World Widows Report + Discrimination & Oppression of Africa Widows
CEDAW Committee General Recommendation No. 34 on the Rights of Rural Women
Translations in the 6 Official UN Languages – http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=CEDAW/C/GC/34&Lang=en
http://allafrica.com/stories/201603240153.html
24 March 2016 – Kenya has been named among countries in the world where widows are seriously oppressed.
World Widows Report launched at UN headquarters in New York on last week revealed that Kenyan widows suffer from discrimination, systematic seizure of property and evictions by their late husband’s families.
The report by The Loomba Foundation says Kenya has an estimated eight million widows.
Neighbours Uganda and Tanzania have also been listed as countries where widows are abused.
Other African countries where widows know no peace are Angola, Botswana, Republic of Congo, DR Congo, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The report posted on Loomba Foundation website www.theloombafoundation.org names Bangladesh the country that has made the lives of widows most unbearable in the world.
In the list of countries where widows lead devastated lifestyles, the organisation that defends the rights of widows in the world ranks Kenya 33rd.
Other abuses that widows suffer include being abandoned, evictions, as well as being subjected to traditional ‘cleansing’ rituals.
Others, especially the poor ones, suffer from sexual abuses and forced re-marriage.
“Customary cleansing rituals, where a widow is forced to drink water that has been used to wash the corpse of their husbands and have sex with their husband’s relatives continue to spread venereal diseases and violate the dignity of widows in many Sub-Saharan countries,” says the report.
Ms Roseline Orwa, a Kenyan activist who spoke to the Nation from Kisumu on Wednesday, concurred with the findings, saying Kenyan widows are subjected to a lot of suffering.
Ms Orwa, who chairs an organisation called Sauti ya Wajane Kenya (Voice of widows) called on the society to observe the rights of widows.
WUNRN
The Loomba Foundation
http://theloombafoundation.org/global-widows-report-2015/
See Key Findings Below.
WORLD WIDOWS REPORT
The Loomba Foundation’s World Widows Report is the only authoritative comprehensive data source about the discrimination and injustice faced by widows and their dependents country by country and worldwide, informing SDG-era policy formulation by the United Nations and national governments.
Key Findings Include:
- The global affected population numbers 258m widows with 585m children.
- Of these, 38m widows live in extreme poverty where basic needs are unmet.
- Since a 2010 Loomba Foundation study, there has been a significant exacerbation in conflict areas in the Middle East and North Africa, notably the Syrian civil war.
- Worst affected by conflict are widows in Afghanistan, Iraq, South Sudan, Central African Republic and Syria; by the Boko Haram insurgency, those in northeast Nigeria, southeast Niger, west Chad and north Cameroon. In Sub-Saharan Africa the worst conditions are faced by evicted and abandoned widows with dependents and by those caught up in the Ebola crisis areas, which is further exacerbated by traditional ‘cleansing’ rituals.
- Widows with only female children and child widows aged between 10 and 17 face severe discrimination in many developing countries.
- Social norms around sexual behavior remain counterproductive with extreme poverty as a driver of ‘exchange sex’ and ‘survival sex’ relationships and poor quality healthcare.
- Widows in western and developed countries have also been affected by cutbacks in social welfare and increased insecurity.
- Customary ‘cleansing’ rituals, where widows are required to drink the water with which their dead husband’s body has been washed and to have sex with a relative, continue to spread disease and violate the dignity of widows in many Sub-Saharan countries.
- Widows are regularly accused of killing their husbands either deliberately or through neglect – including by transmitting HIV/AIDS – in India, Nepal, Papua New Guinea and Sub-Saharan Africa.
- Systematic seizure of property and evictions by the late husband’s family remains widespread in Angola, Bangladesh, Botswana, Republic of Congo, DR Congo, India, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The World Widows Report is published to coincide with the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals by the United Nations and provides a basis for researchers, international and local agencies, governments and all who care about gender inequality and the desperate plight of widows to develop sound, evidence-based policy for a better world.
WUNRN Note: This full report is only offered by Loomba Foundation at a charge. For those with interest to buy, the link is: http://www.standardinfo.london/#buy
Categories: Releases