Roundtable on Strategies to Address ‘Crimes of Honour’: Summary Report

A Roundtable on Strategies to Address ‘Honour Crimes’ was held in London from 12-13 November 1999. It was jointly organised by the Centre for Islamic and Middle Eastern Law (CIMEL) at the School of Oriental and African Studies at London University and by INTERIGHTS, the International Centre for the Legal Protection of Human Rights, under the auspices of the CIMEL / INTERIGHTS ‘Honour Crimes’ Project.The Project was initiated in response to the reports of the murders of Samia Sarwar in Pakistan and Rukhsana Naz in the UK in 1999 and the explicit articulation of an ‘honour’-based defence by the alleged perpetrators in each case. Participants in the Roundtable included some twenty scholars, lawyers, journalists and human rights advocates, working domestically in the UK and countries of South Asia and the Middle East, and/or internationally.The Roundtable aimed to provide an opportunity for activists working on the issue of ‘honour crimes’ in different regions to share information regarding their incidence, their varying manifestations and initiatives to address the phenomenon. This report was compiled on the basis of discussions at the Roundtable.