KATHMANDU, June 24 (Xinhua) — A two-day international conference on widowhood has begun here in Nepali capital Kathmandu Thursday with the slogan \”Widows Voices Empowered\”.

The conference inaugurated by Nepali Minister for Women, Children and Social Welfare Sarba Dev Ojha, anticipates an international voice to be developed after the powerful discussion on the injustice of widow women.

Women in Nepal are discriminated in various aspects of everyday life, rights from cultural traditions to laws and policies. The situation of widows is even worse with pervasive marginalization from society, according to Women for Human Rights, single women group (WHR) which is hosting an international conference on widowhood.

The WHR, a private non-profit organization actively working for human rights of widows in Nepal, further outlined that widow women are identified as inauspicious, symbol of ill women and the cause of the death of their husbands.

The WHR, secretariat of South Asian Network for Widows\’ Empowerment in Development (SANWED) hopes that the common practices will be developed in order to change policy, build stronger campaigns and ultimately eradicate the impoverished lives of widows.

The SANWED comprises South Asian states comprising–Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

According to the release issued by WHR, it aims for an equitable society where widows are respected and can live in dignity with sufficient economic, political and social rights in Nepal and elsewhere in the world.

The issues of widows in the extremely patriarchal society are numerous especially after the decade long conflict and the traditional way of life in much of Nepal. Though there is no concrete statistics of widow women in Nepal, according to WHR, currently it has 300 single women groups in 52 districts across the country with a membership base of over 45,000.

Meanwhile, inaugurating the conference, Nepali Minister for Women, Children and Social Welfare Sarba Dev Ojha vowed to form a unified work-plan to address women related issues including widow women.

He added that government will begin to collect the exact number of widow women across the country in next census. \”Widow Women\’s statistic will be compiled in government\’s data system in upcoming national census,\” he said.

He also expressed government\’s commitment to wipe out the discriminatory laws against women and widow women.

Similarly, Chairman of National Women Commission Nain Kala Thapa stressed that discrimination against widow women is not only Nepal\’s agenda but also the matter of concern for whole South Asia. \”Widow Women\’s situation in Nepal is worst most specifically of those who are economically marginalized. Most of them are living their life as corpse,\” added Thapa. However, she said that the situation has seen progress at present.

The two-day meeting is being attended by participants form 13 countries altogether –Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Germany, India, Italy, Nepal, Pakistan, Scotland, Sri Lanka, the United States and Britain.