IV

107TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. CON. RES. 421

Recognizing the importance of inheritance rights of women in Africa.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JUNE 18, 2002

Mrs. CLAYTON (for herself, Ms. MILLENDER-MCDONALD, Mrs. BIGGERT, Ms.

EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. TOWNS, Mrs. JONES of Ohio,

Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Mrs. MORELLA, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. LANTOS,

Ms. KILPATRICK, Mr. RUSH, Mrs. CHRISTENSEN, Ms. WATERS, Mr. KILDEE, Ms. CARSON of Indiana, Ms. WATSON of California, Ms. DELAURO,

Ms. MCKINNEY, Mrs. MINK of Hawaii, Ms. SOLIS, Ms. VELA ́ZQUEZ, Mrs.

CAPPS, Mr. FARR of California, Mr. KLECZKA, Mr. STARK, Ms. KAPTUR,

Mrs. THURMAN, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Mr. LEVIN, Mr. SCOTT, Ms.

LEE, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. BERRY, Mrs. EMERSON, Mrs. MALONEY of

New York, Mr. BARRETT of Wisconsin, Mr. CONYERS, Mrs. MEEK of

Florida, Mr. CLYBURN, Mr. HOLDEN, Ms. BERKLEY, Mr. RANGEL, Mr.

ROEMER, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. RODRIGUEZ, Mr. HOEFFEL, Mr. EDWARDS, Mr. HONDA, Ms. SLAUGHTER, Mr. DOGGETT, Mr. SANDLIN, Ms.

PELOSI, Mr. DAVIS of Florida, Mr. PHELPS, Mr. FRANK, Mr. SPRATT,

Mr. HILLIARD, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. MALONEY of Connecticut, Mr.

TIERNEY, Mr. ANDREWS, Mr. SHAYS, Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California,

Ms. BROWN of Florida, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. WYNN, Mr. GILMAN, Mr.

BEREUTER, Mr. LEWIS of California, Ms. PRYCE of Ohio, Mrs. JOHNSON

of Connecticut, Ms. DUNN, Mr. KOLBE, Mr. PORTMAN, Mr. BISHOP, Mr.

FATTAH, Mr. POMEROY, Mr. EVANS, Mrs. BONO, Mr. TURNER, Mr.

WATTS of Oklahoma, Mr. GREENWOOD, Mr. BOOZMAN, Mr. ENGEL, and

Mr. SNYDER) 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.
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•HCON 421 IH

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
3

•HCON 421 IH

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

1 Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate

2 concurring), That it is the sense of Congress that—

3 (1) greater attention should be paid to the

4 strong relationship between the denial of inheritance

5 rights to women and its negative impact on eco6 nomic development, particularly in Africa;

7 (2) when considering responses to the HIV/

8 AIDS epidemic, programs that focus sharply on en9 suring secure inheritance rights to widows and or10 phans of HIV/AIDS should be carefully considered;

11 (3) ensuring secure inheritance rights for

12 women should be included in strategies addressing

13 the issue of violence against women;

14 (4) in post-conflict and reconstruction situa15 tions, the rights of widows and other female heads
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•HCON 421 IH

1 of households to inherit land and property should be

2 included in the priorities of reconstruction;

3 (5) the Secretary of State should examine the

4 issue of women’s inheritance rights in Africa in the

5 annual human rights report of the Department of

6 State;

7 (6) the United States Agency for International

8 Development should consider conducting a study of

9 African countries in order to document and establish

10 the effect of the denial of women’s inheritance rights

11 on economic development of those countries; and

12 (7) the Annual Day of Action on Women’s In13 heritance Rights, initiated in 1999 by the Inter14 national Human Rights Law Group and imple15 mented over the past three years by nongovern16 mental organizations throughout many countries in

17 Africa, should be acknowledged and supported.

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