UK parents found guilty of 'honour killing' - Europe - Al Jazeera English

UK parents found guilty of 'honour killing' - Europe - Al Jazeera English

I found this today. It is something which seems so far in the past. Here in France there are similar things going on - sisters and daughters forced to wear the hijab, or children stolen by one parent who takes them back 'au pays'. We don't hear much about forced weddings although as I write this I have come across this site and what to do if a person finds themselves in such a situation:

http://www.sosfemmes.com/points_de_vue/sujets/03_mariage_force.htm

In French law a marriage has to be consented to by both parties so if this is not the case it is seen as a forced marriage or 'un marriage non consenti' and as such is illegal. There is of course the case of 'consentement alteré' where one of the partners would have wished for the marriage to take place at some other time in the future but due to circumstances has to marry at once. According to French stats, 2/3 of forced marriages end up in divorce.

Here is something about forced marriages and also things that happen to women if they fall in love outside the perceived suiters:

French:
http://observers.france24.com/fr/content/20090917-tue-fille-evite-prison-crime-honneur

English:
http://observers.france24.com/content/20090917-no-prison-those-who-kill-daughters-name-honour-killings

So for a man in many countries, 'Honour killings' are seen as less important and they are given light sentences for killing their family (6-12 months) although in many countries this is changing. In Pakistan, this type of killing now leads to the death penalty (not that I think that this is much better) . However for women things are very different:

 A Syrian woman who killed her husband after finding out that he was raping her daughters got 12 years in prison."

However, something I hear about frequently in France is 'excision' or female genital mutilation - Infibulation. France is the   only country in Europe where there have been trials for this mutilation of young girls.

http://www.droitsenfant.com/excision.htm

Then  there are the Kayan people in Burma where women put on rings around their neck to make their neck longer as it is estimed as beautiful and to distinguish them from men - are there not enough things that distinguish us anyway? Nothing is said about this.

And what about circumcision of men? This also is often done early in life so the child has no say over what should happen to his body. But of course, since studies in Africa have shown that circumcision seems to reduce the infection rate of HIV even the WHO seems to recommend it in HIV prevetion.  (Siegfried N, Muller M, Deeks JJ, Volmink J (2009). Siegfried, Nandi. ed. "Male circumcision for prevention of heterosexual acquisition of HIV in men". Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (Online) (2): CD003362. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD003362.pub2.PMID 19370585.)