Honor killings and Europe

Another tragic consequence of foolish immigration policies:

Hatun Surucu's crime was that she wanted to be free. Forced by her family to marry her cousin at age 16, the Turkish-born Berliner had divorced her husband, gone back to school and begun dating other men. On Feb. 7, after getting a call from a relative to come out on the street, the vivacious 23-year-old was shot three times in the head in what police describe as "an execution-style killing." Three of her brothers, one of whom boasted to friends about the murder, are now in jail.

Surucu's murder is only one of a series of high-profile "honor killings" sending shock waves through Europe. In Berlin since October, six Muslim women have been brutally killed by their husbands or brothers, who felt the women had besmirched the family honor. In London on Friday, the Metropolitan Police announced that 18 cases of reported "suicide" in the last two years had turned out to be honor killings; another 59 suspicious suicides are still under investigation. These cases, authorities say, are likely just the tip of the iceberg.

Europeans, though aghast at such barbarity in their midst, long hoped such problems would disappear as second-and third-generation immigrants assimilated Western ways. Yet that hasn't happened. Large parts of Europe's Muslim community continue to cling to traditional values in an environment many of them experience as unwelcoming at best. And whether out of xenophobia, indifference or multicultural tolerance, host societies have tended to turn a blind eye. In Germany, for example, judges have often handed out lower sentences for such crimes—in two recent cases going so far as to reduce murder charges to manslaughter—out of deference to so-called cultural differences. Never mind that these decisions have generally been corrected by a higher court. It's telling that Surucu's death in itself didn't even make the news. Only after the principal of a local high school reported on the reaction of immigrant students did Germans really take notice. "She lived like a German," said one student, justifying the killing.

Lately there have been signs that European governments may finally be facing up to the problem. Britain and Sweden recently mounted campaigns to educate police and prosecutors in recognizing and better handling honor-related violence. The German Parliament is considering the world's first law against forced marriage, a practice that often goes hand-in-hand with such crimes. Sentences for the offending parents would run up to five years. In the Netherlands, language and civics courses are now mandatory for new immigrants. For women fleeing their families to escape crimes of honor, activists and social workers have set up a network of safe houses all over Europe.

In the news:

‘Honor' killings shock Germans

Spate of 'honor killings'highlights clash of worlds

Muslim 'honor killings' shock Berlin

Over 4000 honour killings in Pakistan in 2004: Paper

Around the Blogosphere:

"Multiculturalism is just a cover for an ideology that prefers to look away"

"This false dream of tolerance and Germany's fear of being called racist are helping fundamentalists"

"Honor Killings"

Just a Turkish Country Girl