WUNRN
Submitted
By: Association of War Affected Women Sri Lanka; Guild of Service India;
Mama Zimbi
STATEMENT to the 58TH SESSION of the UN COMMISSION ON THE STATUS OF WOMEN - 2014
WIDOWHOOD ISSUES MUST BE
ADDRESSED IN THE CONTEXT OF
STRATEGIES FOR THE POST-2015 DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORK
The Women for Human Rights-Single Women’s Group (WHR-SWG), a partner of the International NGO Widows for Peace through Democracy (WPD), works to promote the status of widows in Nepal, and acts as the Secretariat for the South Asian Network for Empowering Widows in Development (SANWED) which is the umbrella for widows’ organizations of the six countries in the region.
The MDGs agenda provides many challenges for the promotion of gender equality and women’s empowerment. It must now also provide a window of opportunity to lift the blanket of silence on widowhood issues. Regrettably, the existing MDG goals have failed to improve the status of widows, so as to relieve their and their children’s poverty and marginalization. We ask that the “stand-alone” goal on Women and Girls, in the High Level Panel report, is non-negotiable and that targets are disaggregated by marital status in addition to other criteria.
Never before has the female population, especially in developing and conflict-afflicted countries, contained so many widows of all ages from the child widow to the young widowed mother and the elderly grandmother. Populations across the world are ageing and in elderly populations, women predominate and the majority of these women are widows. The numbers of widows are increasing unprecedentedly and daily due to armed conflict, revolution, sectarian strife, ethnic cleansing, HTPS and in the context of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Estimates for some countries suggest that over 60% of all women in those countries are widows or wives of the missing and 70% of the children are dependent on destitute women without male breadwinners.
It is essential that governments and UN agencies focus specifically on the particular situation of WIDOWS if the post 2015 MDGs are to have any realistic chance of being reached. The poverty, neglect and invisibility of widows recycles and expands the poverty trap to embrace all those dependent on them with irrevocable consequence for society as a whole. None of the major donors or UN agencies including UN WOMEN has so far managed adequately to support initiatives to empower widows, so that their voices are heard so as to influence policies that can protect and empower them.
There is little reliable data
on, inter alia, numbers, ages, needs, roles, life-styles, experience of
violence, coping strategies, support systems and aspirations of widows in
developing, and particularly conflicted afflicted countries. The
absence of such information obstructs planning and implementing effective actions
to improve the living conditions of the widows, their families and their
communities’ actions which are crucial to the fulfilment of MDGs. Although, in
Violence and Stigma in Widowhood:
Widows are likely to suffer extreme and systematic physical, psychological,
sexual and economic violence both within their families and in the outside
community. They are so often victims of discrimination, stigma and harmful
traditional practices. For example, the branding of widows as witches;
degrading and life threatening mourning and burial rites; stereotyping them as
"inauspicious” and “evil” fuels tortures, such as beating, stoning, and even murder. Extreme and
discriminatory interpretations of religious, traditional and customary codes
contribute to such violence, and governments, in spite of reformed laws
purporting to protect women from such abuse, are reluctant to intervene in the
domestic arena where non-state actors are the perpetrators. In conflict and
post conflict scenarios, this violence is exacerbated.
Regrettably, in spite of huge efforts by
widows’ NGOs, to have text on widowhood violence inserted in the Outcome
Document of the 57th CSW, whose priority theme was “Prevention and
Elimination of Violence to Women and Girls”, in its final version all
references to this type of gender based violence was omitted.
Access to Justice: In so many developing
countries, the lives of many widows, especially rural ones, are determined by
discriminatory interpretations of religion, custom and tradition in spite of
the enactment of modern laws that comply with international conventions such as
the CEDAW. Barriers include illiteracy, bureaucracy, corruption, prejudices of
those administering the justice system, as well as affordability. In addition,
many widows fear that by attempting to use the courts to obtain remedies they
will provoke further violence.
Impact on Children of Widows, especially the Girl Child: The poverty, marginalisation and stigma of widowhood impacts irrevocably on their dependents. Children of widows are least likely to access education. Widowed mothers are forced to withdraw their children from school, depend on their children’s labour, whether as carers of younger siblings, or in exploitation on the streets as beggars (widows’ children predominate among street children). The girl child, denied education, is more likely to be given, sold, trafficked into early forced marriage, or into prostitution. The MDG frameworks should provide opportunities to ensure the education of all children, irrespective of their family circumstances.
Conflict Widows: Widows’ protection in
contexts of conflict and their participation in peace processes must be
enhanced, in conformity with UN Security Council Resolution 1325 and other
relevant Resolutions on Women, Peace, and Security. For example, there are
uncounted numbers of widows and wives of the “disappeared” who, because of the
conflict, lose all their fundamental rights and freedoms, and who need
representation in peace processes. We applaud the endorsement of 122 Member
States to the Hague Declaration on Eliminating Sexual Violence in Conflict and
hope that this initiative along with the gender related UN Security Council
Resolutions will be promoted in the Post 2015 MDGs so as protect widows from
violations of their rights.
Widows and wives of the missing
constitute a large part of refugees and IDP populations worldwide, and are
often the last to be resettled. Widows claiming asylum on grounds of
persecution because of their marital status, who may also be rape victims in
conflict zones, often faced insuperable problems in gaining refuge.
Inheritance, Land and Property Rights: Widows,
in spite of modern legislation ratifying the article of the CEDAW, continue in
many countries to be denied inheritance.
They may be treated as chattels, part of the estate, and “inherited” by
a husband’s brother or cousin. Lack of
land rights, “chasing-off” and property grabbing are common occurrences in many
regions of Africa, South Asia and the
Impact
of Global recession and financial systems on widows: Few developing
countries can afford to provide social security for widows and in cases where
this is available, it is generally a needs based approach rather than a rights
based one. In developed countries, due to the recession many elderly widows
dependent on state pensions are also living in relative poverty as the cost of
living rises. Where a pension system
does exist, as in
Role of UN WOMEN: In order for the MDG framework to be implemented to accommodate the
issues of widowhood, widows need to have the direct and focused support of UN
WOMEN. We would like to see Member
States supporting UN WOMEN establish a special section at headquarters and in
their regional offices that supports widows “banding together”, forming their
own associations and NGOs, so that they have a collective voice to inform and
influence policies to implement the MDG goals and further identify the targets.
Finally,
in this Statement, we repeat our appeal to the UN Secretary-General, given the
huge numbers of widows and wives of the disappeared in so many regions, to
appoint a UN Representative on
WIDOWHOOD.