ECMIA Declaration at the CSW57

7/29/2019 ECMIA Declaration at the CSW57

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CONTINENTAL NETWORK OF INDIGENOUS WOMEN OF THE AMERICAS - ECMIAENLACE CONTINENTAL DE MUJERES INDGENAS DE LAS AMRICAS - ECMIA

Integrante del Foro Internacional de Mujeres Indgenas FIMI y la Asociacin de los Derechos de la

Mujer y el Desarrollo - AWID

Coordinacin General del Enlace Continental de Mujeres Indgenas de las AmricasAv. Horacio Urteaga 534 Oficina 203 Lima 11

Telefax: (511) 4232757

[email protected] / www.chirapaq.org.pe

ArgentinaCONAMI, Newen Mapu

BeliceToledo Maya Womens

Council

BoliviaCIDOB, CNAMIB

CNMCIOB BS

BrasilCONAMI, Red GRUMIN,

COIAB

CanadFAQ, Pauuktuutit

ChileConsejo de Todas las

Tierras

Aukiko Zomo,

Consejo AutnomoAymara

ColombiaONIC

EcuadorCONAIE

El SalvadorCCNIS

Estados UnidosRed Xicana Indgena

GuatemalaCONAVIGUA

GuayanaAmerindian Peoples

Association in Guayana

Guyana FrancesaFOAG

HondurasCONPAH, CONAMINH

MxicoCONAMI

NicaraguaAMICA

Panam

CONAMUIP, NISPUNDOR

ParaguayFAPI, OPG

PerCHIRAPAQ, ONAMIAAP

SurinamOIS

UruguayCONACHA

VenezuelaRed de Mujeres Indgenas

Wayuu, CONIVE

57th SessionCommission on the Status of Women

New York

4th to 15th March 2013

Declaration

Article 22

2. States shall take measures, in conjunction with indigenous peoples, to

ensure that indigenous women and children enjoy the full protection and

guarantees against all forms of violence and discrimination.

United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Violence against women and girls takes many forms and is widespread

throughout the globe. It includes rape, domestic violence, harassment at

work, abuse in school, female genital mutilation and sexual violence in

armed conflicts. It is predominantly inflicted by men. Whether in

developing or developed countries, the pervasiveness of this violence should

shock us all. Violence - and in many cases the mere threat of it - is one of

the most significant barriers to womens full equality.

Ban Ki-moon, Secretary General of the United Nations.

violence against indigenous women and children, which is distressingly

all too common across the globe, cannot be seen as separate from the

history of discrimination and marginalization that has been suffered

invariably by indigenous peoples.

Combating violence against indigenous women and children, therefore,

requires remedying the structural legacies of the history of colonialism and

discrimination that indigenous peoples have faced.

James Anaya, UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of IndigenousPeoples

Violence against indigenous women and girls should be dealt with on a

multisectorial basis. Since it is the result of historical structures, where

racism and discrimination have produced, and continue to produce,

stereotypes which manifest themselves in exclusion and poverty, efforts

should fall into line with a new historical phase in our social processes,

where the exercise of rights is the common currency of our societies.

CHIRAPAQ, Centre for Peruvian Indigenous Cultures.

.

The Continental Network of Indigenous Women of the Americas (ECMIA) is an alliance among

indigenous women's organizations and organizations of indigenous people in the American continent

who carry out actions in defence of the individual and collective rights of women, girls, young people

and adults among indigenous peoples. CHIRAPAQ, Centre for Peruvian Indigenous Cultures, currently

run as an indigenous association, has been carrying out actions for more than 25 years impacting at all

levels for the recognition and exercise of the rights of indigenous peoples, particularly those of

leadership for women and young people.

In order better to attain their objectives, both ECMIA and Chirapaq have forged alliances with

international bodies (UN Women, UNFPA, UNICEF, UNPFII) and social movements such as The Hunger

Project and AWID, all committed to the eradication of violence and injustice.

The framework of the 57th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women affords us the

opportunity to make proposals on the eradication of all forms of violence, including concealed kinds,


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Telefax: (511) 4232757




Council


CNMCIOB BS


COIAB



Tierras

Aukiko Zomo,


ColombiaONIC

EcuadorCONAIE

El SalvadorCCNIS


GuatemalaCONAVIGUA



Guyana FrancesaFOAG


MxicoCONAMI

NicaraguaAMICA

Panam

CONAMUIP, NISPUNDOR

ParaguayFAPI, OPG


SurinamOIS

UruguayCONACHA


Wayuu, CONIVE

against indigenous women, children and young people. The documents that provide the context for

these proposals, such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the United Nations Declaration on

the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the ILO Convention 169 on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in

Independent Countries, the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against

Women (CEDAW), the Inter-American Convention for Preventing, Punishing and Eradicating Violence

against Women (Belm do Par), the Beijing Action Platform - Beijing +20, the International Convention

on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination, the Durban Action Plan, the Millennium

Development Goals, and the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development - Rio +20, all take

into account the situation, problem areas, participation and possibilities of women.

Violence and indigenous women

We indigenous women are the principal target of different types of violence, including physical kinds

directed against our bodies and lives as well as other kinds such as the deprivation of rights to land use,

educational fulfilment and economic development. Furthermore, our economic contributions to family

and country are denied and concealed, while at the same time the role we play as the mainstays of

culture and the transmission of values in equity and reciprocity is not recognized. All this is the result of

the racism and historical, structural and systematic discrimination that have led to the tolerance of

exclusion in state policies, denying the exercise of full individual and collective rights, mainly regarding

access to justice, good education, decent employment, good health, participation in decision-making

processes and economic opportunities.

During the past few decades, we have seen advances all over the continent regarding the recognition of

cultural diversity, and some states in our region have been implementing policies that include these

advances in some measure. However, we cannot yet celebrate significant achievements owing to

historical structures of exclusion such as racism, whose eradication is one of the most important and

fundamental objectives of our battle; it impedes our societies' considering us as viable participants inthe construction of our countries and, consequently, in the design of policies that make it possible to

live a decent life, as is fitting for any human being.

The nature of violence

We consider as violence the impossibility of living a decent life and the absence of freedom to direct our

own lives and to choose our own destinies. Violence is expressed as physical acts leading to death and,

above all, to material and spiritual conditions that impede the full enjoyment of life with the freedom of

decision.

This is reinforced by the invisibility to which we indigenous peoples, women, girls and young people arerelegated, owing to the lack of statistics and differentiated data that enable the magnitude and context

of our situation to be determined. Data separated by age group, region and gender - among others - are

fundamental and urgently required in any serious effort to rectify our situation.

The constant practice of violence against indigenous women and girls sets up a systematic activity that is

reinforced in the situation of vulnerability by exclusion and economic poverty. This demands that an

effort be made to create new paradigms in order to become fair and democratic societies.


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Telefax: (511) 4232757




Council


CNMCIOB BS


COIAB



Tierras

Aukiko Zomo,


ColombiaONIC

EcuadorCONAIE

El SalvadorCCNIS


GuatemalaCONAVIGUA



Guyana FrancesaFOAG


MxicoCONAMI

NicaraguaAMICA

Panam

CONAMUIP, NISPUNDOR

ParaguayFAPI, OPG


SurinamOIS

UruguayCONACHA


Wayuu, CONIVE

Recommendations

1. We recommend states to institutionalize, within the respective mechanisms for women in eachcountry, specific areas or dependencies responsible for the design of policies and programmes

where the multisectorial aspects of the situation of indigenous women, girls and young people are

taken into account. They should, moreover, be orientated principally towards providing information,

tools and budgets, with trained professionals in the sectors responsible for justice, education, health

and employment. This process should embrace the full and effective participation of indigenous

women and young people to guarantee that the appropriate policies are made.

2. We urge states and their education systems at all levels to review and include education based onthe recognition of cultural and other differences as a basis for respect among different and complex

societies, and the acknowledgement of the equality of rights. The content of educational material

should contribute to reaffirming interculturality, self-esteem, dignity and respect for differences as

values fundamental to the eradication of racism and violence.

3. Funds and government agencies should be established for the purpose of qualified investigation,making available instruments and culturally appropriate methodology to deal with the forms and

consequences of violence against indigenous women, girls and young people.

4. The ethnic and cultural-identity variable should be included in all systems for the collection ofquantitative and qualitative data, from censuses to surveys of all types, with the object of remedying

the lack of specific, broken-down information regarding indigenous women, girls and young people

in order to establish the required, well-focused policies.

Lastly, we support the proposals of the International Forum of Indigenous Women, the proposals of the

women's movement at world level, and the efforts that may be made by state representatives, since

only united shall we be able to contribute to the elimination of violence.

Thank you very much.

Documents

ECMIA Declaration at the CSW57