Is the Law Per Se to Blame for Exacerbating So-Called ‘Honour Killings’? The Case of Jordan

• Published in: Journal of human rights practice 2022-10, Vol.14 (2), p.648-675
• Main Authors: Hayajneh, Ahmad M, Alshdaifat, Shadi A
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1757-9627; 1757-9627
• DOI: 10.1093/jhuman/huab052

This article discusses so-called honour killing as a form of murder of women in Jordan, which is more generally a crime against mankind. The article focuses Jordan since the country has recorded the highest rate of killings of women under the pretext of honour for long periods. In an attempt to unpack the social, cultural, and religious roots that may be the cause of the spread of these crimes, the role of the legislator in the aggravation of these crimes—by not taking the appropriate legislative mechanisms to reduce them— is examined. This article concludes that the Jordanian legislator may be responsible for the exacerbation of this phenomenon to a large extent through a slow approach to legislative reform and to amending the relevant articles, and its lack of seriousness in bringing about reform through its focus on certain articles and the neglect of others over a long period of time. The article concludes that reform attempts were not comprehensive enough to encompass all the articles considered to be the cause of this increasing phenomenon; and the legislator’s movement of one step forward and two steps back cannot be separated from the cultural, social, religious, and even political reality.