WUNRN
STATEMENT to the 58TH SESSION of the UN COMMISSION ON THE STATUS OF WOMEN
Widowhood Issues, Needs, Rights Must Be Addressed in
Strategies of the MDG's & Post-2015 Development Agenda
Submitted By: Association of
War Affected Women Sri Lanka; Guild of Service India; Mama Zimbi
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
The current Millennium
Development Goals and the Post-2015 Development Agenda provide many challenges
for the promotion of gender equality and women’s empowerment. These 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 current Millennium
Development Goals and the future Post-2015 Development Agenda are to have any
realistic chance of being reached. The poverty, neglect and invisibility of
widows recycle and expand 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: This important group
of widows constitutes
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 and the Post-2015 Development Agenda 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.