International Human Rights Law and Crimes Against Women in Turkey

Legislation on So-Called Honour Killings

Ayşe Güneş

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781000297911
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Diritto
• Subtopic: Teoria e pratica del diritto

This book evaluates the effectiveness of current international human rights law, and in particular the recent Istanbul Convention, in eradicating so-called honour killings in Turkey.

So-called 'honour killings' have become an issue of concern for the international community. In Turkey, in particular, the practice still exists despite the adoption of the relevant human rights instruments. The book argues that the improvement of the status of women in Turkey in accordance with gender equality as well as the application of the principle of state due diligence, both requirements of the Istanbul Convention and international human rights law, are fundamental means towards eradicating the killing of women in the name of 'honour'. Using feminist approaches, in particular the intersectionality approach, the study looks at the application of such standards as well as the current obstacles. Through such a lens, the study discusses the strengths and weaknesses of the Turkish Constitution, Turkish Civil Code, Turkish Penal Code and Law to Protect Family and Prevent Violence Against Women and questions the judicial approach to the implementation of the women's right to life. It identifies the lacunae in the Turkish legislation that allow inadequate legal protection for women and the inconsistency of the judicial approach to the definition of the so-called honour killings in the judgements. The study then recommends some concrete amendments to the relevant legal provisions in order to better reflect the international framework and the feminist approaches.

The book will be a valuable resource for academics, researchers and policy-makers in the areas of international human rights law and feminist legal theory.

1 Introduction

1.1 Honour killings or so-called ‘honour killings’

As a very specific phenomenon of violence against women (VAW), ‘honour killings’ occur from the domicile to the transnational arena in the everyday and every-night lives of women all around the world.¹ According to the United Nations Populations Fund (UNFPA), as many as 5000 women and girls are killed in the name of ‘honour’ throughout the world every year.² A ‘plague that affects every country’,³ honour killing is most prevalent in the Middle East and South Asia; reports from Latin America and Europe are less common but do happen. Turkey, so far, has failed to adequately prevent honour killings despite taking significant measures to address this phenomenon.⁴ The situation of ‘honour killings’ in Turkey, therefore, is under international scrutiny in order to eradicate such practices in line with the obligations of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combatting VAW and domestic violence (Istanbul Convention).

Honour killing is gender-based VAW within the family⁵ and results in a violation of human rights—it entails murdering a daughter or wife within a family when she is perceived to have tarnished the reputation or honour of the family.⁶ The victims mostly are women and girls because society, or a portion of it, has a strong belief that a woman’s ‘misbehaviours’, such as adultery, divorce, rape and sexual violation, abuse the family dignity.⁷ It is accepted that the so-called ‘honour killings’⁸ are the most extreme practice of the patriarchal mechanism.⁹ ‘Honour’ is used as an excuse and justification for men to wield control over women’s social, familial and sexual roles and is dictated by a traditional family ideology.¹⁰ In many cases, female victims are subjected to virginity examinations, forced/arranged marriages, and early marriages; when they fail these examinations or reject these marriages, women/girls are killed in the name of ‘honour’.¹¹ Hence, the crime is committed because of the patriarchy that upholds a social system in which the man holds significant power and privilege while the rights of women are often constrained. As a form of gender-based violence, so-called ‘honour killings’ are often described as an extreme form of honour-based violence¹² that violates women’s human rights.¹³

This book attempts to evaluate the relationship between so-called ‘honour killings’ and international human rights law, particularly the Istanbul Convention, using feminist-legal and intersectionality perspectives and focusing on Turkey. Hopefully, studying the role of gender equality in Turkey in order to make suggestions for establishing stronger legal protection for women against violence will contribute to preventing women’s subordination under institutionalised male power and women’s killings committed in the name of ‘honour’.

1.2 Scope and purpose of the book

Recent discussions of women’s killings in the name of ‘honour’ in Turkey have been held by the national and international women’s rights organisations on VAW in the international human rights law framework. However, the issue has been a long-standing one and the so-called ‘honour killings’ in Turkey have been on the international human rights law agenda since 2000.¹⁴

This book is based on the hypothesis that despite Turkey’s recent positive attempts to eradicate so-called ‘honour killings’, legislative and other initiatives are weakened by prevailing cultural stereotypes and perceptions—the latter constituting the main hindrances to the application of legal provisions that prioritise women’s right to life and gender equality. The foremost intentions of this book are to prove this hypothesis and proceed to making practical recommendations for eliminating the obstacles to eradicating VAW, particularly so-called ‘honour killings’, in Turkey.

1.3 Objectives/aims of the book

This book aims primarily to consider women’s rights, freedom from violence, particularly honour killings in the context of Turkey. It will do so by analysing some of the principal national and international human rights laws and ascertaining and evaluating the gaps in the conceptualisation of gender equality and due diligence within the domestic and international legal frameworks. This book is timely because of the many recent improvements in the prevention of VAW and honour killings at the national and international levels.¹⁵ The main argument underpinning the book is that the uplifting of the status of women in conjunction with the principle and standards of gender equality and the principle of the state due diligence applied to so-called ‘honour killings’ is a fundamental means towards eradicating the killing women in the name of ‘honour’.

This book also seeks to identify the recent obstacles to preventing so-called ‘honour killings’ by looking at the effects of the international human rights law agenda on the development of women’s rights and the importance of the combatting VAW in Turkey. This book maintains that the universal women’s rights discourse is an invaluable basis for challenging discriminatory and oppressive social norms. It aims to illustrate the relevance of this discourse for Turkish women in their consistent struggle for equality and to be free from all discriminatory practices, particularly ‘honour killings’.

Crucially, the book argues that the Istanbul Convention, which mainly prioritises the principle of gender equality and the due diligence duty of state law enforcement practitioners, has given an important helping hand to Turkey and its policy on the prevention honour killings as gender-based VAW. This approach highlights Turkey’s determination to combat VAW by ratifying the Istanbul Convention, by enacting the Law to Protect Family and Prevent VAW and by examining the legal developments adopted through the contributions of the international law and women’s rights non-governmental organisations (NGOs). The strengths ...