In collaboration with the Greek Orthodox Archdiocesan Council of North and South America, the Salesians of Don Bosco, prepared and submitted two written interventions for the Commission. One, “Economically Empowering Women Infected with HIV by Ensuring Their Property Rights” dealt with the impact of HIV infection and the property rights of women. Linking HIV status and property rights, we noted: “We reaffirm our shared interest in the empowerment of women and girls and the right to conditions that promote health and medical treatment. All people are entitled to live with dignity regardless of gender, sex, or HIV status. A person should not be denied capacity for economic empowerment and financial opportunity based on HIV status.”
The other statement addressed preventing violence against women and girls, especially refugees. In that statement Salesians put forward our belief that violence against women and girls, especially during migration must be ended. “We reaffirm our common interest in the safety and dignity of refugee girls and women and the importance of their freedom to migrate in search of life free from violence, whether sexual or gender-based. We insist that a sustainable solution to preventing sexual and gender-based violence — along with most other forms of exploitation — is by empowering women and girls through education and employment. It is the responsibility of the world community to invest in the dignity and humanity of refugee girls and women by empowering them with agency over their own futures. Providing fair and decent work for girls and women, either within the refugee camps or the local community, is one way to help prevent sexual violence and ensure safe migration.”
Additionally, Fr. Tom Brennan, the Salesian representative at the United Nations, moderated a panel: HIV/AIDS and Property Rights: Overcoming Barriers to Women’s Economic Empowerment. This was a collaborative effort of the World Council of Churches Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance, the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, the Salesians of Don Bosco, The Permanent Mission of the Holy See and UNAIDS. The final part of the event outlined a series of actions that members of the faith community could initiate to help overcome the injustice many HIV women are enduring.
A brief summary of some keys points raised during the panel discussion follows.
Jane Ng’ang’a, national coordinator, International Network of Religious Leaders Living with or Personally Affected by HIV (INERELA+) Kenya Chapter, spoke about her research on property and inheritance rights, sharing some stories on how violations of property and inheritance rights are linked to HIV, hoping to encourage advocacy for religious leaders and faith-based organizations (FBOs) on such issues.
In some places in the world, women are prevented from holding jobs or from inheriting properties. When husbands or parents die, women are often impeded from inheriting or owning property. And women living with HIV are in an even more precarious situation - along with their children.
For Archbishop Bernardito Auza, permanent representative of the Holy See Mission to the UN, this is not only a problem of law, but “it is a problem of how women have access to the fiduciary structure,” he said. “Therefore, defending the dignity of women involves then upholding and legally securing the right to own and inherit property through reforming laws wherever it is needed and making them practical and effective on the ground.”
Sheila Dinotshe Tlou, director of the UNAIDS Regional Support Team for Eastern and Southern Africa, noted that Faith Based Organizations themselves are already acting as champions in rights education. “Half the time we have very good laws, but people don’t know these laws. We are all called to be champions, to really look at our communities and ask what are the issues that we can take to any world leader, whether it is a president or a minister,” she said.
Rev. Pauline Njiru, regional coordinator for Eastern Africa for the WCC’s Ecumenical HIV and AIDS Initiatives and Advocacy (EHAIA), shared some stories of women whose lives have been impacted by property and inheritance rights violations and the link between such violations and HIV. She stressed that we must “… raise awareness and overcome dispossession, and barriers to inheritance rights for women living with HIV.”
Rev. Thomas Brennan, from the Salesians of Don Bosco and moderator of the panel, hoped faith-based leaders “would now take up the charge to be able to educate people about HIV, women’s rights and look at the way that we can motivate our local communities to help effect the changes that are necessary. We need more champions. We need more people who say ‘I will make this my cause, because I believe that part of my faith is to reach out to those who are most marginalized,” he said.
“So we look to tell our communities that they have to help with the systemic change that is necessary to allow women to have all of their rights respected. And in instances where land is being taken away, that they not have that discrimination,” concluded Fr Brennan.
Dr Isabel Phiri, WCC deputy general secretary, closed the panel affirming that “in terms of methodology, education is key. Education at all levels, for men, women, children, lawmakers and for society in general, so they have a clear understanding of what is at stake when it comes to women’s issues,” she said.
In 2015 that there are still an estimated 17.8 million women living with HIV (15 or older), according to UN Women. As 51% of the global number of the adults living with HIV, women have been particularly affected by HIV and AIDS, and often do not receive the same level of attention as other demographics.
In many parts of the world, women living with HIV are often excluded from holding a job, inheriting and controlling property, and otherwise exercising economic independence, factors contributing to the true economic empowerment of women which subsequently has positive effects on development outcomes.
