Continental Network of Indigenous Women of the Americas Before Río + 20

CONTINENTAL NETWORK OF INDIGENOUS WOMEN OF THE AMERICAS ENLACE CONTINENTAL DE MUJERES INDÍGENAS DE LAS AMÉRICAS

Integrante del Foro Internacional de Mujeres Indígenas - FIMI

y la Asociación de los Derechos de la Mujer y el Desarrollo - AWID

Coordinación Continental del Enlace Continental de Mujeres Indígenas de las Américas

Av. Horacio Urteaga 534 Oficina 203 Lima 11 / Telefax: (511) 4232757 [email protected] www.chirapaq.org.pe

Argentina CONAMI, Newen Mapu

Belice

Toledo Maya Women´s Council

Bolivia

CIDOB, CNAMIB Confederación Bartolina

Sisa

Brasil CONAMI, Red GRUMIN,

COIAB

Canadá Mujeres Indígenas de Quebec, Pauktuutik

Chile

Consejo de Todas las Tierras

Aukiñko Zomo, Consejo Nacional Aymara

Colombia

ONIC

Ecuador CONAIE

El Salvador

CCNIS

Estados Unidos Red Xicana Indígena

Guatemala

CONAVIGUA

Guayana Amerindian Peoples

Association in Guayana

Honduras CONPAH, CONAMINH

México

CONAMI

Nicaragua AMICA

Panamá

CONAMUIP

Paraguay FAPI, OPG

Perú

CHIRAPAQ, ONAMIAAP

Surinam Asociación de Líderes de los

Pueblos Indígenas, OIS

Uruguay CONACHA

Venezuela

Red de Mujeres Indígenas Wayuu, CONIVE

Continental Network of Indigenous Women of the Americas Before Río + 20

“WITHOUT THE RESPECT OF THE RIGHTS OF INDIGENOUS WOMEN AND PEOPLES

THERE IS NO HUMAN SUSTAINABILITY”

“… the earth is our mother. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons of the earth. If men spit upon the ground, they spit upon themselves This we know: The earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the earth. Man did not weave the web of life; he is merely a strand of it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons of the earth. All things are connected like blood which unites one family. Contaminate your bed, and you will one night suffocate in your own waste.…” Letter by Chief Seattle of the Suwamish Tribe to the President of the United States, 1855.

20 years make up a lifecycle. In 20 years our hopes for a different future have transformed into a threatening reality for the survival of indigenous peoples and of crisis for humanity which faces climatic and economic transformations and have led to the heightening of all kinds of social conflicts. The Indigenous Women members of the Continental Network cannot speak about sustainability or viability when our daily life is confronted with all kinds of violence against our being. This violence can be material or spiritual, against our bodies, our plundered lands for the sake of macroeconomic growth, against our children who mortgage their hopes and dreams due to malnutrition and lack of access to quality and dignified education and health, and experienced when we are dragged into a precarious labor market and our nutritional diversity is devoured by the standardized industry. No, this way we cannot talk about viable or sustainable development. Indigenous Women conceive sustainable and viable development as the growth and solution to the problems that prevent the improvement of living conditions for human beings without distinction. Thus, this development cannot take place without the respect for life in all its forms and dimensions. Consequently, we consider that to speak about sustainable and viable development based on an economic and productive reality that has become the sole one for the globe, does not provide leeway for productive and democratic dialogue, since we are speaking from within hegemonic societies’ parameters to face the dilemmas that such system poses. Our reality as indigenous peoples has increasingly become more difficult. Besides the advances made on the recognition of our rights, political processes prioritize the States’ interests over the articulation of realities and problems that demand diverse solutions. We also find that in the international and declarative level, human rights in general and particularly those of indigenous peoples are the minimum standards to guarantee the life and dignity of human beings. Then again, in practice human rights are left aside or postponed by the issues and challenges posed by growth and economic development processes.







Belice


Bolivia


Sisa


COIAB


Chile



Colombia

ONIC

Ecuador CONAIE

El Salvador

CCNIS


Guatemala

CONAVIGUA




México

CONAMI

Nicaragua AMICA

Panamá

CONAMUIP

Paraguay FAPI, OPG

Perú

CHIRAPAQ, ONAMIAAP



Uruguay CONACHA

Venezuela


While seeking for solutions, we are worried that the new and sought after paradigms recur to the thinking and philosophy of indigenous peoples – a source that has increasingly been used by political processes, international and social organizations – but that they are dissociated from being indigenous. In other words, these new paradigms are raised as a different view and alternative but are separated from the economic, social and social relations levels. To think about development in macroeconomic terms, continuing with the dynamic generated by industry, fuel demands and inputs of all kinds, and it translates into more: mining and oil wells; lands for mono-crops and biofuels; increased interference of genetics to decrease diversity and foment unique, standardized and patented products; more lands in the hands of a few; prioritization of water resources for industrial purposes; the refusal of countries experiencing industrial growth to stop gas emissions; and the modification of ecological systems with the subsequent displacement and uproot of populations. Thus, most definitely the prioritization of economic growth against life does not leave us with much leeway to talk about the future. As indigenous peoples we have learned to live confronting challenges and in the process we have contributed solutions to societies in the fields of food supply, alternative technologies and medicine. Under current circumstances we view two models of conception of the world. One is that which has led us to our current situation and the other which includes all of us who have to confront it. Then again, both are interwoven. Thus, we make a call not to forget that one cannot exist at the margins of the other, since one way or another, we share the same space and breathe the same air. We also want to recall that sustainability or viability are notions that are profoundly ingrained in indigenous thought, since we are part of nature, we take care of life since it raises us and we do not seek to subjugate, buy, sell or transform it into profitability equations. In this view, development cannot take place without respecting life and the elements that protect it. Thus we urge:

1. The United Nations, international community and indigenous peoples to carry out and comply with the Declaration of Human Rights and the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as the international standards to frame and measure development.

2. States to guarantee the life and respect of human rights and of indigenous peoples as fundamental pillars within their social and economic development policies and over macroeconomic indicators.

3. States to include in their models and world views new ways of understanding

development, where indigenous peoples culture converges with models of responsible development and that guard life.

4. Indigenous organizations, youth and indigenous women, so that we can continue to deepen and consolidate our knowledges, drawing from the advances of current science and technology that allow to improve, innovate and develop our own knowledges to serve our peoples and humanity, particularly within the fields of nutritional and medical diversity.

5. Youth and indigenous women to continue to be faithful to our conception as creators of human life and mother nature, taking up, deepening and showing our







Belice


Bolivia


Sisa


COIAB


Chile



Colombia

ONIC

Ecuador CONAIE

El Salvador

CCNIS


Guatemala

CONAVIGUA




México

CONAMI

Nicaragua AMICA

Panamá

CONAMUIP

Paraguay FAPI, OPG

Perú

CHIRAPAQ, ONAMIAAP



Uruguay CONACHA

Venezuela


knowledge, defending intellectual property and territorial rights and strengthening our identities for the sustainability of our peoples and cultures with justice and equity.

The future we dreamed about 20 year ago is definitively not the one of today. We foresee our future as one of full enjoyment of rights, with modern technologies and visions that allow for life with unity and dignity, as a great collective humanity that is respected, that is mutually valued and that grows in harmony and equilibrium with our mother earth.

Río, June 2012

Documents

Continental Network of Indigenous Women of the Americas Before Río + 20