ADDRESSING THE NEEDS AND SUPPORTING THE CRUCIAL ROLES OF WIDOWS
IN SOCIETY, PARTICULARLY IN CONFLICT AND POST-CONFLICT SCENARIOS

   
Proposers:    ICW-CIF General Well-Being and Social Issues S/Cs
Seconder:     NCW GB in association with Affiliate - Widows for Peace through Democracy

Recognizing the importance of addressing the needs and acknowledging the crucial roles of widows, of all ages, in the context of family support, poverty reduction, discrimination, gender-based violence, peace-building and the HIV/AIDS pandemic;

Aware of the unprecedented increase in the numbers of widows in the last decades due to armed conflict, ethnic cleansing, the HIV/AIDS pandemic, child marriage to older partners, and many other factors;

Noting the absence of reliable statistics on this issue and its general neglect by governments and the international community;

Aware that lack of rights to inheritance, land and property, social stigma and the prevalence of harmful traditional practices have disastrous consequences not only for the widows but for their children, especially their daughters, depriving them of shelter, food and education, and putting them at risk of economic and sexual exploitation;

Noting that in spite of international and national legislation to eliminate discrimination against women, widows’ lives, being mostly determined by discriminatory interpretations of custom or religion, have not benefited from these laws;

Further noting that widowhood is a root cause of poverty and that poverty breeds a cycle of conflict;

Conscious that widowhood remains the most neglected of all gender and human rights issues:

Resolution ratified by the ICW-CIF GENERAL ASSEMBLY, 14-19 October 2009, Johannesburg, South Africa (in association with National Council of Women of Great Britain and Widows for Peace through Democracy).

Status - adopted unanimously.
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Action:             THE INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL OF WOMEN

Calls upon all member National Councils:

a. to urge their respective Governments to ensure that widows have full equality within society, by removing all forms of discrimination against widows and their families, including harmful traditional practices; and by providing them with full rights to ownership of land and inheritance rights, and with equal rights to social support and financial benefits;

b. to support the development of widows’ associations in order that their voices may be heard in formulation of policy in those areas;

c. with the assistance of the ICW Permanent Representatives to the United Nations, to urge their governments to support the call for the Secretary-General of the United Nations to commission a Special Report on the Situation of Widows in Conflict and Post-Conflict Scenarios, and for the United Nations to establish mechanisms to fill the gap in data and ensure that the voices of widows are heard in peace-building and reconstruction deliberations, in the spirit of UN SCR 1325 also SCR 1820 and the Millennium Development Goals.

INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL OF WOMEN
October 2009

Why WIDOWHOOD 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.

Past articles:

For the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action  - ONE SIZE DOES NOT FIT ALL

Contribution from the NGO caucus on minority women in the ECE region
Item 5 – Gender-sensitive economic policies in the context of the economic crisis
Rapporteur Hélène Sackstein – International Alliance of Women

By minority women our caucus means all those who are different in some way from the majority of women in their country because of their ethnicity, their origin, their religion, their extreme poverty, their sexual orientation and gender identity, their marital status, their life style and women with disabilities. Unfortunately, the list is far from exhaustive. These women are the target of multiple discriminations; yet, they can be key in facilitating the integration of minority communities and it would prove to be most cost-effective to invest in them.

We have noted that there has been very limited consideration in this 15th year review of the Beijing Platform for Action and that women tend to be dealt with as a monolithic mass with essentially similar needs and demands with just passing mention of minority women, as if one size fit all. The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action provide a road map to deal with some of the negative impacts of economic policies on minorities, even during economic crises.

The Beijing Declaration stresses a commitment to social justice and urges governments to listen to voices of all women, everywhere with particular attention to their diversity, their roles and circumstances.

The Global framework of the Platform for Action, in a specially relevant section, notes that economic programmes are not designed to minimize their negative effects on vulnerable and disadvantaged groups of women, nor have they been designed to assure positive effect on them by preventing their further marginalization in economic and social activities while the Strategic objectives emphasize that the Platform for Action is intended to improve the situation of all women without exception while paying special attention to groups that are most disadvantaged.

In this context, we urge governments to, at the very least:
• Develop and implement preliminary assessments of impact on minority populations, particularly on women and girls, for any new economic programmes, before putting them place.
• Review existing European and national legislation and socio-economic policies in the light of their impact on the reduction of gender inequalities, by addressing all forms of discrimination and social exclusion.
• Ensure the participation of minority women in the development of more effective economic and social policies and programmes, giving real weight to their inputs.
• Develop campaigns against violence, including homophobia, in business and industry as it impacts negatively on the physical and mental health of employees and reduces their productivity.
• Ensure equality of social protection for lesbian families, including in cases of immigration linked to employment, especially for binational couples.
• In view of the increased numbers of widows of all ages, ensure that policies address not just their needs but also acknowledge and support their positive roles in society.
• Ensure adequate funding for minority women organizations to enhance their collective voice and participation at all levels of decision-making regarding their status and needs.
• Pay special attention to the situation of minority women during the 2010 European year to combat poverty and social exclusion.

Finally, we stress that, even in a financial crisis, women’s rights are still human rights as contained in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and must be effectively mainstreamed throughout all socio-economic policies and programmes of the region.

We look forward to having our recommendations reflected in the Chairperson’s conclusions.

Margaret Owen, Director of WPD's additional response below:

WIDOWS are never mentioned in the BPFA, nor in its OUTCOME document. The discrimination experienced by widows, especially in the context of HIV/AIDS, the lack of access to appropriate and affordable health care, the increased incidence of violence to widows, GBV perpetrated by both family members, as non-state actors, and by communities, due to widows' poverty and marginalisation are issues that we feel WHO must now urgently address.

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CSW and the Brief History of One Word......

From Margaret Owen's blog on Open Democracy, see link:

http://www.opendemocracy.net/blog/csw-2009/margaret-owen/2009/03/17/why-on-earth-are-the-un-member-states-so-blind-so-hopeless-and-so-unimaginative

After eight days  and evenings of effort, meetings, draftings, lobbying, talking, to all and sundry (Senior UN officials, government, NGOs) at the 53rd Session of the CSW and a fortune spent on getting to New York and paying for our incredibly overpriced hotel beds ( as the £ dived)  in order to get WIDOWS and WIDOWHOOD at least referenced in the Agreed Conclusions on the priority theme " Equal Sharing of Responsibilities between women and men, including care-giving in the context of HIV/AIDS", today I am gob smacked by our defeat. 

The "widow" word is barely there.  How incomprehensible, scandalous and stupid.

It's well known by now that across the developing world in general and in conflict affected countries in particular, widows are systematically targeted for rape and worse,deliberately or recklessly infected with the HIV virus, and, as widows, mostly evicted from their homes, deprived of inheritance, land and property. They are often the sole carers of children, other orphans, sick, wounded, elderly and traumatised.  Key providers in their communities. Yet their poverty and their crucial roles go unaddressed, either by the UN, the donors, or governments.

Below is our modest proposed addition to the Agreed Conclusions, totally supported, I am proud to say, by our own UK delegation to the CSW and indeed by the UK mission to the UN who had sent it on to the EU (European Union) group. We had to make an addition, not an amendment, since there was no where in the draft document that gave us an opening for an insertion... 

"CONDUCT RESEARCH AND IDENTIFY THE GLOBAL DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILE AND THE 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 PARTICIPATIPN IN PEACE BUILDING, RECONCILIATION AND RECONSTRUCTION ACTIVITIES"

But we were up against powerful rivals with strong caucuses and global support: children and the "older women". We could not join up with the latter, for we needed to dispel the myth that widows are "old". Many are young and may still be children - child brides for widowers whose wives have died from AIDS. When will the international community get to understand that behind the mass of impoverished hungry homeless children, there are widowed mothers? If their needs and roles are not addressed, there is no hope for reducing child poverty, getting children into education or achieving any of the Millennium Development Goals 

Great if that had gone in. Who could object?  But it was not to be. Alas, we did not have a "caucus" like the girl child, youth and the older women caucuses that bring lots of different lobbying NGO groups together.  Next year if I can ever bear (or afford to return) we will have set one up: Widowsaction.caucus and maybe we will be more powerful and effective as we get more support from NGOs from all the different regions.

Activities and campaigns focusing on children always win hearts and therefore money.  Raising support and funding to get widows' voices heard, and widow's roles acknowledged and supported is, by comparison, a bitter and thankless task. Ministries of Women, in developing countries, most with derisory funding, rarely have the capacity to address the status of widows, let alone count how many their country is host to. (See Iraqi Minister for Women's Resignation speech in February when she spoke of the "army of widows" her department was unable to help)

Never mind that never before in human history has there been such an explosion in the numbers of widows, children, young women, and the elderly - and that these are the poorest, most stigmatised and marginalised women in the world, no one really wants to know. At least our UK delegation listened to us and backed us.  

Today, to my intense disappointment, I opened my laptop and used the "find" key.  One pathetic mention that gives no impression or information on the appalling situation of widows in the context of HIV/AIDS, conflict, poverty, violence and stigma. Widows in this setting, especially if they are older women, are often accused of being "witches"; many are beaten and killed. Yet they are the people solely responsible for raising the next generation, finding shelter, food, water, and safety. Why on earth are the Member States so blind, so hopeless, so unimaginative and uncreative?

This is what we got in the Agreed Conclusions for all our efforts:

"Develop multi sectoral policies and programs and identify, strengthen and take all necessary measures to address the needs of women and girls, including older women and widows, infected with or affected by HIV/AIDS, and those providing unpaid care giving, especially women and girls heading households, for, inter alia, social and legal protection, increased access to financial and economic resources including micro-credit and sustainable economic opportunities, education including opportunities to continue education, as well as access to health services, including affordable antiretroviral treatment, and nutritional support".

Hopeless. Ineffective. Should I be over the moon for having spent £1,500 being in New York to get just this tiny mention? 

And now they've decided that the 54th CSW will be on "implementation of the Beijing PFA"    What? All over again? The 12 action areas which have never, in 14 years, been implemented?   See what I mean. Why come back next year? ...and yet and yet....just the carrot of that tiny word appearing in a document pulls, attracts, seduces...................

Extract from CSW in New York

Conduct Research and identify the Global demographic profile and the 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 activities.

Suggestions For Recomendations From The CSW53 Roundtable On Widowhood:

TO THE GOVERNMENTS, UN, DONORS, AND INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY.
General to all engaged in policy making relating to CEDAW, BPFA, AIDS reduction; MDGs; VAW;1325/1820 and UN SCRs 1325 and 1820, MAINSTREAM WIDOWHOOD issues in all relevant decision-making.

• Cease assumptions that “women” are an homogenous whole.
• Governments, UN, Donors to support WIDOWS “banding together” in order to have them represented in policy making
• Fill the gap in data through supporting Mapping and Profiling involving widows’ NGOs working with M O W and Ministries of Statistics
• The UN S-G to commission a Special Report on the status of widows in selected 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 to be sent to member states on status of widows including reliable statistics.
• UN, (OSAGI, UNFPA, UNDP, UNIFEM) with Commonwealth Secretariat, World Bank and other international development agencies to host an INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE, to take place in Africa, on WIDOWHOOD, HUMAN RIGHTS, POVERTY AND JUSTICE in 2010.

The Lady Fiona Hodgson, [Acting Chair], Baroness Joyce Gould, [Chair of Women's National Commission and Advisory Board of the WPD], Dr. Asha-Rose Migiro [Deputy Secretary General of the UN] Patricia de Mowbray, [Trustee of the WPD], and Margaret Owen, Director of the WPD at the 53rd CSW in New York.

Previous Publications

The priority theme of the 53rd Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women is: The equal sharing of responsibilities between women and men, including caregiving in the context of HIV/AIDS.

WPD regards the selection of this topic as a unique opportunity to increase awareness of the significant and heavy responsibilities that widows carry, both as young widowed mothers and as older and elderly widowed grandmothers, in caring for orphaned children and grandchildren and other dependents (the old, the sick, and the frail) in communities where so many men have died.

Insufficient attention has been paid to the needs and the roles of widows in the context of the AIDS pandemic and caring generally. In many developing countries widowhood itself is a “social and economic death”. Many widows survive in extreme poverty, unable to enjoy their fundamental human rights (as enshrined, in CEDAW and described in the Beijing Platform for Action)

Millions of widows, solely responsible for caring, feeding, housing many dependents, face innumerable obstacles and challenges since they are denied rights, for example, to inherit from their husbands, own land and property, access essential services that would provide them income and the capacity to fulfill their caring obligations. On widowhood they risk being “chased off “from their homes; deprived of their property; face marginalization and stigma as well as abandonment as IDPs and in refugee camps. Coping strategies – often life-threatening - include withdrawing children from school, dependence on exploited child labour, giving away or selling the girl child to forced early marriage (often to HIV infected widowers), and prostitution. Often illiterate, widows are least likely to be able to access training for employment, or income-generating activities. Lack of land means lack of collateral to secure credit or a loan. The poverty of widows impacts upon the whole of society since it is they who have the responsibility for raising the future generation, and caring for the sick.

It is imperative that the HIV/AIDS Caring Issues are seen from the perspective of widowhood, also of conflict and peace building scenarios, and within the prism of implementation of UNSCR 1325 and 1820. Governments and the international community need to ensure that peace accords accommodate the needs of widows for support in their caring roles; that new constitutions and laws expressly address the needs, roles and rights of widows to fully participate in society and in development and reconstruction, are protected from violence, and are relieved of their poverty, fear, and abandonment. Strategies to achieve the Millennium Development Goals must also address the poverty and marginalisation of widows, and acknowledge widows’ crucial roles as carers and providers for the families who may also have been fragmented by armed conflict and ethnic cleansing.

The UK Women’s National Committee supports this meeting and is accrediting WPD, as a UK based Ngo to the CSW.

Other Publication links:
UN CSW REPORT ON WIDOWHOOD MEETING WPD 2006:
http://www.griefandrenewal.com/widows_2.htm

WOMEN 2000 - Widowhood:invisible, women, secluded or excluded
http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/public/wom_Dec%2001%20single%20pg.pdf

A WORLD OF WIDOWS - By Margaret Owen
Click here to read the Publication.

ON MALE RESPONSIBILITY RE: GENDER VIOLENCE IN POST CONFLICT SCENARIOS -
http://www.international-alert.org/pdf/GAPS_Men1325_report.pdf

WIDOWS CHARTER - CHARTER FOR THE RIGHTS OF WIDOWS :
Widows Charter document

MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS TO ADDRESS THE POVERTY OF WIDOWS
http://www.un-ngls.org/UNreform/WidowsforpeaceandDemoc.doc