African AIDS widows left without inheritance

An article from Afrol News...

afrol News, 8 March - Due to customary laws, thousands of AIDS widows throughout Africa are denied an inheritance, which leaves them homeless and destitute. Today, on Women's Day, a coalition of women's groups urges the African Commission on Human Rights to urgently address the growing problem.

- On International Women's Day, we call upon the Commission to focus on an important issue that is constantly overlooked, says Birte Scholz, from the Geneva-based Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE). This issue, Ms Scholz says, is "the denial of inheritance to thousands of widows throughout Africa, which leaves them homeless, destitute, violates their human rights and adds to the spread of HIV/AIDS in the region."

The women's group coalition, in which COHRE participates, today is urging the African Commission on Human Rights to urgently review customary laws in several African countries "that deny women from inheriting property, endanger their socio-economic security and thereby contributes to the spread of AIDS.