IV

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. CON. RES. 362

Expressing the sense of the Congress regarding so-called ‘‘honor killings’’.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JUNE 22, 2000

Mr. NADLER (for himself, Mrs. LOWEY, Mr. ROHRABACHER, Mr. CAMPBELL,

Ms. DELAURO, Mr. GUTIERREZ, Mr. ENGEL, Mr. SANDLIN, Mr. FROST,

Mrs. MALONEY of New York, Mrs. MINK of Hawaii, Mr. WAXMAN, Mr.

LANTOS, Mr. SANDERS, Mrs. TAUSCHER, Mr. HINCHEY, Mr. LEWIS of

Georgia, Mr. DOYLE, Ms. RIVERS, Mr. CARDIN, Mr. WEXLER, Ms. CARSON, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. UNDERWOOD, Mr. OBERSTAR, Mr. WYNN, Ms.

SCHAKOWSKY, Ms. PELOSI, Mr. MCNULTY, Mr. DOGGETT, Mr. BERMAN,

Mr. ABERCROMBIE, Ms. BALDWIN, and Mr. TIERNEY) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on

International Relations

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

Expressing the sense of the Congress regarding so-called

‘‘honor killings’’.

Whereas thousands of women around the world are killed and

maimed each year in the name of family ‘‘honor’’;

Whereas the United Nations Commission on Human Rights,

56th Session, January 2000, working with the Special

Rapporteurs on violence against women and extrajudicial,

summary, or arbitrary executions, received reports of socalled ‘‘honor killings’’ from numerous countries, including Bangladesh, Jordan, India, Pakistan, Ecuador,
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Uganda, and Morocco, and noted that such killings take

many forms, such as flogging, forced suicide, stoning, beheading, acid throwing, and burning;

Whereas according to the Department of State’s Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1999, ‘‘crimes of

honor’’ in Bangladesh include acid-throwing and whipping of women accused of moral indiscretion;

Whereas authorities in Bangladesh estimate there will be up

to 200 ‘‘honor killings’’ in that country this year;

Whereas thousands of Pakistani women and girls are

stabbed, burned, or maimed every year by husbands, fathers, and brothers who accuse them of dishonoring their

family by being unfaithful, seeking a divorce, or refusing

an arranged marriage;

Whereas Jordan, which had 20 reported ‘‘honor killings’’ in

1998, still has laws reducing the penalty for, or exempting perpetrators of ‘‘honor crimes’’, and the Jordanian

Parliament has twice failed to repeal these laws;

Whereas His Majesty King Abdullah of Jordan should be

commended for the recent formation of Jordan’s Royal

Commission on Human Rights, chaired by Her Majesty

Queen Rania, which will primarily address obstacles that

prevent women and children from exercising their basic

human rights, including the persistence of ‘‘honor

crimes’’;

Whereas more than 5,000 ‘‘dowry deaths’’ occur every year

in India, according to the United Nations Children’s

Fund (UNICEF), which reported in 1997 that a dozen

women die each day in ‘‘kitchen fires’’ designed to be

passed off as accidents because the woman’s husband’s

family is dissatisfied over the size of the woman’s dowry;
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Whereas women accused of adultery in countries such as Afghanistan, the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, and a

host of other countries are subject to a maximum penalty

of death by stoning;

Whereas even though ‘‘honor killings’’ may be outlawed, law

enforcement and judicial systems often fail to properly

investigate, arrest, and prosecute offenders and laws frequently permit reduction in sentences or exemptions from

prosecution for those who ‘‘kill in the name of honor’’

typically resulting in a token punishment, impunity, and

continued violence against women; and

Whereas the right to exist is the most fundamental of all

rights and must be guaranteed to every individual without discrimination, and the perpetuation of ‘‘honor

killings’’ and dowry deaths is a deliberate violation of

women’s human rights that should be universally condemned: Now, therefore, be it

1 Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate

2 concurring), That it is the sense of the Congress that—

3 (1) the United States, through the United

4 States Agency for International Development,

5 should—

6 (A) work with foreign law enforcement and

7 judicial agencies to enact legal system reforms

8 to more effectively address the investigation and

9 prosecution of so-called ‘‘honor crimes’’; and

10 (B) make resources available to local orga11 nizations to provide refuge and rehabilitation
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1 for women who are victims of ‘‘honor crimes’’

2 and the children of such women;

3 (2) the Department of State, when preparing

4 yearly Country Reports on Human Rights Practices,

5 should include—

6 (A) information relating to the incidence of

7 ‘‘honor violence’’ in foreign countries;

8 (B) the steps taken by foreign govern9 ments to address the problem of ‘‘honor vio10 lence’’; and

11 (C) all relevant actions taken by the

12 United States, whether through diplomacy or

13 foreign assistance programs, to reduce the inci14 dence of ‘‘honor violence’’ and to increase inves15 tigations and prosecutions of such crimes;

16 (3) the United States should communicate to

17 the United Nations its concern over the high rate of

18 honor-related violence toward women worldwide and

19 request that the appropriate United Nations bodies,

20 in consultation with relevant nongovernmental orga21 nizations, propose actions to be taken to encourage

22 these countries to demonstrate strong efforts to end

23 such violence; and

24 (4) the President and the Secretary of State

25 should communicate directly with leaders of coun-
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1 tries where ‘‘honor killings’’, dowry deaths, and re2 lated practices are endemic, in order to convey the

3 Nation’s most serious concerns over these gross vio4 lations of human rights and urge these leaders to in5 vestigate and prosecute all such acts as murder, with

6 the appropriate penalties.

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