UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, Eighth SessionMay 18-29, 2009

Global Indigenous Women’s Caucus Statement

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

Honorable Chairwoman, Members of the UN Permanent Forum, distinguishedrepresentatives 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 respo

nsibility. Indigenous Women bringinvaluable knowledge, which reflects the worldviews of Indigenous Peoples thatrecognize our interconnectedness with the world around us. The knowledge includesecological managing systems that can correct the global crises, which are caused byunsustainable 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 communi

ties’ self

-determiningdevelopment.As keepers and guardians of Mother Earth, Indigenous Women have a special connectionwith our ancestral lands. We are the first, together with our families, to suffer from theimpact of Climate Change, the current patenting practices under the Intellectual PropertyRights regime, and the forced displacements of Indigenous Peoples happening all overthe world. Indigenous Women are deeply concerned that the Parties to the Convention onBiological 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 opposeall 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 theUN

Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UN DRIP).

Key solutions to these challenges include environmental protection, peace anddevelopment, which are interdependent and interrelated. The imbalance of theenvironment is both a cause and effect of the political tensions and conflicts, whichaffects Indigenous Women and children in alarming ways. Therefore, our rights toancestral lands and territories and to maintaining and preserving our TraditionalIndigenous Knowledge (TIK) are key in mitigating these problems and for our ownsurvival, as contained,

inter alia

in articles 8, 10, 11, and 25-31 of the UN

Declaration onthe Rights of Indigenous Peoples

Given this, we offer the following interrelated recommendations that would help ensureour roles as Indigenous Women in facing the challenges outlined, and help the protectionof our rights.

Recommendations for future work:

FREE, PRIOR AND INFORMED CONSENT1.

We commend the Permanent Forum’s numerous calls in document

E/C.19/2009/L.2 for States and transnational corporations and inter-governmentalbanks to respect, implement, and guarantee the right to Free, Prior and InformedConsent.

We underscore the critical need for the full and equal participation of Indigenous Women in these efforts. We therefore recommend that the PermanentForum urge States, transnational corporations and inter-governmental banks toensure that Free, Prior, and Informed Consent is sought with the full and effectiveparticipation of Indigenous Women on an equal basis, as well as the participationof all marginalized groups in Indigenous communities.TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE2.

We strongly urge the Permanent Forum to set Traditional Indigenous Knowledge,including the revitalization of Indigenous Languages, as a future main theme forits work.3.

We recommend that the Permanent Forum undertake a study on theimplementation of

UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

in theprotection of Traditional Indigenous Knowledge. This reinforces our previousrecommendation that the Permanent Forum advance a World Conference on TIKin collaboration with Indigenous Peoples, including a focus on TIK andEducation. We recommend that the Permanent Forum hold preparatory sessionsin all regions that provide examples of best practices by States, UN agencies andbodies and Indigenous Peoples of the implementation of the UN DRIP in relationto the protection of TIK.4.

We recommend that the Permanent Forum recommend the establishment of anInternational Year for Traditional Indigenous Knowledge. This International Yearcan, 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

Paragraphs 1, 3, 7, 17, and 19.

We recommend that the Permanent Forum initiate a gender-based analysis of the

UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

in consultation andcollaboration 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. Anyhuman rights process that considers the needs of Indigenous Women must bemindful of our specific customary laws, traditional beliefs and practices, andhistorical circumstances as well as our specific experiences of discrimination andmarginalization. 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 amechanism to address violations on the right to maintain and preserve Indigenouscultures. Article 31 of UN DRIP asserts that Indigenous Peoples have the right tomaintain their own cultures. Violations to Article 31, as well as other articlesincluding article 11, are currently occurring as States prohibit the practice of Indigenous cultural traditions. We condemn the actions of States that criminalizeIndigenous cultural practices or expressions of collective identity, where womenare 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 unrepresentedIndigenous Peoples. Historically known Peoples who are unrecognized and/orunrepresented within States have no access to remedies of collective or tribalrights. This undermines the stability of Indigenous Women and Children whocarry their traditions and are unable to practice them without being criminalized.TRADITIONAL JUSTICE SYSTEMS8.

We recommend that the Permanent Forum sets traditional Indigenous justicesystems as a future agenda item of the UN PFII. Acknowledging the efforts of UNIFEM to further the understanding of Indigenous Women and Ancestral/TribalJustice systems through the forum held in Ecuador (October 2008), we encouragefurther efforts by UNESCO, UNDP, UNIFEM to coordinate additional forumsthat will promote knowledge and understanding of the value of Indigenous JusticeSystems.TRADITIONAL MEDICINAL AND HEALING SYSTEMS9.

We commend the Permanent Forum’s call to the UNDP to convene anInternational Expert Workshop on “Indigenous Peoples and health, with a specialemphasis on sexual and reproductive health” (E/C.19/2009/L.2, para.

25). Inpreparation for this Workshop, we recommend the Permanent Forum to preparestudies of best practices on traditional Indigenous medicinal and healing systems.These studies should focus on: (a) greater visibility of Indigenous Women inreports and statistics that examine the impact of poverty, disease, violence, forced