WUNRN
WIdows for Peace through Democracy -
WPD - Website:
Our WPD vision is to see, in all countries where widowhood is an issue, particularly in areas of conflict, federations of widows’ associations, which will ensure that widows’ voices are heard by their governments, so that every widow is protected by law from discrimination, violence and abuse, and can enjoy her full human rights as an equal and valuable member of society.
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International Criminal Law Bureau
WIDOWS FOR PEACE THROUGH DEMOCRACY -
INTERVIEW
May 9,
2012 by Kathryn Hovington
As
Director of Widows for Peace through Democracy, what has been your main focus?
I am
really extraordinarily privileged to work on one of the most neglected areas of
gender and human rights. I work on widowhood issues: widowhood in developing
countries, specifically countries in conflict and post-conflict scenarios where
there are millions of uncounted widows and ‘half widows’ (wives of the
missing). There is still so much to achieve; changes in government policies, awareness
in the national communities, the UN, and all the international legal
mechanisms. The issue of widowhood is not just a woman’s issue, it is an issue
for the whole of society.
An
important aspect of widowhood is its irrevocable negative impact on their
children’s lives. The effect on the children of widows is terrible due to their
mothers’ poverty because of their lack of inheritance, land rights and
inability to access the justice system. These children are often withdrawn from
school or never get the chance to attend it. The most at risk are the daughters
of widows. The girls can be forced into prostitution because of poverty or
may be married off when they are still children, going on to become young
widows themselves. So this is not just a woman’s issue or a moral or welfare
compassion issue, it is actually a huge economic and political issue. After
all, the most valuable resource of any country is its young people, the future
generation.
How
did your career begin and what lead you into human rights?
I am
80 years old now and 60 years ago, when I was at
I
began at the Bar in the fifties, when it was a terribly difficult time for
women. There was so much prejudice against women lawyers at the Bar in those
days, and I wanted to be independent, not to have to live at home with my
parents, so I left and slightly changed direction. I moved into advertising and
television (which had just started). For a while I worked as a producer at
At
that time, Idi Amin had just kicked out the Ugandan Asians from
What
was it that sparked your interest in the particular field of widows’ rights?
I came
across this issue, that nobody was ever looking at, by accident following the
death of my husband twenty years ago. At that time, I was Director of Studies
at the Royal Institute of Pubic Administration teaching judicial administration
to Commonwealth magistrates. One of the magistrates from
A few
weeks later, I was off to UCLA where I had been invited as a visiting professor
to teach a course on law, women, development and health and while I was there I
began to search in the huge UCLA library for anything written about widows, but
there was absolutely nothing. At that time we were moving towards the fourth
World Women’s Conference which was to take place in
Do
you have a vision of what you would like to achieve moving forward? What is the
mission?
It was
a case of, “What can we do?” Widows need to be represented nationally,
regionally and internationally. Children have UNICEF and the Save the Children,
refugees have UNHCR and prisoners have Prisoners of Conscience and Amnesty. But
what about widows? So we set up an international organisation, which has gone
through various stages. The organisation I now direct is called the Widows for Peace through Democracy. I
suppose the real goal is to have a world where in no countries do widows suffer
from stigma and marginalisation, are denied their basic rights, treated like
chattels, are the poorest of the poor, their voices never heard and victims of
degrading and harmful traditional practices. In some countries these practices
really amount to torture.
One of
our most important purposes is to support widows in countries where widowhood
is a social death. To be able to deliver to them real training, not just
training about their rights, because it is really their needs that are most
important to them. How can they actually articulate their needs? We want to
provide support and training which gives them the confidence to articulate
those needs to governments, to be participants in decision-making committees
and to even be in governments themselves. To be involved, particularly in
countries coming out of conflict where, in the period of transition, there will
be constitutional and legal reform and all sorts of other activities to do with
truth and reconciliation, peace building and democracy building.
People
tell me that I have achieved so much and that I put widowhood on the agenda and
raised awareness, but I feel we have such a long way to go. I wish I was thirty
years younger so I could do so much more. We have put it on the ladder, but it
is right at the bottom and I want to see it further up. I want to see a really
powerful organization representing widows internationally, which has a place at
all the top tables.
Do
you envisage any obstacles along the way?
We
face two obstacles. Firstly, there is no reliable data or statistics – we know
very little. That is a big obstacle. However, we have an incredible partner in
Have
there been any experiences in your own life, from your professional career or
personal life which you draw on for inspiration in this work?
People
often ask about my own widowhood, but I can’t speak about it in the same way
because I don’t suffer from any of this. Of course, one has grief and sometimes
one is lonely, but I have a roof over my head and I have an education, so I
could always continue to work and I am not stigmatized because I am a widow –
nobody is calling me a witch.
There
are many amazing women who inspire me, Nawal El Saadawi from
Lily
was widowed when she was a young mother, with three very small boys. Her
husband was a surgeon during the Gulf war and when he was killed there she had
to suffer all the traditional mourning rites. Her hair was cut off by her
own mother, her nose-ring was torn out with pincers and her jewellery was
smashed. Almost immediately, whilst the
She is
now very well known in the UN and in NGO circles. She has mapped and profiled
84,000 widows in 57 of the 76 regions of
Where
do you get your formidable energy?
Well I
think that passion is essential to fuel you, and make you look and explore all around
you – finding where you can bring people in to make you aware and to help you.
Widows
are not simply victims, they are not simply poor, vulnerable and needy, they
undertake key crucial roles as the sole providers for their families. In many
countries you have old grandmothers looking after orphans and other dependents
who have been wounded and traumatised by war.
Widows
can be very effective agents of change if they are helped, and consulted. They
must be informed and must be influential in the formation of policies – we want
to see widows in the mainstream.