Report of the National Conference: Women's Property Rights ... - FAO

norms. Some of the tribes are matrilineal – meaning that descent or inheritance is throughone’s mother‘s lineage. This causes a lot of problems because it entails that one’s niecesand nephews have more right to inherit their uncle’s property than the uncle’s biologicalchildren. Hence, the stripping of assets by relatives. The enactment of the IntestateSuccession Act in 1989 was meant to provide for a uniform Intestate succession law thatwould be applicable throughout the country and to inter alia provide for theadministration of estates of dead persons.The Act presently does not apply on land acquired under customary law, institutionalizedproperty acquired under a Chieftainship and family property. The effect of this provisionis that a widow cannot look to court for determination of her grievance when she isejected from the land and the widow and orphan are left at the mercy of the relatives ofthe deceased.The role of administrators is often misunderstood. The Intestate Succession Act has anumber of gaps in terms of protecting the rights of widows and orphans. Enforcement hasbecome a problem because people do not complain and matters involving succession areoften viewed as domestic disputes and therefore not taken seriously.3.3 Status of Widows and Orphans in Zambia: Joyce MacMillan, Women LawSouthern Africa (WLSA) National CoordinatorJoyce MacMillan elucidated the NGO report on the status of widows and orphanssubmitted to the committee on ESCR. According to UNAIDS 1999 statistics, Zambiadisplayed the highest number oforphans in the world. In addition,Lusaka the capital city is estimatedto have 35 000 street kids. More than70% of households are fostering atleast one orphan. The current statusof widows and orphans in Zambia issummarized in Box 1. 19% ofZambia’s total population consists oforphans. That gives a total numberof 11,00,000 orphans. 60% (660000) were made orphans as a resultof AIDS.The vulnerability of widows andorphans in Zambia has beenexacerbated by multiple overlappingcrises that include high HIVBox 1: Status of widows and orphans in Zambia• increasing number of widows and orphans withHIV AND AIDS• high poverty levels• inadequate legislation• unjust laws• unjust situations – courts• resistance to enforcement of laws• negative cultural practices• limited access to education and health facilitiesfor widows and orphans• widows and orphans abuse, violations, propertystripping• legally illiteracy in legal matters – providers andtarget group• right to life threatened• increase in number of children-headedhouseholdsprevalence rates of 20% and high poverty levels estimated at 80% of the total populationof 10.2 million. Young women have become widows at an early age as a result of earlymarriages to older men. Consequently, these young women due to high levels ofilliteracy, expose themselves to even greater vulnerability to HIV and AIDS and property9