Abby Younis, winner of the MWOTY 2024 Women in Health and Wellbeing Category, was last month at the UN office in Geneva with Widows Rights International, hosting a two day event to address challenges and gaps faced by widows, and discuss best practices.
Although recognised at MWOTY 2024 for her work fundraising £50,000 through her Women Conquering Cancer campaign, to purchase a Mona Lisa Touch laser for the Liverpool Women’s Hospital, Abby is also a powerful advocate for women’s rights and a trustee of Widows Rights International (WRI).
Speaking of the event, Abby said: “As a trustee of WRI, I am proud to say we held a landmark two-day event titled, Widows: Challenges, Gaps, and Best Practices at the United Nations Office of Geneva. This brought together Member States; policymakers; international experts and advocates from civil society to explore the critical issues faced by widows, nationally, and globally.
“A diverse group of over 20 advocates addressed multiple challenges widows face worldwide and shared best practices. Topics covered widows in conflict; harmful traditional practices, social isolation, inheritance issues, and best practices such as economic empowerment through entrepreneurship, leveraging technology and data, and community change through social enterprise and sports. The event was very successful and we hope to inspire advocacy and tangible legislative changes to support widows worldwide.”
As a Merseyside trustee of WRI, Abby is interested to hear from local widows with a view to understanding local challenges and support gaps. If you are a widow or have lost your partner and would like to share your story you can Abby at admin@widowsrights.net
