UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, Eighth Session

May 18-29, 2009

Global Indigenous Women’s Caucus Statement

Agenda Item 7:
Future Work of the Permanent Forum including issues of the Economic and Social
Council and emerging issues

Honorable Chairwoman, Members of the UN Permanent Forum, distinguished

representatives of Indigenous Peoples, sisters and brothers here today,

Indigenous Women are the human embodiment of Mother Earth. Thus, managing and
protecting Earth’s nurturing gifts is our responsibility. Indigenous Women bring
invaluable knowledge, which reflects the worldviews of Indigenous Peoples that
recognize our interconnectedness with the world around us. The knowledge includes
ecological managing systems that can correct the global crises, which are caused by
unsustainable economies. As such, our knowledge and ways of life are essential for the
perpetuation, promotion and development of the world’s biodiversity. For these reasons,
we play a very important role in carrying out our communities’ self-determining
development.

As keepers and guardians of Mother Earth, Indigenous Women have a special connection
with our ancestral lands. We are the first, together with our families, to suffer from the
impact of Climate Change, the current patenting practices under the Intellectual Property
Rights regime, and the forced displacements of Indigenous Peoples happening all over
the world. Indigenous Women are deeply concerned that the Parties to the Convention on
Biological Diversity (CBD) have not recognized Indigenous Peoples’ rights to our
traditional territories, lands and waters in the negotiations of an international regime of
access and benefit-sharing due for completion by 2010. Also, Indigenous Women oppose
all forms of patenting of any form of life and reject the potentially genocidal effects of
genetic modification and contamination of land by genetically engineered technology.
Further, these acts violate our rights, as contained inter alia in articles 11 and 24 of the
UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UN DRIP).

Key solutions to these challenges include environmental protection, peace and

development, which are interdependent and interrelated. The imbalance of the
environment is both a cause and effect of the political tensions and conflicts, which
affects Indigenous Women and children in alarming ways. Therefore, our rights to
ancestral lands and territories and to maintaining and preserving our Traditional
Indigenous Knowledge (TIK) are key in mitigating these problems and for our own
survival, as contained, inter alia in articles 8, 10, 11, and 25-31 of the UN Declaration on
the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Given this, we offer the following interrelated recommendations that would help ensure
our roles as Indigenous Women in facing the challenges outlined, and help the protection
of our rights.

Recommendations for future work:

FREE, PRIOR AND INFORMED CONSENT

1. We commend the Permanent Forum’s numerous calls in document

E/C.19/2009/L.2 for States and transnational corporations and inter-governmental
banks to respect, implement, and guarantee the right to Free, Prior and Informed
Consent.1 We underscore the critical need for the full and equal participation of
Indigenous Women in these efforts. We therefore recommend that the Permanent
Forum urge States, transnational corporations and inter-governmental banks to
ensure that Free, Prior, and Informed Consent is sought with the full and effective
participation of Indigenous Women on an equal basis, as well as the participation
of all marginalized groups in Indigenous communities.

TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE

2. We strongly urge the Permanent Forum to set Traditional Indigenous Knowledge,

including the revitalization of Indigenous Languages, as a future main theme for
its work.

3. We recommend that the Permanent Forum undertake a study on the

implementation of UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in the
protection of Traditional Indigenous Knowledge. This reinforces our previous
recommendation that the Permanent Forum advance a World Conference on TIK
in collaboration with Indigenous Peoples, including a focus on TIK and
Education. We recommend that the Permanent Forum hold preparatory sessions
in all regions that provide examples of best practices by States, UN agencies and
bodies and Indigenous Peoples of the implementation of the UN DRIP in relation
to the protection of TIK.

4. We recommend that the Permanent Forum recommend the establishment of an

International Year for Traditional Indigenous Knowledge. This International Year
can, among other mandates, facilitate focused research and emphasize critical
concerns of Indigenous Peoples’ access to educational opportunities related to
TIK within their communities and outside of them.

HUMAN RIGHTS OF INDIGENOUS WOMEN

1
Paragraphs 1, 3, 7, 17, and 19.
 5. We recommend that the Permanent Forum initiate a gender-based analysis of the
UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in consultation and
collaboration with Indigenous Women at the local level. Articles 21, 22 and 44 of
the UN DRIP mandate a full gender-based analysis of the Declaration. Any
human rights process that considers the needs of Indigenous Women must be
mindful of our specific customary laws, traditional beliefs and practices, and
historical circumstances as well as our specific experiences of discrimination and
marginalization. We recommend that the Permanent Forum undertake a gender-
based analysis to set the framework for all States as they implement UN DRIP.

6. We recommend that the Permanent Forum study ways for the establishment of a
mechanism to address violations on the right to maintain and preserve Indigenous
cultures. Article 31 of UN DRIP asserts that Indigenous Peoples have the right to
maintain their own cultures. Violations to Article 31, as well as other articles
including article 11, are currently occurring as States prohibit the practice of
Indigenous cultural traditions. We condemn the actions of States that criminalize
Indigenous cultural practices or expressions of collective identity, where women
are being detained and punished for expressions of their traditional cultures.

7. We recommend that the Permanent Forum undertake a study on the situation of

human rights and fundamental freedoms of unrecognized or unrepresented
Indigenous Peoples. Historically known Peoples who are unrecognized and/or
unrepresented within States have no access to remedies of collective or tribal
rights. This undermines the stability of Indigenous Women and Children who
carry their traditions and are unable to practice them without being criminalized.

TRADITIONAL JUSTICE SYSTEMS

8. We recommend that the Permanent Forum sets traditional Indigenous justice

systems as a future agenda item of the UN PFII. Acknowledging the efforts of
UNIFEM to further the understanding of Indigenous Women and Ancestral/Tribal
Justice systems through the forum held in Ecuador (October 2008), we encourage
further efforts by UNESCO, UNDP, UNIFEM to coordinate additional forums
that will promote knowledge and understanding of the value of Indigenous Justice
Systems.

TRADITIONAL MEDICINAL AND HEALING SYSTEMS

9. We commend the Permanent Forum’s call to the UNDP to convene an

International Expert Workshop on “Indigenous Peoples and health, with a special
emphasis on sexual and reproductive health” (E/C.19/2009/L.2, para. 25). In
preparation for this Workshop, we recommend the Permanent Forum to prepare
studies of best practices on traditional Indigenous medicinal and healing systems.
These studies should focus on: (a) greater visibility of Indigenous Women in
reports and statistics that examine the impact of poverty, disease, violence, forced
 dislocation, climate change, pollution and other factors that affect Indigenous
Women’s health; (b) the need of health care providers to have specific training to
assist Indigenous Women who are disproportionately affected by problems such
as cervical cancer, HIV/AIDS, and domestic violence; (c) understanding of and
support for traditional medicines and practices such as traditional birthing
practices, which are not valued by western health systems, or the chewing of coca
leaves in South America, which at present is criminalized by national and
international laws; (d) sexual and reproductive health and rights; and (e) more
education within Indigenous communities, as problems such as HIV and
tuberculosis are compounded when social stigma inhibits people from coming in
to be tested and treated.

10. We also note the importance of continued support for the Indigenous Task Force
at the International Diabetes Federation and the STOP TB Partnership.

MIGRATION

11. We commend the Permanent Forum’s recommendations for studying the situation
of Indigenous Women migrants and the loss of their rights as they migrate
(E/C.19/2009/L.2, para. 26 and 27). For this study, we recommend the PFII to
produce studies and request from all UN bodies and agencies disaggregated data
on Indigenous migration. We also request a gender-based analysis be completed
in all reports that are produced. We would like to suggest the following:

a. Need for disaggregated data on Indigenous migration: We recommend that

the PFII in collaboration with the relevant UN bodies and agencies, the
Special Rapporteur on the Situation of the Human Rights and Fundament
Freedoms of Indigenous Peoples, the Special Rapporteur on the Human
Rights of Migrants, and Indigenous scholars/experts on Indigenous
migration, create a taskforce to conduct a meaningful and comprehensive
study that will advance the identified constraints in the research findings
of the Indigenous Peoples and Migration: Challenges and Opportunities
Draft Issues Paper (2006) Section D. This should focus on the lack of
relevant data on Indigenous Peoples in migration, especially Indigenous
Women who have been forced off their lands, often due to economic and
environmental factors. Greater access to justice for migrant Indigenous
Women needs to be facilitated, given that they are often faced with
criminalization and incarceration rooted in discrimination. Related to this,
there is also a need of disaggregated data on the physical and mental
health of migrant Indigenous Women.

b. Gender-based analysis of Indigenous migration: We recommend that the

PFII in collaboration with the relevant UN bodies and agencies, the
Special Rapporteur on the Situation of the Human Rights and Fundament
Freedoms of Indigenous Peoples, the Special Rapporteur on the Human
Rights of Migrants, and Indigenous scholars/experts on Indigenous
migration undertake a joint comprehensive study on the specific concerns
 of Indigenous Women in the area of forced migration, including socio-
economic marginalization, extreme exploitative labor practices fueled by
undue influence of transnational corporations on immigration policies,
violence against Indigenous Women and a lack of fair judicial review of
racial and gender discrimination of migrants outside of their territories.
This study should consider and integrate the analysis on migration and
women developed in the Rural Women’s Declaration: Rights,
Empowerment and Liberation (August 2, 2007, Manila Philippines).

DECOLONIZATION

12. We call upon the Permanent Forum to implement and prioritize its
recommendations regarding decolonization. Specifically, these recommendations
are in Document No. E/C/19/2004/23, para. 54, from the third session, regarding
the impact of decolonization on the human rights of Indigenous Peoples of the
self-governing territories; and in Document No. E/C.19/2008/13, para. 52, from
the seventh session, recommending that an expert seminar be held on the
decolonization process on Indigenous Peoples of non-self governing territories.

TRANSBORDER INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES

13. We request that the Permanent Forum initiate an Expert Study and Dialogue on
transborder Indigenous communities. This study should examine: (a) the
interrelated causation of militarization and toxic spills from factories to infant,
child and young mother’s mortality/morbidity; (b) contamination of land, air,
water, and space; (c) the right to mobility within the traditional territory and
access to cultural, sacred and ceremonial sites; (c) political identity and
organization; (d) jobs; (e) education of women and children; and (f) armed and
forced removal from customary lands.

DEVELOPMENT WITH CULTURE AND IDENTITY

14. We commend the Permanent Forum’s decision to organize an International Expert

Group meeting on Indigenous Peoples’ development with culture and identity
(E/C.19/2009/L.2, para. 15). Given that Indigenous Women play a very important
role in carrying out our communities’ self-determining development, we urge the
Permanent Forum to include the full and effective participation of Indigenous
Women in this meeting.