What is Forced Marriage?
Forced marriage is the marriage of (often young) women to men they do not know (often older than them), whom they have never seen and with whom they do not want to be. Forced marriages differ to "arranged marriages" as this entails a process of negotiation and/or prior consultation between parents and their children. In situations of forced marriage, coercion is used in the form of emotional blackmail, physical constraints, violence, kidnapping and confinement. Sometimes, women believe that they are returning to their family country of origin for a "holiday" and are subsequently married against their will. Forced marriages continue to exist even if it is a lawful illegal practice. This is due to a number of reasons, notably young women’s fear of speaking out and/or her incapacity to do so and also because this practice is deemed to be part of "traditional cultural practices" into which external authorities are considered an intrusion.

What is "Honour Killings"?
Many women in different parts of the world live in fear as they face death by shooting, burning or killing by other means if they are deemed to have brought shame on the family. They are killed for supposed ‘illicit’ relationships, for marrying men of their choice, for divorcing abusive husbands. The allegation (without proof) is enough to bring dishonour on the family and therefore, justifies the killing.

Every year hundreds of women are known to die as a result of honour killings. Many cases go unreported and almost all go unpunished.

What is "Stoning to Death for presumed adultery"?
In some countries, stoning to death is instituted in law as a means of punishing adultery. In Iran, for example, the penalty for adultery consists in stoning of married offenders regardless of their gender. However, the method involves burial up to the waist for men and up to the neck for women. The law provides that the person can manage to escape, s/he goes free. Since it is easier for a man to escape, this discrimination becomes a matter of life or death. The law further stipulates that stones should be "not so large that the person dies after being hit with two of them, nor so small as to be defined as pebbles, but must cause severe injury."

The above examples have some common features. Firstly, they are carried out in the name of traditional cultural practices, which derive their justification from customary laws for which redress through judicial procedures are not always possible.

Further information
BBC World Service:
www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/people/highlights/marriage.shtml

Amnesty International Report — ASA33/18/99: "Honour Killings of Girls and Women":www.amnesty.org/ailib/aipub/1999/ASA/33301899.htm

Stoning to Death in Iran: Stoning Women to death in Iran:
www.iran-e-azad.org/stoning/women.html