2023-11-30 17:21:26
ARIF ALI/AFP via Getty Images
In response to the so-called “honor killing” of a woman in Kohistan, Pakistanwhose death was ordered by a jirga (tribal council) After images of her went viral, Nadia Rahman, deputy regional research director for South Asia at Amnesty International, said:
“The continued inaction of the Pakistani government to end the extrajudicial power of the jirgas or tribal councils, which manage parallel judicial systems that perpetuate patriarchal violence with impunity. The Supreme Court of Pakistan has previously ruled that the operation of these tribal councils is contrary to Pakistan’s commitments under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women”.
“Authorities must end impunity for violence and abolish the so-called municipal and tribal councils that prescribe these heinous crimes.”
“Although repeated ‘honor killings’ have given rise to legislative reforms and social outrage in the country, they continue unstoppable. It is not enough to arrest people after these attacks occur. “The authorities must end impunity for violence and abolish the so-called municipal and tribal councils that prescribe these heinous crimes.”
Additional informationAn 18-year-old woman was shot to death by her father and uncle last week on the orders of elders of a jirga tribal (council) in Pakistan. The so-called “honor killings” are endemic in Pakistan, where 384 cases were recorded in 2022 alone, according to the Pakistan Human Rights Commission. These homicides, which take place after the appearance on social networks of possibly manipulated images of the victims that the family considers an attack on “family honor”, are increasingly common.
However, the conviction rate in cases of gender violence remains low, at 1-2.5% (UNFPA). In Kohistan in particular there have been several previous similar incidents: for example, in 2011, six men and women were killed by order of the tribal council after a video was released showing them dancing. The victims’ brother was murdered seven years later by a relative for pursuing the case. Although Pakistan’s Supreme Court took note of the incident in 2012, the accused in the case were acquitted this year due to lack of evidence.
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