International Widows' Day 2016 marked across the world

The International Widow's Day 2016 was celebrated across the world on 23 June 2016. The day was celebrated to raise awareness on the troubles of widowed women.

The day throws light on the situation of widows which is sometimes neglected due to absent in statistics, unnoticed by researchers and is mostly overlooked by civil society organizations.

Generally, widow women have to suffer complete social exclusion. Abuse of widows and their children constitutes one of the most serious violations of human rights and obstacles to development today.

Background
Millions of the world’s 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 (UNGA) declared 23 June 2011 as the first-ever International Widows’ Day to be celebrated annually.

Since 2011, International Widows Day is observed to sensitize the global population for the misery of the widows.