1999
Commission on the Status of Women
EWD
representative Margaret Owen spoke out at the 44th Meeting of the
UN Commission on the Status of Women condemning governments for
their neglecting the abuse of widows by non-state actors, usually
male relatives. She
demands that government delegations work closely with the NGOs to
ensure that widows are visible on the agenda for Beijing+5 and a
focus of attention by the CEDAW Committee.
See:
Critical area of concern: Women and Health
EWD
activities at the UN 44th Commission on the Status of Women (CSWW44th)
and at the UN General Assembly Special Session (GASS).
March, 2000 EWD convened
a workshop onf WIDOWHOOD, co-chaired with Sara Longwe of Femnet
(Africa).
June, 2000, EWD was invited to lead a panel on WIDOWHOOD
organised by UNIFEM during the Beijing +5 Women 2000 activies during
the UN General Assembly Special Session. Other panelists were Joanna
Foster of WiLDAF (Women, Law and Development in AFrica, Sara Longwe
of Femnet, and Eleanor Nwadinobi of WiDO (Widows Development Orgnisation,
Enugu Province, Nigeria). In June 2000, Margaret Owen, for
EWD, led a seminar on Widowhood for World Bank professional from
diverse disciplines and sections.
Forward
Looking Strategies and the Beijing Platform for Action
Neither the nairobi Forward Looking Strategies (FLS) nor the Beijing
Platform for Action (PFA) refers specifically to the horrendous
catalogue of human rights deprivations suffered by widows. In the
FLS , widows are only visible in the section on the elderly. In
the PFA The domestic violence section refers to wife-beating, dowry
deaths, female genital mutilation, female feticide but omits to
list the widespread and severe violence experienced by widows at
the hand of male relatives nor the life-threatening a degrading
mourning and burial rites, a feature of so many cultures.
The
abolishment of patriarchal inheritance laws – one of the major
causes of widows' poverty and vulnerability, appears in the section
on the Girl Child, because there is no section on widows.
Neglect
of the human rights of widows is reprehensible since widowhood is
a status which most of the world's women will experience at some
point in their lives. We need to start working now to ensure that
widows are not forgotten in the next UN World Women's Conference
in 20005, and that their needs are addressed in forthcoming conferences
and for a such as the 1999 UN Commission on the Status of Women,
and by the CEDAW Committee.
WIDOWS'
INVISIBILITY IN THE PLATFORM FOR ACTION
The issues relating to widowhood cut across every
one of the 12 critical areas of the Platform and the crosscutting
themes of Beijing+5. But there is no acknowledgement of the grave
and systematic discrimination, violence, human rights abuse, poverty
and marginalisation millions of widows of all ages experience across
a wide spectrum of regions, religions and ethnic groups. Nor of
the ever increasing numbers of young widows due to the AIDS pandemic
and armed conflict. The
language of the Beijing+ 5 documents permits little scope for representing
the complex issues of widowhood, especially as they manifest themselves
in traditional communities, in the context of HIV/AIDS, under armed
conflict and ethnic cleansing, or in countries in transition. Inheritance
rights are buried under the Girl Child section, and even there,
the plight of child widows and the impact of impoverished widowhood
on the girl child is ignored.. The sections on Violence and on Harmful
Traditional Practices make no mention of the cross-cultural practice
of widow-abuse in both the family and in the community, or the life-threatening
and degrading widows' mourning rites.
These are the conclusions of the Meeting on Widowhood held on March
8th 2000, convened by Sara Longwe of Femnet and Margaret
Owen of Empowering Widows in Development (EWD) Presentators
included speakers from Zambia, Nigeria, Azerbaijan, India and Bangladesh.
prposals foir for textual amendments included, inter alia,
addition of "marital status" to demographic categories
and reference to oppressive customary practices. The suggested amendments
have gone to all the regional groups and issue caucuses. It is hoped
that the regions will incorporate at least some of the suggested
amendments, but even these will not be adequate to draw the attention
needed to this hidden aspect of women's oppression.Copies of the
text amendment proposals are available. It is not too late to lobby
governments on this topic . Participants
also endorsed the suggestion to plan for an International Conference
on Widowhood in 2001. some progress has been achieved: UN DAW's
next issue of UN WOMEN 2000 on WIDOWHOOD; UNIFEM organized a Panel
on Widowhood at the GASS. And on March 8th, Ambassador
Anwaul Karim Chowdhury, Chairman of the Security Council for March,
while not directly mentioning war widows, has provided more leverage
for their empowerment by highlighting the crucial role that women
should be playing in preserving the social order; and as peace educators
and democracy builders in countries emerging from armed conflict..
The
Outcome Further Actions Document Women 2000 maintained the invisibility
of widows contained in the Beijing GPFA. Under violence, was added
so-called honour crimes and marital rape, but there was no mention
of widow-abuse or harmful traditional mourning practices. An opportunity
lost.
Office
of the UN Special Rapporteur on the Elimination of Violence to Women
The
UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence to Women (1994)
Widows'
organisations, as NGOs, should be filing complaints to the Special
Rapporteur. This UN appointment was set up in 1995.
STATEMENT ON WIDOWHOOD FOR THE Gen AssSpec SessionJune, 9th,
2000, following the UNIFEM Panel on Widowhood convened on June 8th)
On
June 10th, the last night of the UN GASS, Sara Longwe, of the African
Women's Development Network was invited to read out the attached statement
on the invisibility of widows in the PFA and in the Outcome Document.
The statement was prepared following the UNIFEM panel
on WIDOWS and WIDOWHOOD held during the UNGASS on June 8th 2000.
STATEMENT ON WIDOWHOOD
We
wish to draw the attention of governments to one vast category of
women, struggling to survive across cultures and regions who have
been utterly neglected by this PFA; and, unless immediate action is
taken, will be invisible in the Outcome document. They are the poorest
of the poor, the most oppressed, violated, and invisible and whose
voices are the most unheard.
We are speaking of WIDOWS. The issues affecting their lives cut across
every one of the 12 critical areas of the PFA yet they are barely
mentioned, except in the context of aging. Millions of widows are
young mothers, some still children, all subject to extreme discriminatory
practices and victims of the neglect of governments.
The gross human rights violations they experience in so many areas
of their lives, has implications for the whole of society and development
in general which cannot be ignored. The poverty they experience, due
to lack of inheritance rights, land access or social support systems
aggravates their vulnerability to violence.
The huge increase in the numbers of widows due to AIDS and armed conflict,
has resulted in millions of children, dependent on these widowed mothers,
being withdrawn from education because of destitution. The vulnerability
of widows' daughters and child widows is particularly severe forcing
them into unsuitable early marriages and early widowhood, life on
the streets, prostitution, and other high risk activities such as
servile domestic service in the context of trafficking and HIV/AIDS
infection.
Governments have done little to ensure that widows obtain their human
rights to inheritance and land ownership, or are protected from gross
mental, physical and sexual abuse, for example, through coercive traditional
practices such as degrading and harmful mourning rites. Across cultures
widows are “chased off” from their homes, and robbed of
their property and have no access to justice systems because these
violations occur in the private sphere of the family.
We
call upon the governments of the world to
- Make
a clear commitment to listen to widows' voices, to gather information
and data to tackle the invisibility of widows and ensure so that
policies accommodate their needs
- Ensure
that legal reforms in inheritance and land ownership are implemented
and enforced
- Cease
using “tradition” as an excuse for their omission to
protect widows from criminal acts committed within the family
and punish perpetrators of widow-abuse..
- Recognize
that widows are key members of civil society by eliminating all
discriminatory obstacles to their empowerment.
Finally,
we request that governments, bearing in mind how widespread, serious,
and urgent is this issue, agree to a special paragraph on widowhood
to be inserted in the Outcome Document Further Actions Sara
Longwe. African Women's Development Network
UN
Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against
Women (CEDAW) CEDAW
(read all about it
here) the Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination against Women is the key human rights treaty
which requires governments to eliminate discrimination against women
in the ejoyment of all their civil, political, economic and cultural
rights.
It has now been ratified by 165 countries (2/3 of the UN membership)
and signed by 97 member states. Many countries have made reservations
in their ratifications, particularly in relation to Art 2 and ARt
16. Although the CEDAW committee has ruled that neither traditional,
religious or cultural practices nor the incompatibiity of domestic
laws can justify the reservations, and such reservations represent
violations of the CEDAW, the dominance of local interpretations of
tradition, custom and religious codes are a major obstacle to widows
enjoy their fundamental rights. For example, in relation to personal
status, marriage laws, equality in inheritance rights, land ownership
and the continuation of harmful traditional practices and stereotyping.
The
CEDAW Convention is a powerful instrument for change. But widows have
yet to organise themselves to show how it can make a difference to
their lives. The CEDAW both in its general article 1, which defines
discrimination, and in later ones, offers scope for lawyers to advance
and protect widows' rights.
Specifically, widows' lawyers could cite Article 2f and 5 (modifying
social and cultural patterns and elimination of all negative customary
practices), Article 11 (employment), Article 12 (health), Article
14 (rural women) Article 16 on marriage and inheritance rights.
Women's
and Widows' NGOs should consider presenting a report on widows to
the CEDAW Committee, contemporaneously with their government's regular
report, or independently of the latter. National women's or widows'
organisations might collaborate regionally to request the CEDAW Committee
to select widowhood as a topic for a special questionnaire
to governments, as was done on the issues of domestic violence.
Optional Protocol The
Optional Protocol will provide for the submission of individual widow's
complaints to the CEDAW Committee concerning their governments' failure
to comply with the obligations of the Convention. Complaints might
concern inheritance, land access, personal status, harmful customs,
violence and stigma. This
complaints procedure will only be available to widows in countries
that have ratified the Optional Protocol in addition to the
their CEDAW ratification. Women's NGOs should familiarise themselves
with the complex elements involved by contacting their national CSW
delegations or IWRAW.
Commission
on the Status of Women (CSW)
1998 and 1999
At the 1998 New York CSW meeting EWD's lobbying of
delegations resulted in the EU delegations agreeing that “widows
are an emerging issue” which merit attention at the 1999
CSW and beyond. Several
African delegations agreed draft resolutions on elimination of degrading
widows' mourning rites (Zambia, Ghana, Nigeria). More information
please. 13
countries (Botswana, Finland, Kyrgystan, Tanzania, Democratic Republic
of Congo, Canada, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, South Africa, Namibia,
Swaziland, Zambia) drafted a resolution on land rights. It requested
the UN Secretary General, UN agencies and particularly the UNDP, to
urgently take into account: Land rights discrimination and its
negative impact on women in all poverty eradication programmes and
policies. The resolution points out that land rights discrimination
is a violation of human rights and that in addressing the right to
development secure land tenure for women should be taken into account.
(E/CN.6/1998/L.3) The
themes of the 1999 are Institutional Mechanisms and Women and Health.
The poverty and marginalisation of widows and their children, in particular
their girl children, has very negative impacts on their health. Indian
studies showed how widows' morbidity and mortality compared negatively
with married women and their children. Widows' organisations should
be providing inputs on widows' health to their government delegations
and national women's' NGOs. The
CSW provides an opportunity for grass-roots widows' organisations
to deliver to their national NGO delegation facts and figures, testimonies
and reports on widows' physical and mental health, widows and AIDS,
access to health care, degrading and life-threatening mourning and
burial rites, violence and sexual harassment to the relevant bodies.
Other Items
WAR WIDOWS SPEAK OUT ON NEW WEB SITE
War
widows from over 30 countries are speaking out on a new web site,
set up on the 25th anniversary of the ending of the Vietnam War. Their
stories, voices, photographs are a moving. eloquent, poignant and
often harrowing reminder of the terrible toll that war reaps on the
lives of women and children. The site was the brain child of Barbara
Sonnenborn, an american film-maker and herself a widow who made the
video "Regret to
Inform" bring together war widows of Vietnam and the US
to share their histories, their traumas and their hopes for the future.
The
video Regret to Inform is available through
[email protected]
The
new war widows web site is at http://www.warwidows.org
Mourning and Burial Rites.
URGENT STATEMENT FOR THE CONDEMNATION OF TRADITIONAL AND CULTURAL
PRACTICES HARMFUL TO WIDOWS PARTICULARLY IN AFRICA AND ASIA.
The Medical Women's International Association (MWIA)
issued the following statement at four recent international congresses.
MWIA
stronly condemns the cultural and traditional practices that harm
widows. MWIA
reviews these violations of human rights as crule, dehumanising and
repugnant. MWIA strongly recommends honest, accurate research mainstreaming
the gender perspective, into the extent of these practices in countries
where they exist MWIA
further calls on governments to discharge their duties to protect
widows from such practices and to abolish totally these violations
of the human rights of women. The
perpetrators must be prosecuted.
UK Tribunal refuses Nigerian Widow's Plea for Asylum.
The UK Immigration Appeal Tribunal has rejected a Nigerian widows'
application for political asylum. She appealed on the grounds that
her husband's family's agents were determined to kill her. The widespread
and extreme violence widows in her ethnic group endured at the hands
of the husbands' male relatives; and the refusal of the authorities
to protect widows from violence. She argued that she therefore had
a well-founded fear of persecution if she returned to Nigeria.
While the tribunal accepted the clear evidence that the male relatives
had hired third party agents to harass, intimidate and attempt to
murder her, they held that third-parties do not amount to agents of
persecution. The Tribunal found that there was no reason under the
1951 International Convention on Refugees to give her asylum and gave
directions for her removal to Nigeria.
EWD notes that the determination of refugee status in asylum states
should require consideration of gender-specific violence against women.
Women, and especially widows qualify as members of a "specific
social group".Courts in France, Canada and the United States
have accepted this as a Convention reason admitting as refugees women
fleeing forced marriages, FGM, dowry murder and "honour"
killings.
It also questions whether the adjudication procedures are adequate
to fully understand the background to such cases, including the widespread
omission of States to protect women from human rights abuses of non-state
actors in spite of their ratifications of CEDAW and agreeing the Beijing
Platform for Action
EWD would welcome further information on such cases.
The tribunal refused to accept the widow's statement that it would
have been futile and dangerous to have appealed to Nigerian authorities
for help since it was well-established in her country that authorities
never intervened in what they called "domestic and family matters".
World Bank World Development
Report on Poverty 1998
The World Bank World Development Report on Poverty
containing a synthesis of 47 country case studies contains one section
(Case Study 9) on Widows. The summary contains material from India,Tanzania,Guatemala,
Mali, Moldova, Vietnam, South Africa, China, Pakistan,Cameroon. The
findings demonstrate that cross-culturally widows suffer exceptional
poverty and discrimination. The authors suggest four central
policies to improve the lives and livelihoods of widows and their
families:enforced property rights; employment opportunities; improved
safety nets; information. The report is available on the Internet
at http://www.worldbank.org/poverty/wdrpoverty/index.htm
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