I INT-23-05-103 State policy, strategies and implementation in combating patriarchal violence, focusing on “honour related” violence Dr Suruchi Thapar-Björkert II AUTHORS: DR. SURUCHI THAPAR-BJÖRKERT (First Author) AFFILIATION: Doctor of Philosophy, University of Warwick, UK. Currently, Lecturer at the Department of Sociology, University of Bristol and Tema Etnicitet, Linköping University. CARIN PERSSON (Second Author) AFFILIATION: Master of Social Sciences, Linköping University. Involved in Norrköping’s Kvinnojour, September 2001-June 2002. Also involved in “Stjärnjouren” in Sundbyberg, June 2003-January 2005. State policy, strategies and implementation in combating patriarchal vio- lence, focusing on “honour related” violence. Integrationsverkets stencilserie 2007:04 © Integrationsverket 2007 ISSN 1651-5676 Integrationsverket Box 633 601 14 Norrköping www.Integrationsverket.se Grafisk produktion och tryck: Elanders AB 2007 III Foreword Some years ago the Swedish Integration Board (Integrationsverket) initi- ated a project in partnership with Ethnic Studies at Linköping University. The main aim of the project, State policy, strategies and implementation in combating patriarchal violence, focusing on “honour related” violence, with Dr. Suruchi Thapar-Björkert from Linköping University as author, was to improve and deepen the understanding of honour related violence through a comparative study of three countries: Sweden, the United King- dom and Turkey. The project was completed in autumn 2006 and resulted in a report – the full version published in English and a condensed version in Swedish. The aim of the study is reflected in the report’s introduction through an analysis of how honour related violence is defined and understood in the three said countries. The occurrence of honour related violence is then identified, and finally, the responsibility and initiative of the state in com- bating this violence is analysed. Dr. Suruchi Thapar-Björkert, from Theme Ethnicity at Linköping Uni- versity, is the author of the report. Erik Olsson, Associate Professor at the same institution, has contributed to the study’s quality appraisal. For the Swedish Integration Board, Analyst Erika Sallander and Deputy Head of Department Christer Gustavsson have been in overall charge of the study. March 2007, Norrköping Lena Bernström Abdullahi Aress Acting General-Director Head of the Department of Analysis IV Acknowledgments We would like to thank all the respondents for their time and for sharing their experience and knowledge on the subject of honour violence. The UK We would like to thank Yunus Samad, Marsha Henry and Ibrahim Sirkeci for sharing valuable links to respondents and material on HRV. A special thanks to Gurchathen Sanghera for sharing his knowledge on honour vio- lence in the UK, and for providing a continuous stream of references and information. We are extremely grateful to all the respondents, academics, members of governmental and non-governmental organisations who shared their understanding and experiences of honour related violence. Thanks also to Geetanjali Gangoli who assisted in conducting some of the intervi- ews on the project. Sweden Special thanks go to Erika Sallander and Christer Gustavsson, who saw the usefulness of this project and provided valuable input to earlier drafts of this report. We would also like to thanks Erik Olsson for being a source of critical engagement and encouragement, Adele Anab and Cecilia Englund for their comments on earlier drafts of the report, and Gunnel Björkert for construc- tive dialogues and critical insights. Special thanks also to Stefan Björkert who kept us informed about all the new developments on honour violence and provided insightful comments on various drafts of this report. Turkey We would like to thank representatives from Women for Women’s Human Rights, New Ways and Flying Broom, for providing valuable information. Special thanks to the academics interviewed for this project and who also provided contacts to organisations. V Executive Summary In 2000, the UNFPA report, ‘Living Together, Worlds Apart: Men and Women in a Time of Change’, estimated that around ‘5000 women and girls are killed every year, across the world, because of dishonour’. Gen- der-based violence that uses ‘honour’ as a means of justification is preva- lent in countries such as Turkey, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Britain, Jor- dan, Brazil, Egypt, Ecuador, Israel, Morocco, Sweden and Uganda. Under- pinned by the indefensible notions of honour (izzat, sharaf) and shame (sharam), honour killings appear to be on the increase, transcending social, cultural and national boundaries. The practice of honour killings transcends class and social boundaries and is not confined to impoverished rural areas, but is also prevalent among the educated elite in cities. The term ‘honour related violence’ is associated with a range of oppres- sive and discriminatory practices, which may or may not result in ‘murder’ or ‘killing’ but are equally and importantly harmful. Inequalities and power disparities in social structures can nurture and promote specific forms of direct interpersonal oppression and violence. These permeate the ‘ordinary’ lives of men and women and impact in gendered ways. Johan Galtung (1996) argues that this constitutes structural violence, which becomes evi- dent when the potential development of an individual or group is held back by the conditions of a specific relationship and, in particular, by the uneven distribution of power and resources. As Amartya Sen (1999) notes, we have to take account of the instrumental role of capability expansion in bringing about social change. The principal aim of this project was to enhance our comparative under- standing of Honour Related Violence (HRV) in three countries, namely, Sweden, the United Kingdom (UK) and Turkey. We achieved this by first of all analysing how HRV is defined and contextualised in the three coun- tries, then identifying the un-quantifiable prevalence of HRV and finally analysing the responsibilities and the initiatives of the state in combating HRV. Interestingly, violence against women conceptualised as HRV pre- ceded state discussions in all three countries – the murder of Fadime Sahin- dal in Sweden (2002), Rukhsana Naz in the UK (1998) and Semse Allak in Turkey (2002). In fact, these incidences of violence altered the nature of the state’s engagement in relation to HRV. Initially, the states refused to acknowledge that there was any evidence of honour related violence in their countries, often shifting the onus of violence on to ‘others’ – violence lies elsewhere. Secondly, states have often referred to these violent prac- tices as a ‘private matter’ and beyond the realm of government interven- tion. In this case, their refusal to politicise honour related violence by indi- vidualising and privatising aspects of women’s oppression has uncon- sciously sanctioned the violence. This attitude has also informed the ways in which human rights institutions have excluded or condoned ‘honour’ related violence from a human rights violation framework, often adopting an anti-feminist, anti-developmentalist and de-politicised perspective on this social issue. No one encompassing definition of HRV exists. HRV is understood dif- ferently by different nation states, which has its own sets of problems. One of the central concerns of defining HRV has been that it may perpetuate culturalist-other stereotypes and lead to further labelling rather than solu- tions. Although discussions about HRV are continuously evolving, we VI need to transcend debates relating to the specificity of violence or ‘cul- tures’ that support it, and instead view any violence or violation as a breach of human rights. For that we have to make the language of human rights accessible to those who perpetuate violence and to those who experience it. Too much focus on the killings or any specific culture deflects attention from relations of (post) colonial power and the gendered practices perpe- trated by dominant constituencies and western states. The Swedish state perceives HRV as an expression of patriarchal vio- lence, with honour related violence, honour related life and honour related oppression constituting a continuum of violence. In the UK, the issue of HRV is discussed in conjunction with forced marriages and domestic vio- lence. In the UK, the main emphasis is on analysis, through a Violence Against Women Strategy, which incorporates all forms of violence and includes those that use ‘honour’ to condone and justify abuse. In Turkey, HRV is conceptualised as ‘violence in the name of honour’, with an em- phasis on the physical nature of the killing. No official figures on the incidence of honour related violence are avail- able, although there is a consensus that the ‘hidden statistics’ could be higher as a result of under-reporting. Alternatively, higher statistical num- bers could reflect an increase in cases registered rather than an increase in the incidence of HRV. It is more important, however, to identify ‘young people’ at risk, irrespective of ethnicity or cultural background, who might suffer HRV on the basis of their gender or sexual orientation. The report regards government initiatives as protective and preventative strategies. In our opinion both of these are important for combating honour related violence. Women’s shelters or refuges are expected to be a ‘safe haven’ for women and children who decide to leave a violent situation, are forced into that decision