NEWS & BLOGS FROM WPD, PARTNERS & NETWORK MEMBERS

By Jordan Taylor. Humanitarian funding cuts are usually from the broader lens of “women and girls” as a single group. That framing risks concealing groups whose needs arise from particular social and legal conditions. Widows are one such group.... Widowhood can involve far more than bereavement, and often removes the widow’s claim to housing, land, pensions or family property. UN Women has identified poverty, discriminatory inheritance practices, social exclusion and violence as recurring features of widowhood across different regions... The present funding crisis threatens the support widows can receive. However, the effect on widows remains difficult to quantify because humanitarian systems commonly record them under broader categories...

By Ally Laverty and Zoe Prokopiou. Many widows globally face traditional, socio-cultural and religious rituals and acts which amount to Non-State Torture.... Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which asserts that no one shall be subjected to torture. By creating a Convention on Non-State torture, States Parties will be compelled to legislate against it on a national level...

By Jordan Taylor. For many widows, bereavement is followed by the loss of their home, land and financial security. Discriminatory inheritance practices, limited awareness of legal rights and the cost of representation can leave women vulnerable to demands that they surrender property acquired during marriage. Although international law recognises women’s equal rights to property and inheritance, those rights offer little practical protection unless women can access organisations capable of enforcing them...

By Amelie Chaplin Enforced disappearance is when a person is detained or abducted by state agents or those acting with state approval, and the state then refuses to acknowledge their fate or whereabouts... The Treaty is important for widows/half widows of enforced disappearances because, alongside prohibiting enforced disappearances, it makes them victims in their own right, giving them access to the necessary rights to aid their legal, financial and emotional turmoil in the event of their husband's disappearance. With conflict being a prominent feature of today's world, this is urgently relevant.

By Roseline Orwa. It began in a small room—three widows sitting in my living room, carrying stories that had long been held in silence....
Implementation is the next frontier—and it is not only legal, but cultural, linguistic, and deeply communal... Communities must not only know the law—they must carry it, defend it, and live it. Only then does it become real protection rather than written promise.

​By Zipporah Omowunmi Adenike Oladejo. At the Widows Rejoice Mission, we firmly believe that healthcare is a fundamental right, not a luxury reserved for the wealthy. Taking matters into our own hands, the Mission recently participated in a targeted medical outreach for poor and vulnerable widows... As we commemorate International Widows Day 2026, the Widows Rejoice Mission makes an urgent appeal to policymakers, government officials, health agencies, and parastatals across developing nations...

By Dr Eleanor Nwadinobi. In 2018, WiDO received a grant from the Global Fund For Widows. A new palm oil mill was provided, a well was dug and they were taught to run a Widows Savings and Loan Scheme (WISALA)... These women are now role models to other widows in the community because of the rapid transformation in their lives.

By Sonia Ali. In refugee camp settings, paperwork is not merely background administration. It determines whether someone can collect food assistance, access healthcare, retain shelter space, or be recognised as head of household... For Rohingya refugees in the Cox’s Bazar refugee camp in Bangladesh, legal recognition is limited and largely structured through humanitarian registration systems. While registration enables access to aid, refugees do not hold citizenship status in Bangladesh and face restrictions on formal employment and freedom of movement. As a result, many households remain highly dependent on humanitarian assistance...

Following on from WPD's successful CSW 70 event on conflict affected widows, WPD held an in-person event at the House of Commons on April 27th... The purpose of the event was to hear the demands for justice, visibility and safety for widows, half-widows and child widows living in conflict and post conflict settings, whose numbers increase daily, but who largely remain unheard and invisible to the institutions that should protect them.

By Hossam Madhoun. Since the outbreak of the war in the Gaza Strip in October 2023, widows have emerged as one of the most affected and vulnerable groups in society. The loss of husbands has forced thousands of women to suddenly become primary breadwinners in an environment marked by widespread destruction, collapse of essential services, and severe insecurity. Estimates indicate that around 22,000 women have become widows during this period, reflecting a deep, multi-dimensional humanitarian crisis...

"For my 94th birthday, I'm asking for donations to Widows for Peace through Democracy. Widows and half-widows are in desperate need of a collective voice to inform the international community and their governments of their rights for restorative justice, protection and reparations. Please help us to ensure their voices are heard, to inform policies - national and international..."

Written speech by Mrs. Leeladevi Anandanadarajah, General Secretary of the Association for Relatives of the Enforced Disappearances in the North and East Provinces of Sri Lanka: Many of our loved ones were forcibly disappeared after surrendering to the Sri Lankan military at the end of the war in Mullivaikkal... They do not know whether their husbands are alive or dead... They are forced to live between hope and despair... Their demand is not political. It is a fundamental human right — the right to know the truth. Behind every disappeared person is a family still waiting: a wife whose life is frozen in uncertainty, and children who grow up without answers... Until the fate of the disappeared is revealed and properly documented, thousands of women will continue to live in a prison of uncertainty.