SANWED

SANWED Secretariat: Women for Human Rights, single women group (WHR), Kathmandu, Nepal

SANWED goal –  a world in which all widows enjoy their full human rights and live in dignity.

In the South Asian region, women are typically in the position in which they are subordinate by nature. Further along the sub-groups of these women, widows are one among them. Widows are the most marginalized within the group. Different factors that tend to cause these prominent issues such as natural death, disasters, accidents, and many other bounds are the reasons behind widowhood in South Asia. Though being a sizeable issue, it is a rarely discussed matter in South Asia through consequences such as legal discrimination, political insensitivity, economic dependency, human rights violations, and social ostracization are all issues profoundly associated with this.

With this, the South Asian Network for Widows’ Empowerment in Development (SANWED) has been established since 2003 A.D. in order to help widows in need. It is a new initiative in the South Asian region to uphold widows’ human rights in all aspects of their lives; reduce poverty and marginalization and eliminate all forms of social, cultural, religious, legal and economic discrimination. This network strives to work towards women’s empowerment, mainstreaming widow’s rights in the national and regional level. The goal of SANWED is that in each country, a  national association of widows’ groups  should be established, with branches or member associations in every city, town, village, refugee or IDP camp so that widows’ know and can obtain their rights, can access training and employment, and participate in decision-making at every level. SANWED also ensures that widows will be able to enjoy their full human rights. SANWED has been formed to strengthen the effectiveness of the international widows for peace and security network through a strong regional membership.  Women for Human Rights is the secretariat of this network along with other members of different organizations from different SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) nations.

Main Objectives of SANWED

SANWED takes on many different agendas towards helping empower single women. Their main objectives are to develop guidelines to collect information on the status of widows through its National Chapters along with collecting data for wider dissemination. They are also working on sharing experiences and “best practices” for promoting and improving the status of widows and their dependents in the South Asian Region. SANWED also has a network with widows’ empowerment groups in other regions of the world to advocate the issues of widowhood in the context of reducing poverty and violence towards women, promoting human rights, justice, and peace at a regional, national, and international level.  

Mission

To enable widows to become collective AGENTS OF CHANGE in the South Asian region by bringing together the National Chapters of SANWED under one umbrella.

Widow’s Charter

The Widows’ Charter was declared and passed in the “International Conference in Capacity Building of single women (widows)” which was May 12th to the 14th 2005 in Kathmandu, Nepal. Drafted by Margaret Owen, Director of Widows for Peace through Democracy (WPD) and focal person of SANWED in coordination with SANWED member countries.

Colombo Declaration

The Colombo Declaration during the 15th SAARC Summit 2008 addressed the issues of widows for the first time in article 32 of declaration.

Vision

The vision of SANWED is a world in which all widows enjoy their full human rights and live in dignity.

Mission

To enable widows to become collective AGENTS OF CHANGE in the South Asian region by bringing together the National Chapters of SANWED under one umbrella.

Goal

SANWED goal is to establish a national association of widows’ group in each country with branches or member associations in every city, town, village, refugee or IDP camp so that widows know and can obtain their rights, can access training and employment, and participate in decision-making at every level.

Widows’ Charter

The Widows’ Charter was declared and passed in the “International Conference in Capacity Building of single women (widows)” held on 12th to 14th May 2005 in Kathmandu, Nepal. It was drafted by Margaret Owen, Director of Widows for Peace through Democracy (WPD) and focal person of SANWED in coordination with SANWED member countries.

Colombo Declaration

The Colombo Declaration during the 15th SAARC Summit 2008 addressed the issues of widows for the first time in article 32 of the declaration.

Current update:

WHR along with other Core Committee members of SANWED have already started the process of SANWED registration as a regional body.
The book with the status of widows in Nepal will be published with some information of widows of South Asian region which will be launched at CSW, New York March 2013.

SANWED Secretariat: Women for Human Rights, single women group (WHR), Kathmandu, Nepal
General Secretary: Lily Thapa
International Focal Person: Margaret Owen, WPD, UK

Reports

  1. Annual Report of SANWED 2018