On July 23, the House International Relations Subcommittee on Africa approved, by voice vote, a resolution (H. Con. Res. 421) that recognizes the importance of inheritance rights for women in Africa. Sponsored by Rep. Eva Clayton (D-NC), H. Con. Res. 421 would urge the State Department to include widows’ property rights in its annual report on human rights and also call upon the U.S. Agency for International Development to conduct a study on how the lack of inheritance rights affects a country’s economic development.
In addition, H. Con. Res. 421 would urge programs geared towards securing inheritance rights to address the issue of violence against women and to “focus sharply on ensuring secure inheritance rights to widows and orphans of HIV/AIDS.”
