Wednesday night (7th October 2009) I attended Rana Husseini’s book launch of Murder In the Name of Honour. This event was organised by Amnesty International UK. Although the weather was disappointing that night and I reached the Human Rights Action Center completely wet and cold, the panel discussion was absolutely inspiring. Weather of UK was not the only thing I had undermined. Although I was well aware about honour killing and forced marriages, I had undermined the complexity and the depth of this issue. When rest of the world is fighting recession and global warming, there is a world where women cannot even fight for their own life.
Women who are often killed/ murdered in the name of so called honour, are young, innocent girls whose crime is being raped by family members and or ‘bringing dishonour’ to their family by not wanting to marry or live with someone they have been forced to. They are often times abused by family member and also killed for briging shame to her family. They believe it to be cleansing the family name. These women are not even treated like proper human beings, they are completely helpless and don’t have the right to their own life. Women’s rights are far away, unreachable for these women, and so is being a normal human being.
Violence against women is common, not only in what seems like the third world, but there are women who are being raped, sexually harassed and beaten everyday even in developing and developed nation. It makes me wonder, is it really development then? A famous economist Amartya Sen, has proposed an idea to measure the economic progress or development of a country not only with value that can be measured such as money, or GDP, but also the labour and hard work women put into their household and in return into the country. If that is to be taken into account, then none of these countries are really developed. Are they? Women are valueless and worthless in most of these situations. Women are seen only as an honour trophy that can be passed around everywhere, from one man to another. If she speaks for herself then she is killed. In the western of so called developed nations, rage killing of girl-friends and beating of your girlfriend or wife, puts women again in the valueless and worthless categories.
Violence against women in various forms from honour killing to beating, or even verbal abuse, are all issues that need to be taken into account by every individual. People are aware of such situations but very few take a step towards doing something about it. Most women even in today’s world will have faced or will face some kind of inequality in their personal and or public lives. When is this going to come to an end? Every women must start to be aware of their existence, their rights and their place in the society. Men must realise and value the lives of women around them, along with their rights. This can only happen by ‘awareness’ and speaking out. Next time you see a woman being hit on the streets, by her boyfriend, father or brother- SPEAK OUT!
Amnesty International has never failed to take a step forward in helping the situation of women around the world, promoting and uplifting human rights. Just like amnesty every individual must take a step forward in making this world a better place to feel safe to live in. Three cheers for AIUK, for putting up such a breath-taking programme, that might have just changed the way I think about the vulnerability of women, even in the developing nations.
If you wish to know more about events taking place in Amnesty International, click here
