Honour Killings: Anna Korteweg

Honour Killings Dept: The past three trials have pointed to another troublesome pattern: direct participation by the victim s brother in her murder. While there have been no honour killings recorded since 2009, community groups say the number of incidents involving honour-based violence has increased, according to Globe and Mail. According to University of Toronto sociologist Anna Korteweg , Germany, the Netherlands and Britain have crafted national policies of prevention, protection and prosecution to address honour-based violence. Canada, however, lacks a systematic approach and the four deaths pointed to a disturbing national trend. Research by University of Sherbrooke professor Anne-Marie Robert indicated that 16 women have been victims of honour killings in Canada between 1999 and 2009, compared with three between 1954 and 1983. The average victim was 21; the killers were immigrants usually male and primarily of Sikh or Muslim background. Such alarming trends should prompt a national policy to deal with the issue. But none has been officially forthcoming aside from cosmetic changes to Canada s guide to new immigrants in which honour killings are called barbaric. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.