Murdering Women: What’s Causing Sudan’s Recent Spike in “Honourable” Crimes?
Honour killings in Sudan have doubled since last year. With the majority of reported crimes in Darfur, activists worry that this number only represents a fraction of the victims as many neighbouring areas are isolated from media outlets. Human rights activist, Rana Husseini, adds that often honour killings are not reported, or are misreported as suicides or accidents. In this article, I explore whether the increase in reported honour crimes can be attributed to an increase in technology such as mobile phones.
What makes these murders “honourable”?
‘Honour killing’ is a term used for the murder of a relative who is thought to have brought shame to their family, often through expressions of sexual autonomy, in order to retain their family’s image in the community.
Typically in Sudan, women and girls are suspected of speaking with men or having sexual relations before marriage. Family members, often fathers, brothers, or cousins, feel that they must restore the family’s reputation. As a result, young women and teenage girls are brutally murdered to ‘cleanse [their] family’s honour’. These attacks are rarely picked up on by courts in Sudan, rather settled within families.
A long history of honour killings
Violence against women has historically been used as a demonstration of power. Feminist theories of International Relations show us that ideas of nation and power are enacted on the female body. Acts of loving and protecting nationhood and terms such as ‘motherland’ demonstrate that, conceptually, nationhood is intrinsically gendered. This results in women’s bodies becoming allegorical arenas of violent struggles on a historical and global scale.
In Sudan, the Janjaweed militias used the rape and torture of women as a weapon of war and an expression of their political power. This phenomenon is mirrored in local communities as violent, patriarchal power maintains families’ status.
Unfortunately, honour killings are neither new nor are they unique to Sudan. In many societies, patriarchy is assumed as natural. Male domination comes from the view of absolute male superiority. As a result, patriarchal ideology creates a system of violence towards and control over women which comes to be viewed as a natural expression of male dominance.
The history of the concept of honour helps us understand its role in patriarchy further. For example, during the Roman Empire, the idea of honour was used to hold women accountable to men to produce legitimate children, ensuring their lineage. Early honour codes and laws did not have a punishment for male adulterers, only women.
What’s to blame for the recent rise?
Across the globe, technology such as mobile phones can be weaponised to manipulate women and exasperate abuse in a variety of different ways. Honour killings in Sudan are no exception.
Nahla Yousif, the head of the Future Development Organisation, suggests that the increased number of reported honour killings could be linked to the increase in mobile phone usage. Young women owning mobile phones makes older male relatives feel that they have lost an element of control. There is an assumption that if a woman has a phone, she is using it to talk to men privately. This idea employs the patriarchal theory that a young woman is her father’s or her family’s property until she marries. Thus, any suggestion of promiscuity, whether evidenced or not, brings shame and dishonour to the family.
There has been a steady rise in mobile connections in Sudan since 2016, with between 75-80% mobile phone penetration by 2020. However, I think this is only part of the story. Many cases of honour killings and honour-related crimes go unreported as communities view them as a private, family matter. This is starting to change with younger generations finding honour killings and other honour crimes less acceptable than their parents and grandparents. A 2019 study found that more than 1/4 of people over 35 thought that honour killings were acceptable but the same study observed that less than 1/10 of 18-34 year-olds believe honour killings are acceptable. This suggests there is a generational shift happening in Sudan, which could lead to more honour-related crimes being reported. Thus, instead of more crimes being committed, the number of reported crimes increasing could be positive, a sign that increasing numbers want change.
Final thoughts
Activists are trying to get the perpetrators into court, to set a precedent to prevent these killings. However, after Sudan’s 2021 coup, the judicial system has been backlogged with those who killed martyrs during the revolution.
Although the increased accessibility of mobile phones is likely to be a contributing factor to the increased number of honour killings in Sudan, it is just one piece of the jigsaw. Historical norms and community ethics of domestic privacy perpetuate violence against women, but an increase in reported crimes is not necessarily bad. More research on a local scale into the affected communities is needed to understand the stories and motives behind the crimes. However, the shifting attitude of the younger generation provides hope that more crimes are being reported and young people will be the instruments of change.