’Honour-Related Violence and Children’s Right to Physical and Psychological Integrity’

This article discusses the protection children subjected to honourrelatedviolence are entitled to under international human rightslaw. The issue is examined from the perspective of the practicaland effective implementation of the right to physical andpsychological integrity. In ensuring this right, relevant authoritiesmust take the child’s right to family life into consideration, whichmay require specific measures to ensure a safe homeenvironment in the long term. In cases of honour-related violence,this arguably entails addressing attitudes of family members thatuphold violence, notably attitudes towards what is consideredacceptable social behaviour for girls and boys and how the familycan uphold its honour without resorting to violence. An obligationto support parents in such a manner can be held to exist underthe Convention on the Rights of the Child, but has not yet beenadvanced by the European Court of Human Rights.