SYPNOSIS:

It is increasingly being acknowledged that addressing structural factors is key to halting and reversing the spread of HIV. One of the emerging though not well understood factors in the rise of HIV among women is the denial of property and inheritance to women. The link between HIV and women’s unequal property and inheritance rights need to be better understood. Lack of equal rights for women and girls to property and inheritance exclude women from accessing resources that would help reduce their vulnerability to HIV and improve their ability to cope with the consequences of HIV. Barriers to women’s property and inheritance rights can set off a downward spiral of lost economic opportunities, reduced security, and higher dependence on male relatives. Women may be unable to leave abusive marriages in which they have little power to negotiate safer sex or in which they are forced to remarry or co-habit with a brother in law after the death of the husband – situations that put women at increased risk of receiving or transmitting HIV. Widows and other women living with HIV may find themselves entirely dispossessed of their land and property and drawn into livelihoods that place them at greater risk of infection, such as sex work. Women are also bearing the brunt of the AIDS epidemic in terms of being disproportionately responsible for family and community care giving, without a guarantee of shelter on their own behalf. Although this issue has become more apparent in Africa, it is just now appearing on the Asian agenda. This panel will bring together grassroots women and legal practitioners to raise awareness of these issues.

Chairs:

Dr. Mandeep Dhaliwal, Cluster Leader, Gender, Human Rights & Sexual Diversities, UNDP

Anne Stenhammer,  Regional Programme Director, UNIFEM

Panelists:

Caitlin Wiesen,  Regional HIV Practice Leader, Asia Pacific, UNDP – Welcome

Anand Grover, UN Special Rapporteur on Health – Existing legal structures and experience of the UNDP Regional Court of Women

Rup Narayan, Advocate, Forum for Women, Law and Development, Nepal – What works and what doesn’t, specifically with regard to the new confidentiality clause

Esther Mwaura –  National Coordinator, Groots, Kenya - African context

Kou Sina, Director, Cambodia Urban Poor Women Development – Evictions, land rights and HIV

Go to Media Reports 

Go to Photo Gallery