A/HRC/20/16 committed with high levels of impunity in many parts of the world. 64 Although honour crimes have mainly occurred in the vast zone spreading from the Sahara to the Himalayas, it also occurs in other regions and countries with migrant communities. 65 44. Honour killings remain underreported and underdocumented globally. The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has estimated that 5,000 women globally are murdered by family members each year in honour killings. 66 With widespread urbanization, the proliferation of media and the changing roles of women, it has become difficult for such crimes to go unnoticed, and such killings are becoming more visible.67 45. Honour killings take many forms, including direct murder; stoning; women and young girls being forced to commit suicide after public denunciations of their behaviour; and women being disfigured by acid burns, leading to death. 68 Honour crimes are also linked to other forms of family violence, and are usually committed by male family members as a means of controlling women‘s sexual choices and limiting their freedom of movement. Punishment usually has a collective dimension, with the family as a whole believing it to be injured by a woman‘s actual or perceived behaviour, and is often public in character. The visibility of the issue and the punishment also serves a social objective, namely, influencing the conduct of other women.69 46. Stoning is a method of capital punishment primarily used for crimes of adultery and other related offences linked to honour, of which women are disproportionately found guilty. This has resulted in 23 joint communications by mandate holders sent between 2004 and 2011, in respect of more than 30 women sentenced to death by stoning. Other communications to governments relate to honour crimes committed by family members or to the action/inaction of the State with regard to flogging or death by hanging of women for suspected premarital sex, for adultery, for failing to prove rape, and for acts deemed incompatible with chastity.70 47. It is argued that in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland crimes in the name of honour are rooted in cultural traditions, not religious beliefs, and that ―the conflation of the concepts of culture and religion contributes to the misunderstanding of such crimes, particularly in the context of Islamophobia and the ‗war on terror‘‖.71 Similarly, the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions noted that ―a number of renowned Islamic leaders and scholars have publicly condemned this practice and clarified that it has no religious basis‖.72 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 12 Expert Group Meeting report ―Violence against women: Good practices in combating and eliminating violence against women‖. Organized by the Division for the Advancement of Women in collaboration with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 17 to 20 May 2005, Vienna, Austria. E/CN.4/2002/83. See, UN In-depth study on all forms of violence against women, report of the Secretary-General, A/61/122/Add.1, 2006, at para. 78. Baydoun, A. (2011) ―Killing of women in the name of honour: An evolving phenomenon in Lebanon‖. Paper presented at the Expert Group Meeting on gender-motivated killings of women. Convened by the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, Ms. Rashida Manjoo, New York, 12 October 2011. Ibid. at para. 78. See, In-depth study on all forms of violence against women, report of the Secretary-General, at para. 84. Report of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, Addendum, 15 years of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences (1994-2009) – A critical review, A/HRC/11/6/Add.5 (2009). Kelly, L. and Sen, P. (2007) ―Violence against Women in the UK‖. Shadow Thematic Report for the CEDAW Committee. E/CN.4/2000/3.