Scientists argue about "honour killings" custom in Northern Caucasus

The "Legal Initiative" has drafted a report on women, who in 2013-2017 fell victim to the so-called "honour killings". The report, which is scheduled to be published on December 6, is based on the studies conducted in the three republics of Northern Caucasus – Chechnya, Ingushetia and Dagestan.

Researchers have often faced people's reluctance to talk about the problem of "honour killings", said Saida Sirazhudinova, a co-author of the report and the President of the Research Centre for Global Issues of Modernity and Regional Problems "Caucasus. Peace. Development".

"Authorities also prefer to ignore these problems; at least for Dagestan I can state this. The practice of "honour killings" has not declined, although there is no precise statistics, of course. In the first place, family members try to conceal cases of such killings; and relatives come up with various versions to explain the disappearance of a girl: she left away for work, got married, etc.," Ms Sirazhudinova has stated.

In her turn, Makka Albogachieva, an ethnographer and a candidate of history, asserts that the killings under the motive of damage to the honour and dignity of the family, are not a tradition in the Caucasus, and such cases are quite rare.

"Yes, in the traditional society, social control has always been high; and certain behaviour was punishable, but at present [such killings] are extremely rare. They are an echo of the tradition, which eventually will come to naught anyway," Ms Albogachieva told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on December 5, 2018 at 00:38 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.