The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) estimates that there may be as many as 5,000 women victims of honor killings annually, as IRIN news reports. Human Rights Watch (HRW) recently welcomed Syria’s move to enforce minimum prison sentences of two years for those convicted of honor killing, yet urges that more be done: “Two years is better than nothing, but it is hardly enough for murder. The Syrian government should punish all murders alike –no exceptions,” said Nadya Khalife, Middle East and North Africa women’s rights researcher at HRW.

Prior to the new Syrian policy, the penal code had allowed for an “’exemption of penalty’ for the killing of female family members who had been found committing ‘illegitimate sex acts’, and for the murder of wives having extramarital affairs,” as IRIN news describes. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has since replaced the code with an article declaring that a man who “catches his wife, sister, mother or daughter by surprise, engaging in an illegitimate sexual act and kills or injures them unintentionally must serve a minimum of two years in prison.” Human rights advocates and organizations have called for the total abolition of the article, as well as provisions that allow for a judge to discriminate and adjust sentencing for crimes based on honor.

Without official records of honor killings, estimates serve to suggest that as many as 200 deaths occur each year in Syria, with 5,000 deaths occurring across the world.

As recently as this week, rights groups are condemning the murder of a 27-year-old mother of five in Gaza, who was killed by her father to “preserve the honor of the family,” as CNN reports.

SYRIA: Half measures against honour killings not enough – HRW-IRIN News

Rights groups decry Gaza ‘honor killing’-CNN News