Crime in Berlin: “Honor Killing” or Femicide?

After the violent death of an Afghan woman in Berlin, the causes and classification are discussed. Two brothers are suspected. Is the crime an “honor killing” – or is the term incorrect?

Berlin’s Senator for Integration Elke Breitenbach (Die Linke) has rejected criticism in the debate about the term “honor killing”. You do not ignore the social background of the crime, but stick to calling such an act as femicide, said Breitenbach after a Senate meeting with a view to the murder of an Afghan woman in Berlin, which became known on Friday.

As a suspected perpetrator two brothers were arrested. They allegedly killed their sister because of her lifestyle.

“Tip of the iceberg”

Sharp criticism of Breitenbach’s choice of term came from women’s rights activist Seyran Ates, among others: It would be a lot to be gained in integration policy if it were accepted that there is such a thing as “honor killings,” said the Berlin lawyer in the RBB information radio. According to Ates, it is important to name such acts in the name of a concept of honor that comes from other cultures: “This is the only way we can get to the root of the problem.”

The organization Terres des Femmes also calls for “violence in the name of honor” to be called by its name: The case is not “generally about femicide, ie the killing of women because they are women, but a special form that may not be hidden under the general term. Violence in the name of honor is exercised in very strictly patriarchal societies in which girls and women do not have the same rights as men and are often strictly controlled “.

An “honor killing” is “the tip of the iceberg, including the often long-term oppression and forced marriage of girls and women, which is not numerically recorded in Germany,” said Godula Kosack, CEO of Terres des Femmes. The organization urgently calls for an up-to-date study on the actual extent of early and forced marriages and “honor killings” in Germany as well as suitable preventive measures.

Men also affected

The journalist and Islamic scholar Fabian Goldmann also thinks that “honor killing” is not a political battle term, but a real phenomenon. It is not uncommon for men to be victims of such crimes: “Most of the time it was the unwanted partner of the female victim.”

Goldmann points out that most cases of (fatal) violence against women are not “honor killings”. According to experts, there are three to twelve cases per year in Germany. For comparison: For 2019, the BKA recorded 141,792 cases of “intimate partner violence”. 117 women died.

Goldmann also emphasizes that “honor killings” are not an Islamic phenomenon, they also exist in rural regions of India or Brazil. In Germany, such acts would by no means be punished less severely by the judiciary or hushed up in the media. Rather, it is rather the acts played down as “family drama” that are only depicted in the local media.

Most murders of women are “not just individual acts of relationship”. They too have a cultural component: “Toxic role models are the reason why women all over the world have to die when men feel their ‘masculinity’ has been hurt.”

Patriarchal interpretations of religions

The Liberal-Islamic Federation, on the other hand, opposed the term “honor killing”. The term is highly problematic, “Femicide” is preferred, said a representative of the community in Berlin to the Evangelical Press Service (epd). Femicides are not only widespread in Muslim societies, said Regine Brosius, coordinator of the Berlin liberal community. This is also a widespread phenomenon in Christian Latin America, for example: “Nevertheless, there is usually no mention of a specific problem of Christianity here.”

Patriarchal interpretations in Islam, Christianity and other religions do their part to ensure “that men see themselves entitled to decide about the lives of women”, according to Brosius.

“Nothing to do with honor”

In the current case, the Berlin public prosecutor’s office spoke in its press release of the charge of a “so-called ‘honor killing'” – deliberately, as press spokesman Martin Steltner said at the request of RBB said. That’s how it describes a “dishonor”, because: “That would have nothing to do with honor,” said Steltner. “I thought carefully about which formulation to use.”

He does not see the accusation of taking over the “wording” of the alleged perpetrators, according to Steltner. “You have to clearly state what it is about – but also make it clear that this allegation has nothing to do with honor,” he said. To describe this act with terms like femicide is, in his opinion, not the right way to go.