Navi Pillay, the UN human rights High Commissioner, commented today on the murder of Farzana Parveen.
“I am deeply shocked by the death of Farzana Parveen, who, as in the case of so many other women in Pakistan, was brutally murdered by members of her own family simply because she married a man of her own choice,” said High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay.
“I do not even wish to use the phrase ‘honour killing’: there is not the faintest vestige of honour in killing a woman in this way,” she added in a news release, which also noted that Pakistan has one of the highest rates of violence against women globally.
And why is that? Because they think their holy book makes it ok.
According to reports, some 20 members of Ms. Parveen’s family, including her father and two brothers, attacked her and her husband when they were on their way to the Lahore High Court, where they were due to contest her father’s allegations that she had been kidnapped by her husband and that their marriage was invalid.
“Every year, hundreds of women are killed in Pakistan as a punishment for marrying a man their families have not chosen or for refusing an arranged marriage,” Ms. Pillay said.
According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, 869 women were murdered in so-called ‘honour killings’ in the country last year, but the real figure could be much higher, with many such killings believed to be disguised as accidents, or not reported at all.
“The Pakistani Government must take urgent and strong measures to put an end to the continuous stream of so-called ‘honour killings’ and other forms of violence against women,” said Ms. Pillay.
“They must also make a much greater effort to protect women like Farzana Parveen. The fact that she was killed on her way to court, shows a serious failure by the State to provide security for someone who – given how common such killings are in Pakistan – was obviously at risk.”
Will the Pakistani Government pay any attention? It seems very unlikely.
Just have the NRA supply all the women with a gun, ammunition, and training. In the USA too, please.
@Martin: That’s the best response you can come up with? More violence?
Words fail.
Am I the only one who sees some disturbing parallels between “not all men” and “not all [insert religion here]”?
“The Pakistani Government must take urgent and strong measures to put an end to the continuous stream of so-called ‘honour killings’ and other forms of violence against women,”
But, but, but….tradition!
The “war between the sexes” is supposed to be a metaphor. Personally I have no interest in living in a world where I have to arm myself to protect myself against my friends, brother, father, relatives, teachers, co-workers, and so on. If we can’t do better than that then we deserve to go extinct as a species.
The refusal to connect misogynist violence to Islam is a near-perfect parallel to the waffling around the Isla Vista killings.
2+2 MUST NOT be permitted to equal 4.
Officially there are about a thousand such killiongs every year in Pakistan. However, since many are not reported and others classed as *accidents*, the real figure is probably much higher.
And this story is from an Arab Emirate considered a trail blazer in women’s rights
http://www.ansa.it/english/news/2014/05/28/kuwaiti-woman-loses-child-custody-after-wearing-a-bikini_109b5133-367a-441a-9eb2-1991823124d2.html