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	World Population Day - Investing in teenage girls is critical by UN Population Fund (UNFPA)   11 July 2016   Today is World Population Day, a day that calls attention on urgent population issues. This World Population Day spotlights the need to invest in teenage girls.   Despite strides the world has made towards gender equality, teenage girls remain extremely vulnerable. Too many girls continue to see their rights abridged and prospects diminished by discrimination, exploitation and poverty.   “In some parts of the world, a girl who reaches puberty is deemed by her family or community as ready for marriage, pregnancy and childbirth. She may be married off and forced to leave school,” said UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin. “She may suffer a debilitating condition, such as fistula, from delivering a child before her body is ready for it. She may be denied her human rights.”   Yet teenage girls have enormous potential. When their rights are fulfilled, they enrich the world in vast and immeasurable ways. When they are valued and supported, they are healthier and more likely to emerge from poverty. They contribute to their communities and economies. Their efforts, ideas and imaginations are unleashed.   Six graphs show why investing in teenage girls is absolutely critical – not only for girls, but for the world.   1. There are more young people today than at any other time in human history.   Today’s generation of young people, those aged 10 to 24, accounts for around 1.8 billion of the world’s 7.3 billion people. In 1950, there were only 721 million people in this age range.   These young people are the future. Their choices, ideas and innovations will transform the world – but only if they are equipped with the right skills and opportunities.   2. About nine out of ten of these young people live in less developed countries   A whopping 1.59 billion young people live in the developing world, where they are more likely to face poverty and lack access to health care and education.   Yet this is exactly where healthy, educated and empowered young people could make the most difference.   3. And half of these young people face alarming vulnerabilities – because they are girls.   Violence against women and girls is one of the world’s most prevalent human rights abuses. Half of all sexual assaults are committed against girls aged 15 or younger. Studies show that about 20 per cent of women experienced sexual violence as girls.   Too often, these crimes go unpunished. They may even be tacitly endorsed by sexist attitudes and practices like child marriage.   4. In developing countries, one in every three girls is married before reaching age 18.   A shocking one third of all girls in the developing world (excluding China) are married off while still children. This means the futures of 47,700 girls are derailed every day.   These girls often face a cascade of other human rights abuses. They are more vulnerable to physical and sexual violence. They are often pulled from school to take on domestic responsibilities. They are less able to advocate for themselves and their rights.   5. Child marriage is often followed by pregnancy, even if a girl is not yet physically or mentally ready.   Every day, over 20,000 girls under age 18 give birth in developing countries – over 7 million a year.   Adolescent pregnancy is usually not the result of a deliberate choice. Rather, it is the consequence of an absence of choices. Girls who become pregnant tend to be poorer and to have little or no access to sexual and reproductive health care and information.   And pregnancy compounds their vulnerability, taking an enormous toll on their educations and future earning potential. It also vastly increases the risks to their health. In fact, complications from pregnancy and childbirth are the second leading cause of death among girls between 15 and 19 years old.   6. But the solution to ending these human rights abuses is known: Empower girls.   When girls are valued as much as boys – when they are allowed to receive an education, when they live free of violence, and receive sexual and reproductive health information and care – they are able to stand up for themselves.   Educated girls are more likely to delay marriage and pregnancy, and their future children are healthier. These girls are better able to meet their full potential, benefiting themselves, their families, their countries and the world.   We already see this happening. Since 1999, the number of countries with severe gender disparities in primary education has been cut by more than half. But girls continue to lag behind in secondary education: By 2012, out of all countries with data available, 63 per cent had yet to achieve gender parity in secondary school enrolment.   Much more must be done to protect teenage girls'' rights, and to ensure they have access to the same opportunities as boys.   "Governments everywhere need to invest in teenage girls in ways that empower them to make important life decisions and equip them to one day earn a living, engage in the affairs of their communities and be on an equal footing with their male counterparts," said Dr. Osotimehin.   "A teenage girl whose rights are respected and who is able to realize her full potential is a girl who is more likely to contribute to the economic and social progress of her community and nation." Visit the related web page
	The abuse of widows constitutes one of the most serious violations of human rights by UN News, Loomba Foundation, Reuters, agencies India   June 2016 (Loomba Foundation’s World Widows Report)   Since 2010 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 and insurgency are widows in Afghanistan, Iraq, South Sudan, Central African Republic, Syria, northeast Nigeria, southeast Niger, west Chad and north Cameroon.   In Sub-Saharan Africa the worst conditions are faced by evicted and abandoned widows with dependants and by those caught up in Ebola areas, 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 behaviour remain counterproductive with extreme poverty as a driver of ‘exchange sex’ and ‘survival sex’ relationships and poor quality healthcare.   Widows in developed countries are also affected by welfare cuts 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, 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.   * There are some 259 million widows around the world, with nearly half living in poverty.   Widows are often stigmatized by their families and communities. Many suffer discrimination.   Older widows often have few economic assets, after a lifetime of hard but unpaid work. Even in developed countries, the value of women’s pensions can be 40 per cent lower than men’s. Younger widows face other challenges, as heads of households with childcare responsibilities and very limited economic opportunities.   Widows have been absent in statistics for too long, 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 the abuse of widows and their children constitutes one of the most serious violations of human rights and obstacles to development today. Millions of the world’s widows endure extreme poverty, ostracism, violence, homelessness, ill health and discrimination in law and custom.   To give greater recognition to the situation of widows of all ages and across regions and cultures, the United Nations General Assembly has declared the 23rd of June as International Widows’ Day.   The 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda with its pledge to leave no one behind has a particular resonance for widows, who are among the most marginalized and isolated.   On International Widows’ Day, let us pledge to make widows more visible in our societies, and to support them in living productive, equal and fulfilling lives - Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon   Alipur, India, June 2016   Indian Widows left battling moneylenders, in-laws and communities, by Rina Chandran. (Thomson Reuters Foundation)   At the age of 24, Joshna Wandile and her two children were thrown out of the house she shared with her in-laws after her farmer husband hanged himself. He left a pile of debts after years of drought laid waste to his land.   Wandile is not alone. More than 300,000 farmers have killed themselves in India over the last two decades, leaving their widows battling with the state, moneylenders, in-laws and their communities.   While widows in rural India are often ostracised and abused, farmer widows have it particularly tough, activists said ahead of International Widows Day on Thursday.   "I had nothing when my husband died - he sold everything in the house, even the cooking vessels, to pay the creditors," said Wandile who lives in Vidarbha in the western state of Maharashtra, among the worst affected by farmers suicides.   "I couldn''t even feel sad. I could only think: where will we live? How will I earn enough money? How will I keep us safe?" said Wandile, who was married at 17.   Maharashtra, which is struggling with its worst drought in four decades, accounted for more than half the 5,650 farmer suicides in India in 2014, according to official data. Some estimate last year''s toll exceeded 3,000.   "Bankruptcy or indebtedness" was the most common reason cited. Most were small farmers, with holdings of under two hectares.   There is little information on the families left behind who struggle to claim their right to the land they till and the house they live in, while battling archaic stigmas that dog their every step.   Wandile wasn''t given a share of the 1.8-hectare plot she and her husband worked on because the title deeds were in the names of his parents.   Her in-laws also refused to transfer the public distribution card to her name, denying her subsidised staples such as rice, wheat and cooking oil.   With more than 46 million widows, India has the highest number of widows in the world, according to the Loomba Foundation which fights for their rights.   While China and India account for more than a third of all widows globally, India is "of much greater concern" as education levels are lower and extreme poverty widespread, the foundation said in a report last year.   Widows in India are highly stigmatised, particularly in rural areas, where they are regarded as unlucky. Many are subjected to abuse, kicked out of their homes, denied food, and blamed for their husbands deaths.   Those who continue farming may have difficulty hiring and managing male labourers and may be harassed and cheated by traders and other farmers.   "The farmers suicides get so much attention, but for the widows it''s a living death every day," said Lata Bandgar, a community organiser with Paryay, a charity helping widows in Maharashtra.   "She has nothing, she can do nothing, and she is treated as little more than a slave by even her own family."   Poverty and debts also increase the risks of widows being trafficked or duped into prostitution, activists say. With child marriage common in villages, some girls are even widowed as children, leaving them particularly vulnerable.   When a farmer dies, a police case is filed to determine the cause of death. If it is ruled a suicide due to the farm crisis or indebtedness, the widow or the family gets 100,000 rupees ($1,500).   But the compensation can be denied, as in Wandile''s case, if ownership of the land is disputed or if the death is not judged to be linked to indebtedness or the farm crisis.   After receiving the money, a widow often has to fend off claims from her husband''s family and creditors. Widows forced to repay loans can be caught in a vicious cycle of debt bondage.   "We hear the saddest, most incredible stories when it comes to land and property: parents turning against children, children turning against parents," said Saumya Roy at the Vandana Foundation which helps widows in Vidarbha.   "The widows are the most vulnerable, as their position in the family, the community is so tenuous."   Of the 700 widows the foundation has helped, about a third said the land deeds were not in their husbands names, while a third were repaying their husbands loans, Roy told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.   The drought in Maharashtra, India''s largest cotton-growing state, has compounded an underlying agrarian crisis fuelled by a fall in global commodity prices.   Many farmers have been forced to borrow at high interest rates from private lenders after defaulting on bank loans.   The acute vulnerability of farmers widows is expected to be highlighted in India''s new national policy for women. The draft, unveiled last month, said the government would design special packages for them including alternative livelihood options.   Almost 500 women farmers killed themselves in 2014, most of them probably widows crushed by debt, activists say.   Wandile, the widow forced from her husband''s home, moved in with her mother for two years before being asked to leave her home too. Hearing that her in-laws were about to sell the land, she filed a case against them with the help of a charity.   She was eventually given 100,000 rupees as her husband''s share from the sale and now lives in a two-room home she built with a microfinance loan in Alipur village.   "I want to educate my children, get my daughter married," said Wandile, who still hesitates to linger outside for fear of taunts and harassment.   "I also want to help other widows, because the world is cruel to us: no one respects a woman whose husband has died."   ($1 = 66.75 rupees)   http://www.un.org/en/events/widowsday/index.shtml http://theloombafoundation.org/home/ http://everylifecounts.ndtv.com/indias-suicide-farmers-widows-face-living-death-3457 http://tmsnrt.rs/28RjL6r http://bit.ly/28R4cix http://bit.ly/28OfKEu http://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2017/02/global-images-of-widows-india-bosnia-uganda-discrimination-exile/ http://pulitzercenter.org/projects/asia-india-widows-shunned-crime-social-death-violence-exploitation-outcast-society   * Global Widows Report 2015 (270 pages): http://bit.ly/28OPwNJ Visit the related web page
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