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 Read About the IssuesNews and Archives from International Organisations
İEmpowering
Widows |
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Ghana
Here is text of the GHANA Criminal Code Amendment Law 1984 (a) by the insertion immediately after section 88 thereof of the following new section 88A:- Section 88A (1) Whoever compels a bereaved spouse or a relative of such spouse to undergo any custom or practice that is cruel in nature shall be guilty of a misdemeanour (2) For the purpose of subsection(1) of this section a custom or practice shall be deemed to be cruel in nature if it constitutes an assault within the meaning of sections 85, 86, 87, 88 of this Act" (b) By the insertion immediately after section 278 thereof of the following new section 278A:- Section 278A Whoever compels a bereaved spouse or a relative of such spouse to undergo any custom or practice that is immoral or grossly indecent in nature shall be guilty of a misdemeanourInformation please on awareness, criteria, guidelines, implementation, enforcement, prosecutions, outcomes and problems. Who initiates the prosecution? Widow, relative, headman, police, healthworker? Training initiatives? Inheritance The Intestate (Amendment ) Succession Law 1991 (S.16) criminalises the eviction of a surviving spouse or child from the matrimonial home before the distribution of the dead person's estate. Information please on implementation and enforcement of fines and imprisonment. Organising MOTHER (Movement for the Empowerment of Widows Rights) is a new grass-roots organisation set up in Northern Ghana 1997. The widows are mostly from traditional Muslim polygamous families and experience violence, accusations of witchcraft, coercive and harmful traditional rituals when their husbands die. Widows of chiefs in the Dagbong area and suspected witches may be captured, banished, forced to confess misdeed and sent to live in a special camp. The Ministry for Widows Bolga Region Northern Ghana works with a membership of over 400 widows in the villages who have been evicted, beaten, raped and robbed. The organisation has invited lawyers to come and train the widows in understanding their legal rights. This organisation desperately needs funds to support its work for old and destitute widows. It is also compiling a dossier on harmful mourning rites. Kenya
Section 3(2) of the Judicature Act provides that all courts shall be guided by the Repugnancy Clause ( see above).Thus, the Court of Appeal, the High Court and all subordinate courts shall apply African customary law in civil cases where one of the parties is subject to it so far as it is applicable "AND IS NOT REPUGNANT TO JUSTICE OR MORALITY OR INCONSISTENT WITH WRITTEN LAW" Information on application of repugnancy clause in widows' court cases over succession, inheritance and violence. Remarriage In 1996, the Kenya High Court held that a 29-year old widow, Jane Orimba, had a right to remarry with someone of her own choice, and could not be restrained by customary law on “levirate” since Kenya had ratified the CEDAW. (Kenyan Law Reports 1996) Malawi
more information here
In February1998 the Bill to amend the Wills and Inheritance Act so that “property-grabbing” and “chasing-off” became a criminal offence was rejected for the third time. Some women's groups suggested the Bill was thrown out because the male majority in parliament believed such law would encourage wives to murder their husbands for financial gain. WLSA Malawi representative Seodhi Mnthali has presented a critique on this matter to the Malawi Ministry for Women and Children. WLSA and the Malawi Women Lawyers Association is planning a Malawi national Widows Conference with support from the British Council when the inheritance issue will be further discussed, along with violence and degrading traditional mourning rites. more information here Violence In 1997 a widow was beaten to death after accusations that she had killed her husband by witchcraft and she had refused to participate in sexual orgy with relatives of her husband as part of funeral rites. The police dropped investigations and closed the case because it was a “domestic matter” (Information from Seodhi Mnthali, WLSA, Malawi) more information here Nigeria
VIOLENCE AGAINST WIDOWS WORKSHOPS In September 1999 a series of national workshops on"Violence against Widows" will take place in Nigeria, organised by HUMAN ANGLE, an NGO based in Lagos. HUMAN ANGLE works for the enforcement of women's and children's rights in the context of international conventions and declarations and as set out in the Nigerian Constitution. These workshops have been planned because, as HUMAN ANGLE points out, "most Nigerian tribal/cultural groupings still practice (and actively protect as inviolable tradition) what can best be described as barbaric attitudes towards widows who ordinarily should be treated with compassions, care and tender affection in their moments of loss, grief and espair. Instead of being accused of resposnible for their husbands' death". For more information contact HUMAN ANGLE Suite 70,Zuma Complex, 202 Road 'E' Close, P.O.Box 2207Festac Town, Lagos E-mail: Human [email protected] WIDO (Widows' Development Organisation) in Enugu State has undertaken a survey of widows' experience of coercive mourning and burial rites. Inheritance First Lady Hilary Clinton, in her address to the CSW 1999 declared "It is no longer acceptable to say that abuse of women is "cultural"; it should be called what it is -"criminal" and should be addressed by all of us". As an example of progress made since Beijing, she quoted the new inheritance law in Nigeria which gives widows' rights to inherit their husband's estate. More information please on enforcement, implementation, and actions in relation to this new law. Rwanda
The Widows of the Genocide of April 1994 (AVEGA) have some 4,000 members. Genocide widows face multiple problems. As well as the destitution and trauma of losing the family breadiwnner, many are fighting legal claims by their late husbands' relatives to their children and property. AVEGA provides support and care, shares food, has started co-operatives, and helps its members with such projects as house-repair, income-generating and agriculture. It also lobbies for changes in the laws governing inheritance and custody, and presses for recognition of the genocide and justice for the perpetrators. RWANDAN WIDOW SUES THE UNITED NATIONS intern other For the first time in its history the UN is being sued by the widow of a former Rwandan Supreme Court judge for alleged complicity in the crime of genocide. Mrs. Anonciata Kavarugenda's husband was killed because he sympathised with the Tutsis. She and another woman whose family members were victims of the genocide of 1994 claim that UN troops from Ghana, responsible for protecting their families, drank and socialised with the Hutus while they and families were tortured and some of them murdered. They claim that the UN troops fled when the killers arrived.. Their lawyer bases their accusations on documents including cables showing the UN forces would hand over people "for inevitable killing rather than use their weapons to save local people". The documents headed "most immediate" were never in fact given to the UN Security Council, nor were the testimonies of the two women, given to the Carisson inquiry team were not mentioned in the UN report. Mrs Kavarugenda and Mrs Louise Mushikwabo, whose murdered brother was the only Tutsi minister in the Rwandan government, are being represented by the former South Australian crown prosectuor, Michael Hourigan, who quit his job as a UN investigator for the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in disgust at the UN inaction, and by the human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson, a fellow Australian. ((The Independent. January 11th.2000) Tanzania
In 1990, the Court of Appeal gave a landmark decision in Ephraim v Pastory. It held that Haya customary law was discriminatory by forbidding them from selling clan land, and was in breach of Constitutional guarantees of equality In 1997 the High Court referred back to the local traditional court a widow's property and land dispute with a brother-in-law who had seized all her dead husband's estate. The traditional court decided in favour of the property-grabbing brother-in-law as they held that under the customary law of the husband's ethnic group a woman couldn't inherit. (More details please of any appeal on this ruling) Note however that in Ndewaosiad v Ondeamtzo Immanuel (1968) a more liberal judge was more favourable to a daughter challenging customary inheritance laws. Judge Agostino commented that “....Lazy clansmen anxiously await the death of their prosperous clansmen who happen to have no male issue, and as soon as death occurs they immediately grab the estate....putting the widow and her daughters into terrible confusion”. WIDOWS ACCUSED OF WITCHCRAFT STONED TO DEATH In Tanzania, an estimated 500 women are murdered every year accused of witchcraft. The majority of these are widows, many are elderly women. Many widows are driven from their homes and communities to face destitution, homelessness and hunger according to a recent report by HelpAge International to mark the International Year of Older persons Older widows, in particular, are accused of witchcraft typically related to their isolation and marginalisation. One informant explained to the researcher that "if the widow is not seen much around the village, an air of mystery may grow up around her which contributes strongly to accusations of being a witch". Family and in-laws sometimes use these accusations to prevent a widow from inheriting property and possessions. Defenceless widows have been hacked to death under the guise of ridding a village of a witch. Women are much more likely to be targeted than men as they do hot have a man, relations or the community to defend them. The study found that women were often seen as being "cleverer" than men and therefore more capable of witchcraft. (The Ageing and Development Report) HelpAge International December 1999). Uganda
In a 1995 country response to the CEDAW Committee answering questions concerning implementation of CEDAW the Ugandan government responded: "Because, in the context of AIDS, customs which permit men to have multiple sexual partners endanger the health of their wives who are customarily allowed no such licence, at constitutional seminars at all levels of Ugandan society women recommended that the new Constitution should ban polygamous unions. The government also noted the practice in some ethnic groups of "widow inheritance" or of a man having sex with his brother's widow for traditional reasons despite evidence that either the man or woman might be a carrier of the AIDS virus. Women's groups have criticised the government for being silent on these issues which make women so vulnerable to infection with HIV/AIDS. One member of an AIDS support group stated " that as long as women are subordinated and vulnerable --the AIDS virus will go on in a vicious circle". The Penal Code Amendment Statute of 18 August 1990 demands death as the penalty for sex with a girl under the age of 18. This amendment was in response to evidence that an increasing number of young girls were enticed into sex with older men because they are less likely to be infected with HIV, and myths existed that sex with young virgins could cure infected men. The report also noted, under Marriage and Family Law section, that in Uganda widow harassment has become a serious problem, with relatives taking property from the widow which legally belongs to her under statutory law. According to FIDA reports, increasing numbers of widows are now seeking assistance in inheritance matters, and challenging the in-laws in the courts. New legal aid clinics have opened in Kampala and other cities where the bulk of cases relate to widow's disputes over inheritance issues. Violence A new domestic relations Law (1998) includes provisions for widows to inherit matrimonial property. Information please. West
Africa
DAY OF ACTION FOR WOMEN'S INHERITANCE RIGHTS took place THURSDAY JULY 29TH 1999 As an initiative to raise awareness of the criticial issue of inheritance rights of women in Africa, the International Human Rights Law Group is asking that all interested organisations and committed individuals forward a sample letter, edited or not, to the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, and share it in their networks. On July 29th, 1999, for the first time in West Africa, a "Day of Action for Women's Inheritance Rights " will be occurring simultaneously in eight West African countries. Women's Rights activists in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, the Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal and Togo are coordinating this effort with the collaboration of the Internatioal Human Rights Law Group, based in Washington, D.C. The Day of Action is part of a long-term campaign to bring national, regional, and international attention to customary inheritance practices that deny women their right to inherit land and other property. These practices persist despite the presence of statutory laws in most countries that provide at least limited protection of women's rights to inherit and result in the pauperisation of millions of women and children. The main features of the coordinated activities in the 8 countries included A march to a prominent institution such as Parliament, Supreme Court, Ministry of Justice Presentation of newly drafted model legislation on inheritance to an approrpriate member of legislature, judiciary and executive Press conferences at local press center. for furher info on this acticvity Please email Sameena Nazir, Coordinator for Women's Rights Advocacy Program (WRAP) at the International Human Rights Law Group For the full text of the letter and further information please email [email protected] Zambia
S.12(1) of the Local Courts Act, CAP 54 applies the "Repugnancy Law" to all local courts which ordinarily adjudicate matters involving customary law. Local courts are therefore empowered to administer customary law relating to any matter before it insofar as such law is not repugnant to natural justice or morality or incompatible with the provisions of any written law. Information on application of repugnancy clause in widows' disputes over inheritance, succession, violence. more information here Zimbabwe
Supreme Court denies women their inheritance rights in breach of international treaties and the equality provisions of the Constitution. In April 1999 the Zimbabwe Supreme Court decided in a 5-0 landmark decisions that customary law takes precedence over the Constitution. Venia Magaya, a 58 year old seamstress sued her brother for ownership of her deceased father's land, after he evicted her from her home. The court ruled unanimously that African society considers that .women are unable to look after their birth family property since on marriage they are committed to a new family. Also that the Constitution recognises exceptions to its equality provision in relation to personal status issues and the application of African customary law. The Musasa Project, a collaborating organisation of Sisterhood is Global (SIGI) in Zimbabwe, along with several other women's human rights ortganisations presented a petition protesting the above decision to the Supreme Court and to Parliament with the support of female MPs. The Supreme Court has responded to the petition by formally warning all protesting groups and their lawyers that they risk being charged with contempt of court and that the critique of their judgment was insulting and without grounds. SIGI is asking that all human rights and women and development organisations join them in their demand that equality laws in Zimnbabwe are upheld in complaince with Zimbabwe's obligations under international human rights treaties. for furher info For a list of who to write your protest to contact either the Musasa Project at [email protected] or SIGI at [email protected] . |
