LONDON: Millions of widows worldwide suffer crushing poverty and persecution, their numbers swelled by a proliferation of conflicts from Syria to Myanmar.
International Widows’ Day on June 23 aims to raise awareness of the often hidden injustices they face.
Many are robbed of their inheritance, while others are enslaved by in-laws, accused of witchcraft or forced into abusive sexual rituals. Here are some facts:
- Experts estimated there were 258.5 million widows globally in 2015, but say the number is likely to have risen.
- Deaths through conflict and disease contributed to a 9 percent increase in the number of widows between 2010 and 2015.
- The biggest jump has been in the Middle East and North Africa, where the estimated number of widows rose 24 percent between 2010 and 2015, partly due to the Syrian war and other conflicts.
- One in seven widows globally — 38 million — lives in extreme poverty.
- One in 10 women of marital age is widowed. The proportion is about one in five in Afghanistan and Ukraine.
- A third of widows worldwide live in India or China. India, with an estimated 46 million widows in 2015, has overtaken China (44.6 million) to become the country with the largest number of widows.
- Widow “cleansing” rituals in some sub-Saharan countries may require a widow to drink the water used to wash her dead husband’s body or to have sex with an in-law, village “cleanser” or stranger.
- Campaigners for widows’ rights say such rituals, which are intended to rid a widow of her husband’s spirit, spread disease and are a violation of dignity.
- 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.
- Property seizures and evictions by the late husband’s family are widespread in many places including Angola, Bangladesh, Botswana, India, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.
- A significant number of girls are widowed in childhood — a reflection of the prevalence of child marriage in developing countries and the custom of marrying off young girls to much older men.
Abused and destitute: Wars fuel rise in global number of widows
Abused and destitute: Wars fuel rise in global number of widows
- One in seven widows globally — 38 million — lives in extreme poverty
- Deaths through conflict and disease contributed to a 9 percent increase in the number of widows between 2010 and 2015
France to open consulate in Greenland in February
- The comments came on the day that Denmark’s top diplomat is to meet senior US officials at the White House for talks over Greenland
PARIS: France will open a consulate in Greenland on February 6, the foreign minister said Wednesday, calling the move a “political signal” over the strategic Danish territory, which US President Donald Trump has vowed to seize.
The comments came on the day that Denmark’s top diplomat is to meet senior US officials at the White House for talks over the future of vast, mineral-rich Arctic island.
Since returning to office nearly a year ago, Trump has repeatedly mused about taking over Greenland from longtime ally and European Union member Denmark.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told French RTL broadcaster that the decision to open the consulate was taken last summer, when President Emmanuel Macron visited Greenland in a show of support.
“For my part, I went there at the end of August to plan the consulate, which will open on February 6,” he said.
“It’s a political signal that’s associated with a desire to be more present in Greenland, including in the scientific field.”
“Greenland does not want to be owned, governed... or integrated into the United States. Greenland has made the choice of Denmark, NATO, (European) Union,” he said.
Greenland’s leader has said that the island would choose to remain an autonomous territory of Denmark over the United States.
Trump has said the United States needs Greenland due to the threat of a takeover by Russia or China.
The two rival powers have both stepped up activity in the Arctic, where ice is melting due to climate change, but neither claims Greenland, where the United States has long had a military base.
