The Global Campaign to Stop Killing and Stoning Women!

10/29/2008: The Global Campaign to Stop Killing and Stoning Women! (SKSW) strongly condemns the stoning to death of Asha Ibrahim Dhuhulow, a 13 year old Somali girl who was publically tortured and murdered Monday in the local square in Kismayu, Somalia.

Minute of Silence Presentation 2007 and 2008

09/16/2008: We have updated two powerpoint presentations showing recent victims of 'honour' killing. Use these for educational purposes and presentations.

Interactive map displaying global violence against women and a list of cases of culturally-justified violence against women.

08/22/2008: Visit our new website functions and give feedback at info@stop-killing.org

Press Release from the Global Campaign to Stop Killing and Stoning Women!

08/07/2008: Iran: Death by stoning suspended…but still legal!

The Global Campaign to Stop Killing and Stoning Women! is initiated by a group of activists, lawyers, journalists, and academics, who are committed to ending the stoning and killing of women. Stoning to death is a legal form of punishment for 'adultery of married persons' (zina al-Mohsena) in Afghanistan, Iran, Nigeria (about one-third among 36 states), Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and the United Arab Emirates. Recent cases of stoning by state authorities have mostly occurred in Iran, where stoning is not limited to 'adultery.' Elsewhere, such as Pakistan and Iraq, incidents of stoning have tended to be carried out by communities, rather than the state. In Nigeria and UAE, sentences to death by stoning have been overturned after strong international protests.

Women constitute nearly all those condemned to death by stoning. Why? Because discriminatory laws and customs almost always assign more guilt to women than to men in any manner of action that is seen as violating 'norms' of sexual behaviour, especially any instance of alleged sexual relations outside marriage (zina). Men are entitled to marry more than one woman and can use this justification for sex outside marriage. They are also more mobile and can more easily escape punishment.

In many other countries, women may also be killed by their own family and community, should they be accused of contravening sexual mores, including accusations of committing zina. According to the UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary and Arbitrary Executions, so-called 'honour killings' (or rather, dishonourable killings of women) have occurred in countries as diverse as Bangladesh, Brazil, Ecuador, Egypt, India, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Morocco, Pakistan, Sweden, Turkey, Uganda and the United Kingdom. The increasing trend to control women's bodies is also evident in countries where women are not stoned or killed, but are whipped for the same alleged 'crime' of zina - for example, in parts of Indonesia. The Global Campaign to Stop Killing and Stoning Women! urges the United Nations to investigate these serious infringements of International Human Rights Law and the international community to send a clear message that it is unacceptable for women to be tortured and killed.

For more information, see http://www.wluml.org.