WUNRN
Call for Signatures of Support -
Petition:
WIDOWHOOD ISSUES OF DISCRIMINATION
Presentation to UN CEDAW Committee
Advocacy for CEDAW Committee
Consideration of General Recommendation on Widows
CEDAW Committee Website on General
Recommendations:
The
UN CEDAW Committee makes Recommendations on any issue affecting women to which
it believes the States parties should devote more attention.
Call for Presence at CEDAW Widows
Discrimination Presentation:
Monday, February 1, 2010
Palais Des Nations,
Geneva Switzerland
13:30 - 14:30 p..m.
Contact for Details &
Reservation:
WIDOWS FOR PEACE THROUGH DEMOCRACY
Petition for CEDAW Committee on
Discrimination Against Widows and CEDAW General Recommendation
Background:
Across a wide spectrum of regions, religions,
cultures, caste and class, irrespective of age or economic status, WIDOWS experience
many diverse forms of discrimination and abuse in every aspect of their lives.
Even when State Parties, who have ratified the UN CEDAW Convention, have legislated to comply with its articles,
widows find their lives still determined by interpretations of customary and
traditional law that directly contravene it. In particular, widows are often
deprived of rights to inheritance, land and property; custody of their
children; are deprived of mobility, and may be oppressed by harmful traditional
practices relating to remarriage, burial and mourning practices. Widows are not
mentioned in the
Action:
The aims of Widows for Peace Through Democracy
- WPD, invited by the CEDAW
to present on this neglected gender/human rights subject, is to persuade the
Committee to consider developing a General
Recommendation to States Parties to address this issue. There is a scarcity
of information on widowhood. Therefore it is essential that governments gather
statistics. They should be asked to identify and address the types of
discrimination widows experience, both within their families and communities
and in society at large, through State omissions or commissions. State Parties
should be asked to focus on the extreme poverty and marginalisation of widows
due to discrimination in inheritance, land and property rights, and also on the
high incidence of violence, physical, psychological and sexual, experienced by
widows, due to their low personal status.
Why
WIDOWHOOD DISCRIMINATION ISSUES are important: The poverty and low status of
widows is a cross-cutting theme, both in the CEDAW and in the BPFA. Widows’
low status affects the whole of society and its future. This discrimination and
marginalisation impacts negatively on their children who are often made
homeless and deprived of education, making them vulnerable to economic and
sexual exploitation, and entrapment in prostitution, crime and even
terrorism. In particular, in conflict
and post-conflict scenarios, widows, many struggling to survive as IDPs and
Refugees, need special support so they can participate fully in peace-building
and reconstruction.
PLEASE
SUPPORT THIS PETITION
Reply
Requested by January 25, 2010
Support for Widowhood Discrimination
Petition for CEDAW Committee and CEDAW General Recommendation on Discrimination
Against Widows
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COMMENTS:
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