WUNRN
UN Division for the Advancement of
Women
Women 2000: Widowhood: Invisible
Women, Secluded or Excluded
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This issue of Women2000 provides an overview of the situation of widows across the globe, and their particular vulnerability to marginalization and invisibility across different regions of the world. It focuses on those regions where the need for action to eliminate discrimination against widows is most urgent, and examines issues such as poverty, armed conflict, lack of education and training, health, violence, and economic marginalization from the perspective of widowhood. It provides suggestions on how to protect women and raise awareness about the situation of widows. _____________________________________________ ATTACHED IS WIDOWS MODEL CHARTER. ___________________________________________________ |
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Widows for Peace Through Democracy
Margaret Owen, Director
SUGGESTIONS FOR RECOMMENDATIONS FROM THE
CSW53 ROUNDTABLE ON WIDOWHOOD: TO GOVERNMENTS, THE UN, DONORS, AND THE
INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY
AS
A WHOLE, ESPECIALLY ALL THOSE ENGAGED IN POLICY-MAKING RELATING TO CEDAW, AIDS
reduction, MDGs, and UN RESOLUTION 1325 and 1820
· MAINSTREAM WIDOWHOOD issues in all relevant decision-making.
. Conduct research and identify the global demographic profile and special needs and roles of widows of all ages as caregivers in the context of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in order to, inter alia, protect them from discrimination, violence, harmful traditional practices, and ensure their rights to inheritance, land, and access to both their human rights and equal participation in peace building, reconciliation, and reconstruction.
· Cease assumptions that “women” are an homogenous whole.
· Governments, the UN, and Donors to support the move for WIDOWS “banding together” in order for them to be fully represented in policy making.
· Fill the gap in data through supporting Mapping and Profiling, involving widows’ NGOs working with Ministries of Statistics etc.
· The UN S-G to commission a Special Report on the status of widows in countries afflicted by conflict, the AIDS pandemic, poverty and violence.
· The UN S-G to appoint a Special UN Rapporteur on Widowhood.
· CEDAW to develop a Questionnaire (including questions to provide reliable statistics) to be sent to member states on the status of widows.
· UN, (OSAGI, UNDP, UNFPA, UNIFEM) with Commonwealth Secretariat, World Bank and other international development agencies to host TWO INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCES, one in Africa and one in South Asia, on WIDOWHOOD. HUMAN RIGHTS, POVERTY AND JUSTICE in 2010.
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