thematic analysis of the interviews was conducted using both NVivo software and manual methods. Drawing on a subset of transcripts, the research team developed an index of key themes. The full set of transcripts was then

coded according to this index in order to explore the analytical power of these themes. The data was then summarised in a series of thematic charts, allowing the researchers to isolate and illuminate key themes more clearly. Thus, the policy insights and recommendations that the research offers emerged from the data, rather than the data being examined in relation to a priori hypotheses. Honour and shame A participant from Southall Black Sisters argued that HBV is systematically condoned and legitimised in Britain by the State's reluctance to intervene in family matters, especially when women identify themselves as potential as opposed current victims of HBV, seeking help in relation to a crime has not yet taken place. This is evidenced in the case of Banaz Mahmod 1; in her testimony, human rights advocate and journalist Rana Husseini reported that thirteen women are murdered in Jordan every day in honour killings. Thus, when interviewed for this study, Husseini described her work as revolving around documenting the cases of women, their stories, the fact that they lived on this earth and that someone deprived them of the right to life. Husseini's research supports the understanding that honour killings occur when a family feels that a female relative has brought shame on the family and, thus, damaged their collective honour: The person chosen by the family to carry out the murder (usually male: a brother, father, cousin, paternal uncle or husband) brutally ends their female relative's life to cleanse the family of the shame she brought upon them. During her interview, Husseini went on to discuss the brutal nature of many honour killings: This is happening from someone who is supposed to be taking care of you, protecting you. First of all the woman would be stabbed 3040 times: if she is pregnant, the stabs would be concentrated on her stomach to make sure the unwanted pregnancy is also out of the way. Sometimes the stabbing and shooting at the same time They would empty the bullets or pistol or whatever. You can see that there is brutality. The interviews conducted with London-based NGOs revealed a general consensus that honour and shame do not carry static meanings in Kurdish society: rather the meanings of these concepts are contested, ambiguous, dynamic and constantly shifting. Feminist discourses explore shame and honour in relation to concepts of patriarchal power that revolve around the exercise of control over women's sexuality and freedom (Akipinar, 2003). For instance, the Director of the Kurdish Human Rights Project argued that There certainly is gendered context it is family honour, based on the honour of the female members of the family and so it is much more difficult for a man to act in the way that he would dishonour his family because he is not seen as the symbol of honour for the family. Critically, the power of value-systems linked to and legitimised by notions of honour and shame are not controlled by

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a central institution: instead, they are located within a number of key institutions, including the family, kinship networks, religion, and the State. In exploring why HBV occurs, a member of the Iranian and Kurdish Women's Rights Organisation (IKWRO) argued that: The underlying purpose of honour crimes is to maintain men's power in families and communities by denying women basic and internationally recognised rights to make autonomous decisions about issues such as marriage, divorce, and whether and with whom to have sex in order to control female sexuality and reproductive function. The crime [that brought shame on the family] does not need to have occurred in reality; community gossip and the loss of reputation is enough of a rationale for murder if it implies a loss of virginity or an act of infidelity. Rumours about a woman's sexual behaviour are often seen as sufficient evidence for male family members to view HBV as a legitimate and even necessary course of action. As Hussein (2010) attests, numerous autopsies performed on the victims of honour killings reveal that the victim was, in fact, a virgin: thus many honour killings are carried out solely on the basis of suspicion. Often violence is only avoided if a woman's virginity can be demonstrated. As one of the Iraqi Kurdish activists interviewed argued, victims are young; they are in this country and they absolutely have all the rights to find their own sexual relations. But they do it in secret and later on, before the marriage, they do this cosmetic surgery: they do the hymen for them again, so that they can bleed in the night of the marriage. It is very prevalent in Sweden, particularly among the Kurdish diaspora, and here as well, even in Kurdistan itself. It is all about sex. It is all about a woman's body and sexual purity and particularly virginity is the most important thing in Kurdish mentality. Fadia Faqir (2001: 68) describes the importance of the belief that women should remain mastura (literally meaning hidden, or low profile), a term which implies physical and psychological confinement in the public and private spheres in societies where honour holds significant currency. Respectable femininity is socially and culturally constructed as revolving around passivity, selflessness and submissiveness, especially in relationships with men (Faqir, 2001). Abu Odeh (2000: 370) argues that The hymen, in this context, becomes the socio-physical sign that both assure and guarantee virginity, as well as gives the woman a stamp of respectability and virtue. The London-based activists interviewed in this study agreed that, in Kurdish communities, notions of honour go hand in hand with notions of shame in that shame is perceived as nothing more than the loss of honour (Mojab & Gorman, 2007). In some honour-based societies, male honour may be associated with respect, virtue, merit, social rank, caste/class, or public reputation: thus, it may be determined by achievements and courage as well as one's family background. By contrast, female honour is almost universally viewed as determined by a woman's sexual behaviour:

specifically, by their adherence to cultural demands that they remain chaste and pure until their marriage. Thus, while male honour can be acquired, accumulated and lost, women cannot acquire or achieve honour but only maintain or injure it through their actions (Meeto & Mirza, 2007). Simply stated, it does not matter what her character traits are: an honourable unwed woman must remain a virgin if she and her family are to be considered honourable. Meanwhile, an honourable man is someone whose wife, daughters, sisters, nieces and so forth preserve their virginity until they are married and remain faithful to their husbands thereafter. Control of women is therefore a symbol of male power in societies with honour-centric value systems: honour killings are a way of publicly displaying this patriarchal power. Indeed, killing for the sake of individual or collective honour is viewed as heroic in that the restoration of the family's honour re-establishes the family's credibility in protecting its womenfolk. As Bourdieu (1977) argues, honour is lived out openly, before other people; in many countries where honour killings occur regularly, perpetrators who are arrested proudly display their handcuffs or voluntarily go to the police station to confess their crimes. For instance, video footage posted on the internet on 7 April 2007 showed a large group of men enthusiastically and apparently willingly stoning 17-year-old Du'a Xalil to death for dishonouring her family by allegedly falling in love with a Muslim. In Iraqi Kurdistan, homicide in response to adultery is often excused: in such situations, men are routinely considered to be victims of circumstance, their crimes seen as impulsive rather than pre-mediated. This gendered explanation locates the propensity for violence not in men but in culturally constituted ways of being a man that link masculinity with aggression (Hearn, 2004) through viewing the exercise of complete control over the women within one's family as a masculine virtue. An interviewee from Kurdish Women's Rights Watch described how this plays out in practice in an account of one of her earliest experiences of HBV in Kurdistan: I was on my way to school in Kirkuk when I saw a crowd of people, with policemen, and blood-stains covering the doorstep of the house and the walls. I asked a boy of my age what was going on. He said, Ahmad bought his honour. It didn't make any sense to me. I kept on asking him What do you mean, He bought his honour? He said Ahmad had killed his sister. Heading towards my school, questions filled my mind. What is honour? How it could be sold and bought? This incident left me with a deep fear that one day I might face the same. And the feeling that I had to protect myself so my family will be safe.

Women's rights versus religious and cultural rights In patriarchal societies, gender-role socialisation reduces women to objects: to commodities to be possessed and traded for male advancement. Many of the Kurdish interviewees in this study spoke about the fact that forced marriage is increasingly linked to HBV. Although many Kurdish girls are married off at a young age, responsibility for protecting them until marriage lies with their fathers and brothers. This responsibility is

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seen to give male kin the right to exercise power over young women by dictating every facet of their lives and behaviour. In Britain, Kurdish Women's Rights Watch and the Middle East Centre for Women's Rights have focused on exploring how constructions of female sexuality, and its associations with masculinity and honour, determine the subordinate position of women in Kurdish communities. As discussed above, VAW is often carried out in the name of honour in order for men to assert their superiority within both the community and the family. However, although patriarchal beliefs about dominance and power have a particularly significant causal role in VAW and in how VAW is viewed, this is not to say that patriarchal attitudes constitute the sole cause of VAW. Other individual, familial, psychological and socio-cultural factors contribute to the phenomenon. Moreover, it is not only men who are socialised into accepting patriarchal beliefs: through socialisation into patriarchal traditions, women become participants in their own subjugation. Indeed, some women not only enable men to commit VAW but perpetrate it themselves (Gangoli & Rew, 2011). Those who seek to defend HBV, and other practices that discriminate against women, have argued that it is only in relation to Western values and norms that these practices are rendered problematic; they argue that attempts to prevent HBV and VAW represent a form of neo-colonialism that seeks to impose Western morals and values (Spivak, 1988). This cultural imperialism is embodied, some argue, in the Western media's excessive focus on the practice of female genital mutilation as a form of torture (Njambi, 2004). In making the case for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the emancipation of women was one of the most popular goals cited; however, human rights discourses have questioned whether attempts to address HBV in Iraq cloak a paternalistic attack by the West on the cultural practices of the East. While various forms of HBV, including forced marriage and female genital mutilation, continue to be viewed as intrinsic religious and/or cultural practices, states are likely to remain reluctant to acknowledge that these practices are closely linked to the control of women since any such admittance would undermine belief in the state's ability to defend the country's culture (Coomaraswamy, 2002). HBV and women's NGOs in London Over the past decade, women's groups in the UK have strived to develop a national discourse that conceptualises HBV as only part of the broader problem of VAW (Thiara & Gill, 2010). Specialist women's organisations that provide advice and support services for domestic violence victims have, in recent years, extended the remit of their work to include honour killings and other forms of HBV. Indeed, at present many of these groups are (at least nominally) focused on establishing expertise around honour crimes in order to attract the attention of funding bodies. The Iranian and Kurdish Women's Rights Organisation and the Middle East Centre for Women's Rights have been actively promoting the advancement of women's rights through efforts to reform Kurdish norms and values: these efforts have revolved around challenging religious fundamentalism and educating Kurdish women about their rights. By increasing media attention on honour killings and other

types of HBV, these groups have made a vital contribution to addressing the silence that has traditionally surrounded these forms of VAW. The consequent increase in awareness and understanding of the problem has encouraged a greater number of victims to seek support: this, in turn, has dramatically increased the workload of support services and NGOs. One interviewee from Southall Black Sisters reported that since 2002 they had been dealing with around 100 cases per year; more than double the number they had worked on previously. While a non-governmental solution is both unfeasible and philosophically undesirable, opinion regarding the efficacy of State interventions remains decidedly mixed in Britain. A representative of Southall Black Sisters described the previous Labour Government's contradictory approach as very ironic in that post 9/11 and 7/7, the Government's priorities have been around preventing extremism, which has resulted in the Government putting a lot of money in[to] funding faith-based organisations. This, in turn, has created a situation where the more conservative elements within the community have been boosted with more funding from the state [while] groups who are secular, like ourselves women's organisations have actually faced [a] funding crisis and, as a result closure or reduced services. As well as providing services for victims, women's NGOs contribute to policy debates and lobby the Government to respond more effectively to these issues. Indeed, in the UK, groups such as Southall Black Sisters and Kurdish Women's Rights Watch have been vital in building better relations between minority communities and the State, including in relation to HBV initiatives and policies. This has helped to improve police responses to victims and their families. NGOs have also played an important role in exposing discrepancies between state discourses and practices at the local level. However, funding cutbacks are threatening these advances. Improving police responses Whether women's NGOs are satisfied with police responses to HBV depends largely on the police's speed of response and whether positive action is taken, both to alleviate the immediate situation and to prevent on-going violence, in individual cases. All of the London-based NGOs interviewed during the study raised concerns about the range of preconceptions that many officers held about the typical black and minority ethnic victim, not least because their experience was that these beliefs influenced whether individual victims were deemed deserving of police assistance (Dobash & Dobash, 2000). Many of the interviewees discussed working with victims whose contact with the police had left them in greater danger, leading these victims to lose faith in the criminal justice system and, thus, become less likely to call the police in relation to further violence. Police protection is often conditional as the nature and extent of the protection offered depends on an individual police officer's perception of the incident(s) reported. The police are given considerable discretion so that they can choose the most appropriate response for the specific situation; this

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helps the police to respond effectively to many but not all types of crime. A longstanding criticism from prosecutors, women's groups and victims of HBV alike relates to police attitudes concerning HBV; these criticisms centre on the fact that officers routinely dismiss this form of violence as part of the culture of black and minority ethnic communities, stereotyping both victims and abusers. The police often do not take HBV seriously and, as a result, they regularly fail to protect women from further violence. One interviewee from Kurdish Women's Rights Watch argued that the British criminal justice system still does not understand HBV in sufficient depth: in Banaz's case the police were not very active in pursuing her calls where she claimed that her dad was threatening her and they did not take her word seriously. Thus, the discretion that police officers have in responding to individual cases often leads to significant failures in both recording and working to address individual incidents of HBV. The police response to a given problem frequently develops at a policy level rather than an operational one. However, the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) has recently produced a national strategy on forced marriage and HBV involving guidance, training and risk assessment tools. This strategy has been welcomed by a wide range of stakeholders as providing a framework that encompasses both policy and practice. Nonetheless, despite the introduction of police training programmes, these have yet to consistently reach non-specialist officers. Moreover, as one interviewee from Kurdish Women's Rights Watch argued, the police should not only be trained but tested to see whether they practice what they preach with regard to protecting female citizens from VAW in all its forms. However, both police responses to, and prosecution rates for, HBV cases have improved in recent years, as evidenced in the case of Tulay Goren.2 Although work to develop more effective policy responses is on-going (e.g. the Metropolitan Police Department), many interviewees in this study spoke of inconsistencies between policy and practice: most interviewees link these inconsistencies to retrogressive understandings of the role of cultural factors. These problems were perceived to be compounded by widespread reverse racism among the police and other statutory agencies, leading them to grant cultural rights precedence over women's rights. For instance, one interviewee from Southall Black Sisters reported that the organisation receives a lot of calls from professionals who say to us I really think I should do more to help this victim but my manager doesn't feel we should be seen as interfering, and there is this sense of Well, we have got to be seen to be culturally sensitive: we don't want to be accused of being racist. In London it is clear that, despite both the sterling work done by the HBV Working Group, which was led by senior police commanders, and a major shift in policy following the murder of Heshu Yones, 3 police responses to HBV remain variable. An interviewee from Southall Black Sisters neatly summed up the key problem: The main gripe I have with all of this [increased police] awareness is that it is only there amongst a certain

level and it is not filtering down. Even in the police force, ACPO [the Association of Chief Police Officers] can come out with what is a great policy it has and so can the Metropolitan Police but the frontline officer hasn't got a clue.

Summary of key recommendations Examining the findings of the UK-based part of the study in light of the data gathered in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region led to the creation of several wide-ranging action plans for addressing HBV. The study as a whole revealed that HBV remains prevalent in Kurdish communities in both the UK and the Iraqi Kurdistan Region, as well as among other peoples in different countries around the world. Moreover, HBV manifests in broadly similar ways in Kurdish communities in both the UK and Iraqi Kurdistan: cases exhibit similar parameters, similar underlying causal factors (in terms of cultural and patriarchal beliefs), and similar outcomes for victims, perpetrators and their families. Women's organisations working closely with victims of HBV in the Kurdish diaspora argue that ongoing training and support, improved prosecution of individual perpetrators, more effectively coordinated support for victims, and comprehensive awareness-raising and public education are needed to tackle HBV in particular and VAW more generally. Women who have encountered any forms of HBV, including threats of violence, should receive immediate, confidential and comprehensive assistance, including access to legal help and psychological and social support. The UK-based part of the study identified various gaps in British policy and practice, including

othe lack of efficient information systems and failures to record sufficient, accurate data,

othe need for better working relationships between the police and specialist VAW/HBV organisations in Kurdish and other black and minority ethnic communities, othe need to improve all police officers' understanding of HBV and related issues, othe need to address inconsistencies in police responses through further training to counteract postcode lottery effects and ensure consistency across the UK, othe lack of specialist services, including safe shelter for victims, and othe general under-funding of support services, especially specialist services for black and minority ethnic communities.

Many of the study's key recommendations centre on the need for a more holistic, coordinated approach to addressing and preventing HBV that recognises the complexity of the issue. Most urgently, more resources need to be directed towards securing the financial stability of specialist women's services, many of which are under threat as a result of the recent cutbacks in government funding. Conclusion Tackling so-called honour-based violence effectively necessitates a shift in political thinking in the UK. Instead of simplistically conceptualising HBV as a cultural tradition

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3 One of the most publicized cases of honour killings was that of sixteen year old Heshu Yones. On 12 October 2002, Heshu's father, Abdalla Yones, killed her. Her crime was that she had become Westernised. The family had migrated to Britain to escape persecution by Saddam Hussein's regime in Kurdish Iraq. Heshu had developed a relationship with a Lebanese Christian man.

common to a range of backward (and, thus, othered) societies, the issue needs to be (re-)considered in the context of VAW (i.e. gender-based violence) and the patriarchal value systems found throughout British society. Arguing that gender is the most significant causal factor does not imply that HBV only afflicts women, but the fact remains that the vast majority of victims are female. As a manifestation of gender inequality, HBV acts to reinforce patriarchal relations through the policing of women's activities and sexual behaviour. This produces a climate of fear and domination primarily directed against women. VAW is not specific to particular communities within Britain: it potentially affects all female citizens, though it often does so in different ways and for different socio-cultural reasons. For instance, in Kurdish society HBV is part of a spectrum of VAW that is premised on the perpetuation of male control over family and community life. However, turning a political or media spotlight on forms of VAW that primarily afflict women from black and minority ethnic communities often means that attention is directed away from the more important issues of gender equality and human rights to political debates about Britishness and the perceived dangers of nonassimilated immigrant communities. While there have been a number of positive recent developments, including the commissioning of the study behind this paper, HBV and VAW remain significant embedded problems in Kurdish society. Therefore, the paper presents a number of recommendations for improving police responses and developing more effective policies, practical initiatives and police training programmes. These recommendations draw heavily on the UK-based part of study, particularly the ten interviews with members of NGOs working in or with Kurdish communities, as these participants have extensive frontline experience of assisting those affected by HBV. Women's organisations have led the way in both identifying HBV as a specific problem requiring urgent international attention and in arguing that the most effective way forward involves (re-)conceptualising HBV as a form of VAW. However, attempts to address VAW, including HBV, have so far attracted insufficient commitment and resources in both domestic and international arenas, leaving women unprotected and vulnerable. It is vital that honour killings and HBV remain on the international human rights agenda if sufficient support is to be directed towards the global struggle against these and other forms of VAW. End Notes
1 Banaz Mahmod Babakir Agha's family migrated to Britain from Kurdish Iraq in 1998. Banaz was aged 21 years and was living in Mitcham, South London, when she was strangled with a shoelace, in 2006. Banaz's crime was to fall in love with a Kurdish Muslim man, twenty-eight year old Rahmat Suleimani, who was not from the same clan group but, instead, was a Kurdish man from Iran. They met at a family gathering, fell in love and decided to elope. This behaviour was perceived as scandalous by the family, and her actions became known throughout the tight-knit Kurdish community in South West London. When the family became aware of her intention to elope, Banaz's father held a family meeting. At the insistence of Banaz's uncle, it was decided that her punishment would be death. All the perpetrators in this case believed that their acts of violence were a justied response to Banaz's dishonourable behaviour. 2 In January 1999, Tulay Goren, a 16 year old Turkish Kurdish woman disappeared. In 2009, her father, Mehmet Goren, was prosecuted for and convicted of her murder (Regina v Mehmet Goren, Ali Goren and Cuma Goren, OctoberDecember 2009).

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