WUNRN
WIDOWS
- WPD (WIDOWS FOR PEACE THROUGH DEMOCRACY): Parallel Event - UN Commission on
the Status of Women 52 - 2008
WIDOWHOOD
IN CONFLICT: THE NEGLECTED GENDER ISSUE
Chaired
by Margaret Owen, the WPD director, the CSW Panel on Widowhood In
Conflict: The Neglected Gender Issue, included Judge Zakia Hakki (Iraq),
Lily Thapa (WHR-SWG, Nepal), Dr. Eleanor Nwadinobi (Nigeria), Janet Benschoff
(Global Justice), and the meeting was also addressed by CEDAW member Judge Ana
Mahtan.
Participants,
from various conflict-afflicted countries and from NGO's, agreed that it was
essential that widows' voices had to be heard in peace talks, that their
crucial roles in reconstruction and peace-building had to be acknowledged and
supported, as well as their long and short-term needs addressed.
To
properly implement the requirements of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on
Women, Peace and Security, it was agreed that all efforts, including the
use of alternative methods of data collection, had to be made to fill the gap
in statistics concerning widows and wives of the missing.
The theme of CSW 2008 being "Financing Gender Equality and the Empowerment
of Women", it was also unanimously agreed that donors should be exploring
more flexibility in their funding processes so that fragile, newly established
women's organisations, including widows' groups, are supported so that they can
effectively articulate their needs and contribute to policy development in the
area of peace-building and good governance.
Neglecting
widowhood issues, it was agreed, seriously frustrated other efforts to reduce
poverty, achieve the MDG's, and secure a lasting peace and ensure the welfare
of the millions of children, the next generation, dependent on widowed mothers
for their survival, education and welfare.
At this time at CSW, the words "widows" and "widowhood"
were on many lips.
Most
impressively and construcively, Rachel Mayanja, of OSAGI (Office of the Special
Adviser on Gender Issues), referred to the numbers of women widowed in conflict
as an issue that now demands direct action.
"Also,
UN DAW (Division for the Advancement for Women) is now considering the
possibility of commissioning from WPD, a new report, for their publication
series WOMEN 2000, on WIDOWHOOD AND CONFLICT."
Margaret Owen also made a presentation on this subject at another event,
chaired by Baroness Gould of the WNC, entitled " Effects of War on Women
and Children". In addition, she participated in a meeting organised
by the FIDA (International Federation of Women Lawyers), where Judge Ana Mahtan
also referred to how WPD had used the CEDAW reporting process to highlight the
widowhood and conflict issues existing in Burundi. She urged other country
representatives to use this mechanism to engage their governments in addressing
issues of marginslised and impoverished widows in the context of breaches of
CEDAW, the implementation of UN SCR 1325 and other human rights norms.
Contact: Margaret Owen - director.wpd@googlemail.com
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