Beijing Declaration of Indigenous Women

8/13/2019 Beijing Declaration of Indigenous Women

1/20


2/20


3/20

Beijing Declaration ofIndigenous Women

Huairou - 1995

World Conference ofIndigenous Women

Lima - Peru, 2013


4/20


5/20

5. . . .

August 30th September 8th 1995Huairou, Beijing, Peoples Republic of China

Beijing Declaration of Indigenous Women

Forum ONG, un Fourth WorldConference on Women

1. The Earth is our mother. From her we get our life, and our abil-ity to live. It is our responsibility to care for our mother andin caring for our mother, we care for ourselves. Women, all fe-males, are the manifestation of Mother Earth in human form.

2. We, the daughters of Mother Earth, the indigenous womenpresent at the NGO Forum of the UN Fourth World Conferenceon Women in Beijing, have come together to collectively decidewhat we can do to bring about a world which we would likeour children and our childrens children to live in. We acknowl-edge and build upon earlier declarations which evolved fromearlier meetings and conferences, like the 1990 Declaration ofthe Second International Indigenous Womens Conference, theKari-Oca Declaration of l992, and those of various regional con-ferences of indigenous women, and the consultations and con-ferences done in preparation for this Beijing conference.


6/20


7/20

7. . . .

and capacity to withstand and survive the colonisation hap-pening in our lands in the last 500 years.

6. The New World Order which is engineered by those who haveabused and raped Mother Earth, colonised, marginalised, anddiscriminated against us, is being imposed on us viciously. Thisis recolonisation coming under the name of globalisation andtrade liberalisation. The forces behind this are the rich industri-alised nation-states, their transnational corporations, nancialinstitutions which they control like the World Bank, the Inter-national Monetary Fund, and the World Trade Organisation

(WTO). They will cooperate and compete among themselvesto the last frontiers of the worlds natural resources located inour lands and waters.

7. The Final Agreement of the Uruguay Round of the GeneralAgreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the establishmentof the WTO has created new instruments for the appropriationand privatisation of our community intellectual rights through

the introduction of the trade-related intellectual propertyrights (TRIPs). This facilitates and legitimises the piracy of ourbiological, cultural, and intellectual resources and heritage bytransnational corporations. Our indigenous values and prac-tice of sharing knowledge among ourselves, and mutual ex-change will become things of the past because we are beingforced to play by the rules of the market.

8. Bio-prospecting, which is nothing but the alienation of ourinvaluable intellectual and cultural heritage through scienticcollection missions and ethnobotanical research, is anotherfeature of recolonisation. After colonising our lands and ap-propriating our natural resources, they are now appropriatingour human genetic resources, through the Human Genetic Di-versity Project. Their bid for the patenting of life forms is theultimate colonisation and commodi-cation of everything we

hold sacred. It wont matter any more that we will disappear


8/20

8. . .

because we will be immortalised as isolates of historic inter-est by the Human Genetic Diversity Project.

9. It is an imperative for us, as Indigenous Peoples, to stand intheir way, because it means more ethnocide and genocide forus. It will lead to the disappearance of the diverse biologicaland cultural resources in this world which we have sustained.It will cause the further erosion and destruction of our indig-enous knowledge, spirituality, and culture. It will exacerbatethe conicts occurring on our lands and communities and ourdisplacement from our ancestral territories.

CRITIQUE OF THE BEIJING DRAFT PLATFORM FOACTION

10. The Beijing Draft Platform for Action, unfortunately, is not criti-cal at all of the New World Order. It does present a compre-hensive list of issues confronting women and an even longer

list of actions which governments, the UN and its agencies,multilateral nancing institutions, and NGOs should do. Itidenties the persistent and increasing burden of poverty asthe number one critical concern. It acknowledges that mostof the goals of the Nairobi Forward Looking Strategies ... havenot been achieved. It also acknowledged that in the past de-cade the number of women living in poverty has increaseddisproportionately to the number of men...

11. However, it does not acknowledge that this poverty is causedby the same powerful nations and interests who have colo-nised us and are continuing to recolonise, homogenise, andimpose their economic growth development model andmonocultures on us. It does not present a coherent analysis ofwhy is it that the goals of equality, development, and peace,become more elusive to women each day in spite of three UNconferences on women since l975. While it refers to structuraladjustment programmes (SAPs), it only talks about mitigating


9/20

9. . . .

its negative impacts, not questioning the basic framework un-dergirding SAPs. It even underscores the importance of tradeliberalisation and access to open, and dynamic markets, whichto us, pose the biggest threat to our rights to our territories,resources, intellectual and cultural heritage.

12. The clear bias of the New World Order for big industries, bigagribusiness corporations, etc, has meant the decimation oftraditional livelihood and economic activities of indigenouspeoples like hunting, food gathering and harvesting, rein-deer herding, subsistence agriculture, shing, small handicraft

businesses, etc. The non-economic activities of indigenouswomen have been ignored and rendered invisible, althoughthese sustain the existence of indigenous peoples. Our dispos-session from our territorial land and water base, upon whichour existence and identity depends, must be addressed as akey problem. The Platform is very vague on this.

13. The critical areas of concern it has identied are also critical

for indigenous women. While it correctly identies unequalaccess to education and health as areas of concern, it doesnot question the basic Western orientation of the prevailingeducation and health systems. It does not reect the fact thatthese systems have perpetuated the discrimination against in-digenous peoples. It also does not acknowledge the role ofWestern media, education, and religion, in eroding the culturaldiversity which exists among indigenous peoples. These West-

ern systems hasten ethnocide. It does not give proper recog-nition and importance to indigenous health care systems andthe role of its practitioners.

14. The violence and sexual trafficking of indigenous women andthe increasing numbers of indigenous women becoming la-bour exports, has been aggravated by the perpetuation of aneconomic growth development model which is export-ori-

ented, import- dependent, and mired in foreign debt. Military


10/20

10. . .

operations conducted on indigenous peoples lands use rape,sexual-slavery, and sexual trafficking of indigenous women,to further subjugate indigenous peoples. The developmentof tourism to attract foreign capital has also led to the com-modication of indigenous women and the dramatic increasein the incidence of HIV/AIDS. This reality is not addressed bythe Platform. Domestic violence and the increasing suiciderates among indigenous women, especially those who are inhighly industrialised countries, are caused by psychologicalalienation and assimilationist policies characteristic of thesecountries.

15. While it talks about the effects of persecution and armed con-ict, it does not acknowledge that many of these armed con-icts are occurring on indigenous peoples lands. These armedconicts are the result of the aggressive actions of transnation-al corporations and governments to appropriate the remain-ing resources on indigenous peoples territories despite theassertion of indigenous peoples to their right to control these

resources. It does not recognise that the resolution of armedconict especially those happening on indigenous peopleslands, lies in the recognition of our rights to self-determinationand to our lands and waters. The phrase internally displacedin the text is bracketed, when in fact, this is the reality for manyindigenous peoples all over the world.

16. Its recommended strategic objectives and actions focus on

ensuring womens equal access and full participation in deci-sion-making, equal status, equal pay, and in integrating andmainstreaming gender perspectives and analysis. These objectives are hollow and meaningless if the inequality betweennations, races, classes, and genders, are not challenged at thesame time. Equal pay and equal status in the so-called FirstWorld is made possible because of the perpetuation of a de-velopment model which is not only unsustainable but causes

the increasing violation of the human rights of women, indig-


11/20

11. . . .

enous peoples, and nations elsewhere. The Platforms overem-phasis on gender discrimination and gender equality depoliti-cises the issues confronting indigenous women.

INDIGENOUS WOMENS PROPOSALS AND DEMANDS

17. Within the context of our understanding of our situation andour critique of the New World Order and of the Beijing DraftPlatform for Action, we present the following demands:

RECOGNISE AND RESPECT OUR RIGHT TO SELF-DETERMINATI18. That all governments and international non-governmental

and governmental organisations recognise the right of indig-enous peoples to self-determination, and enshrine the histori-cal, political, social, cultural, economic, and religious rights ofthe indigenous peoples in their constitutions and legal sys-tems.

19. That the governments ratify and implement the ILO Conven-tion 169 only after thorough consultations with indigenouspeoples.

20. That the 1994 Final Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indig-enous Peoples be adopted and ratied by governments with-out any revisions and reservations. That the full participationof indigenous peoples in the open-ended working group ofthe Commission on Human Rights to further elaborate on thedraft will be ensured.

21. That the s in term indigenous peoples be put in all United Na-tions documents, declarations, and conventions. That, hereaf-ter, we will not be referred to as ethnic minorities or culturalcommunities but as indigenous peoples.


12/20

12. . .

RECOGNISE AND RESPECT OUR RIGHT TO OUR TERRITORIES,RIGHT TO DEVELOPMENT, EDUCATION, HEALTH

22. We demand that the international community and govern-ments recognise and respect our rights to our territories. Thisincludes our right to decide what to do with our lands and ter-ritories and to develop in an integrated, sustainable way, ac-cording to our own cosmovision.

23. We urge the governments who are opening up our territoriesto foreign investors especially to mining corporations, to re-spect these rights. Full disclosure of development projects andinvestments to be put into our territories should be done. Weshould be fully involved in making decisions on these matters.Indigenous peoples lands which have been ravaged by min-ing corporations, or which have become dumping sites of tox-ic, radioactive and hazardous wastes, should be rehabilitatedby the corporations or the governments which allowed thisdevastation.

24. That the governments, international organisations and NGOsassume their responsibility to alter their policies and allocateresources for the intercultural and bilingual educational sys-tem and the development of indigenous health care systemsaccording to our cultural principles and cosmovision. Thatbooks, audio and video materials, etc. be screened and purgedof discriminatory, racist, and sexist, content.

25. That the governments implement realistic policies which willsolve the problem of illiteracy among indigenous and peasantwomen, providing them access to intercultural and bilingualeducation which respects indigenous cosmovisions, promotesnon- sexist formative education which puts women and menin touch with the land.


13/20

13. . . .

26. That the governments and international community imple-ment health policies which guarantee accessible, appropriate,affordable and quality services for indigenous peoples andwhich respect and promote the reproductive health of indig-enous women. That budget allocations to health and other so-cial services be increased to at least 20% of the national bud-get and that a signicant amount of this goes to indigenouspeoples communities.

27. That the indigenous health care systems and practices of in-digenous peoples be accorded the proper recognition and

respect and the roles of indigenous health practitioners andhealers be further enhanced.

28. That the dumping of hazardous drugs, chemicals and contra-ceptives on indigenous peoples communities be stopped. Wedemand that coercive family planning services, like mass steril-isation of indigenous women, coercive abortion programmes,be stopped. That population policies like transmigration be

condemned and halted.

29. We demand that uranium mining taking place in our landsand nuclear testing in our territories and waters be stopped.If no uranium mining is done then there will be no nuclearweapons, nuclear reactors, and nuclear accidents.

STOP HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS AND VIOLENCE AGAIINDIGENOUS WOMEN

30. That the United Nations create the necessary mechanisms tomonitor the indigenous peoples situation especially thosefacing the threat of extinction and human rights violationsand to stop these ethnocidal and genocidal practices.


14/20

14. . .

31. Call on all the Media and Communication Systems to realisethat Indigenous Women refuse to continue to be treated andconsidered as exotic, decorative, sexual objects, or study- ob- jects, but instead to be recognised as human beings with theirown thinking and feeling capabilities and abilities for personaldevelopment, spiritually, intellectually and materially.

32. Demand for an investigation of the reported cases of sexualslavery and the rape of indigenous women by the military menhappening in areas of armed conict, such as those within Kar-en territories in Burma, Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh,

etc. The perpetrators should be persecuted and the survivorsbe provided justice and rehabilitation services.

33. Demand for an investigation of the forcible mass sterilisationand anti-fertility programmes done among indigenous wom-en. Identify which international and national agencies are re-sponsible for these and make them accountable.

34. That all acts of discrimination against Indigenous Women beconsidered and punished as a crime.

35. That the governments create juridical and social instrumentsadequate to protect women from domestic and state violence.

36. That indigenous customary laws and justice systems whichare supportive of women victims of violence be recognised

and reinforced. That indigenous laws, customs, and traditionswhich are discriminatory to women be eradicated.

37. That all internally displaced indigenous peoples be allowed toreturn to their own communities and the necessary rehabilita-tion and support services be provided to them.


15/20


16/20

16. . .

43. We will continue to freely use our biodiversity for meeting ourlocal needs, while ensuring that the biodiversity base of ourlocal economies will not be eroded. We will revitalise and reju-venate our biological and cultural heritage and continue to bethe guardians and custodians of our knowledge and biodiver-sity.

ENSURE POLITICAL PARTICIPATION OF INDIGENOUS WOMEN ENHANCE THEIR CAPABILITIES AND ACCESS TO RESOURCES

44. We demand equal political participation in the indigenousand non-indigenous structures of socio-political structuresand systems at all levels.

45. We will dialogue with non-indigenous womens organisationsand formations to implement a realistic plan of solidarity withthe us.

46. We ask that NGOs that work with Indigenous Women be guid-ed by principles of mutual respect and promote the full par-ticipation of Indigenous Women in action and in articulatingissues regarding Indigenous Women and Indigenous Peoples.

47. Call on the funding agencies and donor agencies that sup-port and promote womens organisations and programmes,to share space and nancial resources in order to promote thedevelopment of Indigenous Women.

48. We will work towards reinforcing our own organisations, en-hancing communications between us, and gain the space thatis rightfully ours, as members of specic identities (nationsand cultures) within the Decade of Indigenous Peoples andother institutions that represent governmental and non-gov-ernmental organisations.


17/20

17. . . .

49. We will work towards the holding of an International Confer-ence of Indigenous Women which will be held as part of thecelebration of the International Decade of the Worlds Indig-enous Peoples.

50. We offer our sincere thanks to the Chinese Organising Com-mittee and the Chinese people for their efforts in hosting andproviding hospitality to us.

Aproved and Signed on September 7Th of 1995 in the IndigenousWomenS Tend, Huairou, Beijing, China


18/20

18. . .

NAME / NOMBRE ORGANIZATION / ORGANIZACIN COUNTRY / PA

Rigoberta Mench TumVictoria Tauli CorpuzWinona La DukeAna MenchTum

Mililani Trask Pauline TangioraNelca RobinsonNancy Jouwe

UN Goodwill Ambassador Asia Indigeous Womens Organization/ IIPIndigenous Womens Network Indigenous Initiative for Peace

Ka Lahui Hawaii/ Indigenous Womens Network Indigenous Initiative for PeaceCaribbean Organization of Indigenous People (COIP)Omomo Melem Paci c Womens Netw. of the Colonized Terr.

GuatemalaPhilippinesUSAGuatemala

HawaiAotearoaSt. VincentNetherlands

Ana Marie TargasJudith de HurtadoNinom Rouze MoreiraAna LlaoCarolina ManqueRosa Toro C.Nelly V. AvendanoCarmen Tene SarangoSofa Robles HdezRose CunninghamNancy E. HenrquezEdelma de StanzyLucila Cruz SarazaHilaria Supa HuamanTarcila Rivera Zea

CEPROSIMUCAPROCunharete - Aldeia Tekoa Pora - GuaranyMapuche AD-MAPO

Soc. Mapuche LonkoklapanANMUCICMujer Ecuorunari - CONAIEComisin de Mujeres en Servicios del Pueblo Mixe A.C.Movimiento Cultural MultietnicoAss. de Mujeres Indgenas de la Costa AtlanticaM.J.K. KuaAsociacin de Mujeres del Pueblo Aymara

CHIRAPAQ, Centro de Culturas Indgenas del Per

BoliviaBoliviaBrasilChileChileChileColombiaEcuador MexicoNicaraguaNicaraguaPanamPeruPeruPeru

Bartika ChakmaKabita Chkma

Mra Raza LimmMs. LalchharlianiMs. Jyotsna KatharpiMs. Jarjum EteValleyrose H. HungyoChanmayo JajoDarinas Vernica BaoAgnes RolauArimbi HPBernice SeeCynthia DacanayPenelope Domogo

Merlyn O. SakaiNieves NgislawanElena B. DayapDahlialyn Dait CawenLeticia Bula-atMagdalena B. Bacagan

Hill Womens Fcderation, Chittagong Hill TractsHill Womens Fcderation, Chittagong Hill Tracts

Salvation Army Community Health Action Network

APWWS; Arunachal Pradesh Womens Welfare SocietyTangkhul Shanao LongNaga Peoples Movement for Human Rights

Yayasan Flores Sejahtera (SANRES) Yayasan Flores Scjahtera (SANRES)

Innabuyog/ AIWNCordillera Womens Education and Resource Center CWERC/AIWNEpiscopal Church Women of the Phlippines

WID-EDNP

Innabuyog/ AIWN

BangladeshBangladesh

BangladeshIndiaIndiaIndiaIndiaIndiaIndonesiaIndonesiaIndonesiaPhilippinesPhilippinesPhilippines

PhilippinesPhilippinesPhilippinesPhilippinesPhilippinesPhilippines

Barbara CausonMarion HansenLesley WanganeenSusan MurdochValda N. ShannonGal DaylightChris Welkam Liz KellyChristine Palmer

Of ce of Indigenous WomenZone Commission VictoriaNarungga Aboriginal Progress AssociationTorres Strait Islander Advisory Board/ ATSICJulalikari Aboriginal CouncilATSICATSIC Sydney Of ceNganga Womens Aboriginal Inc

AustraliaAustraliaAustraliaAustraliaAustraliaAustraliaAustraliaAustraliaAustralia


19/20


20/20

20

Marjorie BeaucageDolores P anz

Yvonne DuncanMartha SpenceCathie GodfriedsenFarren MarchandMary Sillet

Aboriginal Film Video Art Alliance

Another Woman For PeaceSplit Lake Cree First NationOkanogan Womyn'z AllianceOkanogan Womynz AllianceInuit Womens Association of Canada

CanadaCanadaCanadaCanadaCanadaCanadaCanada

Janis Walker Marsha ForrestMarge Friedel

Native Women's Association of CanadaAboriginal Nurses Association of CanadaNational Metis Women of Canada

CanadaCanadaCanada

ADVOCATES

Inger SjorslevDorotea HilhorstEmmy Ha ld

Jeannette SchooneEvelyne HongCarol YongClare LimNila V. Bermisa

IWGIAWomen Support group Netherlands PhilippinesWALHIThird World Network

Engender

Denmark NetherlandsIndonsiaNetherlandsMalaysiaMalaysiaSingaporePhilippines

Documents

Beijing Declaration of Indigenous Women