[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 158 Introduced in House (IH)]
108th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. CON. RES. 158
Recognizing the importance of inheritance rights of women in Africa.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
April 30, 2003
Ms. Millender-McDonald (for herself, Ms. Carson of Indiana, Ms. Lee,
Mr. Snyder, Mr. Payne, Mr. Lantos, Mr. Towns, Ms. Kilpatrick, Mrs.
Maloney, Mr. Conyers, Ms. Corrine Brown of Florida, Mr. Kildee, Ms.
Slaughter, Mrs. Jones of Ohio, Ms. Norton, Mr. Grijalva, Mrs. Capps,
Mr. McNulty, Mr. Rodriguez, Mr. McGovern, Ms. Waters, Mr. Stark, Mr.
Kennedy of Rhode Island, Ms. Jackson-Lee of Texas, Mr. Farr, Mr.
McDermott, Mr. Cummings, Mrs. Christensen, and Mr. Waxman) submitted
the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the
Committee on International Relations
_______________________________________________________________________
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
Recognizing the importance of inheritance rights of women in Africa.
Whereas access to and control over land, housing, and property is one of the
most critical factors in the overall struggle for women's equality in
gender relations and empowerment, as it is essential to women's daily
survival, economic security, and physical safety;
Whereas in many regions of the world, and particularly throughout the African
continent, land and housing have traditionally been regulated by
customary law under which widowed women do not inherit land and housing
but are allowed to remain in the matrimonial home until death or
remarriage;
Whereas over the past several decades, this social safety net has eroded
drastically, creating a human rights crisis of enormous magnitude;
Whereas, in some cases, religious law also plays a role in restricting women's
right to inherit;
Whereas statutory laws in some African countries have superseded customary and
religious laws restricting women's right to inherit, but nonetheless
have had minimal impact on actual practice;
Whereas the denial of inheritance rights to women devastates the lives of
millions of women who become completely destitute upon the death of
their husbands, when the family of the deceased husband often takes
immediate possession of the land, housing, and property;
Whereas the result is not only extreme poverty for individual women and their
dependents, but a profound, negative impact on the social and economic
development of countries in Africa;
Whereas the HIV/AIDS pandemic has resulted in the exponential growth in the
number of young widows, orphaned girls, and grandmothers becoming heads
of households and has led to the urgent need for secure inheritance
rights for women;
Whereas this phenomenon has been exacerbated by the horrific conflicts that have
gripped many African countries in recent years, in the aftermath of
which there is usually an increase in female-headed households; and
Whereas the denial of inheritance rights also results in violence against women,
both at the time when they are forcibly dispossessed and after they
become homeless: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring),
That it is the sense of Congress that--
(1) greater attention should be paid to the strong
relationship between the denial of inheritance rights to women
and its negative impact on economic development, particularly
in Africa;
(2) when considering responses to the HIV/AIDS epidemic,
programs that focus sharply on ensuring secure inheritance
rights to widows and orphans of HIV/AIDS should be carefully
considered;
(3) ensuring secure inheritance rights for women should be
included in strategies addressing the issue of violence against
women;
(4) in post-conflict and reconstruction situations, the
rights of widows and other female heads of households to
inherit land and property should be included in the priorities
of reconstruction;
(5) the Secretary of State should examine the issue of
women's inheritance rights in Africa in the annual human rights
report of the Department of State;
(6) the United States Agency for International Development
should consider conducting a study of African countries in
order to document and establish the effect of the denial of
women's inheritance rights on economic development of those
countries; and
(7) the Annual Day of Action on Women's Inheritance Rights,
initiated in 1999 by the International Human Rights Law Group
and implemented over the past three years by nongovernmental
organizations throughout many countries in Africa, should be
acknowledged and supported.
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