At the 46th UN Commission on the Status of Women, the CHAIR of the CEDAW COMMITTEE affirmed that it was urgent and essential for the CEDAW to consider sending questionnaires to state parties on their treatment of WIDOWS in the context of the UN Women's Convention.

This proposal was made by a group of NGOs, including Empowering Widows in Development, Widows for Peace and Reconstruction, the UK Womens National Commission and Mothers Union International. It also received endorsement at a meeting of the African Women' Caucus.

Given the extreme discrimination, marginalisation, poverty and violence experienced by millions of widows in South Asia and India and elsewhere in patriarchal societies, and especially in the context of the AIDS pandemic and armed conflict

If your organisations would like to support this initiative, please send an email to the Chair of the CEDAW COMMITTEE - Dr Charlotte Abaka. Her address is [email protected]
The support for this initiative by the distinguished chair of CEDAW represents a significant step forward in efforts to mainstream widows' issues on international and national agendas.