International Widows Day - June 23, 2013
A widow prays to a a tulsi tree shrine in an Ashram
Special Feature on International Widows Day 2013 by Kulasegaram Sanchayan Absent in statistics, unnoticed by researchers, neglected by national and local authorities and mostly overlooked by civil society organizations - the situation of widows is, in effect, invisible. Yet abuse of widows and their children constitutes one of the most serious violations of human rights and obstacles to development today. Millions of the worlds widows endure extreme poverty, ostracism, violence, homelessness, ill health and discrimination in law and custom. To give special recognition to the situation of widows of all ages and across regions and cultures, the United Nations General Assembly declared 23 June 2011 as the first-ever International Widows Day, to be celebrated annually.
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