Honor crimes can be committed against men, boys, lesbians and transgender people, but honor crimes against women and girls are more common.

Women and girls have been murdered for the sake of family honor, as young as 7 and as old as 70 by their husbands, fathers, brothers, sons, uncles, cousins and in some cases strangers hired by their families.

Women and girls have been murdered because they (presumably) had a sexual relationship, had a boyfriend, married without family permission, opposed an arranged marriage, could not prove their virginity on their wedding night, were victims of rape, left a violent spouse or used a cell phone and posted a picture on Facebook.

They have been shot, stabbed to death, beheaded, poisoned, electrocuted, stoned and even buried or burned alive.

Only the infamous Dutch National Expertise Center on Honor-Related Violence (LEC EGG) reported in 2019 that more men than women are victims of honor-related violence. However, the honor killing experts at the Dutch police refused to share the underlying data with our organization.

Victims of honor-related violence