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. CAR-
SON, 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 fol-
lowing 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 so-
called ‘‘honor killings’’ from numerous countries, includ-
ing Bangladesh, Jordan, India, Pakistan, Ecuador,
•HCON 362 IH
Uganda, and Morocco, and noted that such killings take
many forms, such as flogging, forced suicide, stoning, be-
heading, acid throwing, and burning;
Whereas according to the Department of State’s Country Re-
ports on Human Rights Practices for 1999, ‘‘crimes of
honor’’ in Bangladesh include acid-throwing and whip-
ping 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, fa-
thers, 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 exempt-
ing 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;
•HCON 362 IH
Whereas women accused of adultery in countries such as Af-
ghanistan, 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 fre-
quently 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 with-
out discrimination, and the perpetuation of ‘‘honor
killings’’ and dowry deaths is a deliberate violation of
women’s human rights that should be universally con-
demned: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate
concurring), That it is the sense of the Congress that—
(1) the United States, through the United
States 
Agency 
for 
International 
Development,
should—
(A) work with foreign law enforcement and
judicial agencies to enact legal system reforms
to more effectively address the investigation and
prosecution of so-called ‘‘honor crimes’’; and
(B) make resources available to local orga-
nizations to provide refuge and rehabilitation
•HCON 362 IH
for women who are victims of ‘‘honor crimes’’
and the children of such women;
(2) the Department of State, when preparing
yearly Country Reports on Human Rights Practices,
should include—
(A) information relating to the incidence of
‘‘honor violence’’ in foreign countries;
(B) the steps taken by foreign govern-
ments to address the problem of ‘‘honor vio-
lence’’; and
(C) all relevant actions taken by the
United States, whether through diplomacy or
foreign assistance programs, to reduce the inci-
dence of ‘‘honor violence’’ and to increase inves-
tigations and prosecutions of such crimes;
(3) the United States should communicate to
the United Nations its concern over the high rate of
honor-related violence toward women worldwide and
request that the appropriate United Nations bodies,
in consultation with relevant nongovernmental orga-
nizations, propose actions to be taken to encourage
these countries to demonstrate strong efforts to end
such violence; and
(4) the President and the Secretary of State
should communicate directly with leaders of coun-
•HCON 362 IH
tries where ‘‘honor killings’’, dowry deaths, and re-
lated practices are endemic, in order to convey the
Nation’s most serious concerns over these gross vio-
lations of human rights and urge these leaders to in-
vestigate and prosecute all such acts as murder, with
the appropriate penalties.
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