Honor Killing

I am loving the wonderful world of BLOG! I travel through people's experiences, I learn a lot about other expats lenses. I share their experiences, I enjoy the ride.

I have a couple of "friends in Japan", I visit African countries, I learn about life in England...and I read, read, read about all sorts of stuff.

It fascinates me.

My recent found destination is India and I am learning a lot about the country and it's views ( or the expats views on Indian's views...kkk)

But not all stories are fun and interesting. Not everything I read take me to a colorful, gorgeous scenario. Some things are ugly. Some stories are terrifying.

Today I read about Honor Killing and this definitely changed something inside me. So many stories of people (mainly women) who get killed because they are "bringing shame" to their families. My stomach turned inside out, my heart sank. I literally had tears in my eyes.

Call me naive, call me stupid, call me culturally insensitive. I do not care. I just can not accept the idea of man killing man, for whatever reason. I can not imagine a father, a mother, a close relative finding it acceptable to decide about someone's right to live.

From wikipedia:

An honor killing or honor killing[1] (also called a customary killing) is the murder of a (female) family or clan member by one or more fellow (mostly male) family members, where the murderers (and potentially the wider community) believe the victim to have brought dishonour upon the family, clan, or community. This perceived dishonor is normally the result of (a) utilizing dress codes unacceptable to the family (b) wanting out of an arranged marriage or choosing to marry by own choice, (c) engaging in certain sexual acts or (d) engaging in relations with the same sex. These killings result from the perception that defense of honor justifies killing a person whose behavior dishonors their clan or family.

In the modern age, the term was first used by the Dutch Turkey expert of the University of Leiden Ane Nauta[2] in 1978. He wanted a working pendant for the at that time well known Blood Feud, with which Honour Killings should not be confused.

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) estimates that the annual worldwide total of honor-killing victims may be as high as 5,000.

My heart is bleeding, I am in such pain after reading those stories!