Killing in the Name of Honor: Honor Killings: Cultural and Legal Implications in Jordan and Its Obligations Towards International Human Rights Law

The purpose of this research is to discuss and examine the practice of honor killings with a special focus on Jordan and its violation of international human rights law specifically, women's rights. After discussing the relationship between violence against women, discrimination against women and their link to honor killings, the discussion will focus on honor killings in Jordan and the local policies used in Jordanian legislation that discriminate against women and imply governmental tolerance of discriminatory acts against Jordanian women. Jordan's international obligations to the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), will be then discussed in relation to honor killings and Jordanian local policies that deal with these crimes. This research is formulated to support the assumption that state and public adherence to certain cultural and traditional practices pose to be the main obstacle that stands in the way of ending harmful traditional practices against women, such as honor killings