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Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues

Third Session

9th & 10th Meetings (AM & PM)

SPEAKERS HIGHLIGHT VIOLATIONS OF INDIGENOUS WOMEN’S RIGHTS, NEED TO ADOPT

DECLARATION ON INDIGENOUS RIGHTS, AS PERMANENT FORUM CONTINUES SESSION

As the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues continued its discussion of human rights today, speakers highlighted grave human rights abuses committed against indigenous women, by both foreign armies and patriarchs in their own societies, and stressed the urgent need to adopt the United Nations draft declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples.

Erica-Irene Daes, Special Rapporteur of the Sub-Commission on Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, Commission on Human Rights, noted that rape and sexual abuse had been systematically used to intimidate and traumatize indigenous women and families in police interrogations, civil wars and armed conflict. An estimated 170 million indigenous women worldwide suffered widespread discrimination and other gross abuses, she said, adding that certain States deliberately ignored flagrant violations against indigenous women or against whole indigenous communities.

The Statutes of the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda had pegged rape during wartime -– for the first time ever -- as a crime against humanity, she continued. Moreover, the Statute of the International Criminal Court included an important provision on “rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilization or any other forms of sexual violence or comparable gravity”. She urged States to implement relevant international and humanitarian norms to guarantee indigenous women’s rights, especially in times of armed conflict.

Extending that theme to peacetime, Yakin Erturk, Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, Commission on Human Rights, said indigenous women suffered from oppression, subordination, and patriarchal gender orders in the home, community and State organs. Pointing to major contradictions between group norms -– which might actually condone subjugation or violence against women -- and individual rights, she said oppression in the home was a particular problem, since it was often overlooked and justified as a private matter.

The work of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, along with several United Nations conferences, had helped demystify the public-private distinction that was keeping women out of the mainstream, she said. It was time to tackle notions that controlling and regulating women were the only means to sustain tradition, or that a man could batter his wife in the name of cultural honour.

During the discussion on human rights, several participants noted that divergent views on the balance between collective and individual rights were hindering agreement on the draft declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples, and urged the working group to overcome such obstacles as soon as possible. Others recommended that United Nations and human rights bodies carry out fact-finding missions in areas where gross violations of indigenous rights had been committed, work with international tribunals to end impunity for genocides, and end terror campaigns aimed at repressing indigenous peoples.

Drawing attention to specific horrors within her country, a member of the Bangsa Adat Alifuru pointed to acts of genocide that the Indonesian military was committing against indigenous people in Moluccu. She called for the immediate withdrawal of Indonesian military forces, and for a United Nations fact-finding mission to report on the true situation. Similarly, a representative of the Montagnard Foundation called for the United Nations to send human rights monitors to the central highlands of Viet Nam, where indigenous peoples were suffering gross violations of their rights.

Also today, a presentation was made by the representative of the International Labour Organization (ILO), who noted that discussions of human rights abuses against indigenous people had expanded to issues of development. Too often, he said, indigenous people either lost their traditional lands, or were given no opportunity to consult on how development could harmonize with their continued existence. He encouraged the United Nations to build respect for indigenous rights into development activities, and governments to take active measures to correct such violations.

The Forum will meet again at 10 a.m. on Monday, 17 May, to continue its discussion of human rights.

Background

The Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues met today to continue its discussion of human rights. (For background information on the Forum’s third session, see Press Release HR/4741 of 4 May.)

Discussion

YAKIN ERTURK, Special Rapporteur of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights on Violence against Women, said indigenous women were struggling, sometimes at great risk, to improve the lives of their peoples, making the world aware of the great wrongs committed throughout civilized history. A major problem they faced were contradictions that arose between group rights and universal norms. Indigenous women had suffered from oppression, subordination, and patriarchal gender orders, which had subdued them in the home, community and State apparatus. Oppression in the home was one of the most difficult situations to address, since it had often been overlooked, and justified as a private matter.

The outcomes of various United Nations conferences and the work of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women were major breakthroughs in demystifying the public-private distinction that was keeping women excluded from the mainstream, she said. Since the “Beijing plus 5” conference, national and international funding had been directed towards improving women’s position, and relevant texts on women had been negotiated in international forums. It was time to tackle notions that controlling and regulating women were the only means to sustain tradition, or that a man could batter his wife in the name of cultural honour. Human rights standards were clear. The United Nations mandate on gender equality aimed to correct historic wrongs aimed at subduing half of the world’s population. The human rights discourse was a vital approach in considering the rights of individuals or groups.

ERICA-IRENE DAES, Special Rapporteur of the Sub-Commission on Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, Commission on Human Rights, noted that an estimated 170 million indigenous women worldwide faced poverty and cultural marginalization, as well as widespread discrimination and other gross and systematic human rights abuses. Certain States deliberately ignored flagrant violations of human rights against indigenous women and, in certain cases, against whole indigenous communities. In situations ranging from police interrogations to civil wars and armed conflict, the rape and sexual abuse of indigenous women was used to systematically intimidate and traumatize women and families. Violence against indigenous women disregarded basic human rights and fundamental freedoms, and was an affront to women’s inherent human dignity. Physical, psychological and sexual violence against indigenous women and girls, in public and private, plagued all societies and classes and posed tremendous obstacles to equality, development, peace and security.

The Statutes of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda characterized the crime of rape during wartime -– for the first time in history -- as a crime against humanity, she continued. The Statute of the International Criminal Court included an important provision relating to “rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilization or any other forms of sexual violence of comparable gravity”. States should be encouraged to adopt measures to implement relevant international law and humanitarian norms, to guarantee respect for indigenous women’s human rights, especially in times of armed conflict.

Turning to the Forum’s work, she said it would win serious political and economic support, and would serve as a system-wide coordination and evaluation body under the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) -- not simply as an advisory and policy forum. Benefits in the areas of development, reconciliation and partnership would arise from that transition. As for development, a large portion of the more than $2 billion spent on United Nations operational programmes each year was devoted to regions with large indigenous populations. The United Nations system should review the positive impacts of technical and financial assistance in regions where indigenous peoples lived, ensuring that they participated fully and freely in designing and benefiting from projects.

With respect to reconciliation, she added, the Forum could serve as a clearing house of useful experiences in reconciliation and nation building, and actually help facilitate communication and build trust between governments and indigenous peoples. Regarding partnership, there were important advantages to building true partnerships, in which indigenous peoples freely contributed their traditional knowledge, creativity and unique cultural and artistic heritage.

Responding to the statement made by Ms. Daes, a member of the Forum agreed that there was a need to enhance the financial assistance given to United Nations programmes to help them move beyond recommendations to concerted action. A partnership in action should be developed between indigenous communities themselves; between indigenous peoples and State governments; and, at the international level, between indigenous peoples and intergovernmental organizations.

Another Forum member said he wished to note the situation in Peru, where the significant number of indigenous individuals that had fallen victim to the old regime had not been adequately reflected in the report on that subject to the Commission on Human Rights. The delegations assembling such reports should include indigenous representatives.

Canada’s representative said that, during this final year of the International Decade on Indigenous Peoples, the major human rights issue facing indigenous peoples and the United Nations would be the need to make substantive progress on the United Nations draft declaration on indigenous peoples. Both States and representatives of indigenous people would have to show flexibility and the willingness to achieve consensus on a strong and effective document. Among the particularly difficult issues regarding indigenous rights was the need to balance respect for individual rights with respect for collective rights.

A representative of the Pacific Region Consultation cited the legacies of colonialism and military supremacy, the imposition of inherited colonial systems, the imposition of foreign cultures and commodities above traditional values, and the use of Western education as a tool to promote Western values as the onus under which indigenous people laboured today. Pacific indigenous peoples remained continually in conflict with foreign cultures, values and the concept of the supremacy of the individual over collective rights. The United Nations should investigate its own role in the colonization process, which had led to present-day human rights violations in colonial occupied territories. It should also consider, among other measures, the re-inscription of certain Pacific territories on the list of non-self-governing territories, to give equal opportunity to indigenous peoples to present evidence of violations of their fundamental rights to self-determination.

Responding to the foregoing comments, Ms. DAES acknowledged that indigenous peoples should play a major role in every kind of negotiation between States, and at the international level, that related to indigenous issues. It was time for indigenous peoples to make themselves heard, time for their views to be respected.

Several speakers stressed the importance of self-determination, recommending that the Forum enshrine it as the most vital right for indigenous peoples. While the need for self-determination had considerable international support, the absence of political will in a few States had denied self-determination to indigenous peoples living in their territories.

A representative of the International Labour Organization (ILO) noted that human rights violations had originally brought indigenous issues under international scrutiny. Now, that attention had progressed to discussions of indigenous rights and development. Indigenous peoples were discriminated against in the working world, and denied training that would improve their access to it. Instead, they were often subjected to forced or bonded labour and child labour, which the ILO was working to eliminate. The ILO had also developed instruments aimed at restoring indigenous peoples’ traditional rights to land, as well as their right to be consulted in development. All too often, they were given no opportunity to express their views about how development should progress in a way that was harmonious with their continued existence. He encouraged the United Nations to build respect for indigenous rights into development activities, and governments to take active measures to correct such violations.

Participants also described specific human rights violations that were occurring in their countries. A member of the Bangsa Adat Alifuru described acts of alleged genocide that the Indonesian military was committing against indigenous people in Moluccu. She called for the immediate withdrawal of Indonesian military forces from Moluccu, and for a United Nations fact-finding mission to report on the true situation. Similarly, a representative of the Montagnard Foundation called for the United Nations to send human rights monitors to the central highlands of Viet Nam, where indigenous peoples were suffering gross violations of their rights.

Representatives of African groups highlighted the effects of armed conflict on indigenous women, and stressed the need to adopt a holistic, integrated approach to promote the participation of women in resolving conflicts and building peace. Most indigenous women in Africa were not allowed to take part in decision-making processes, and lacked any freedom of expression. They were also denied the right to land, the right to live in peace, and lacked resources to participate in forums on human rights. Many lacked information about such instruments as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, and the Beijing process.

Noting the approaching end of the International Decade of Indigenous Peoples, the representative of Conclave de los Pueblos Indígenas de América said indigenous peoples continued to suffer consistent violations of their human rights and urged the Forum to recommend that ECOSOC pay attention to the situation of extremely vulnerable peoples living in isolation; to urge governments to respect international norms; to work with international tribunals to end impunity for genocides and violations against the human rights of indigenous peoples; and to end terror campaigns aimed at repressing indigenous peoples, in particular, indigenous immigrants. The collective rights of indigenous peoples should be internationally recognized.

New Zealand’s representative said the Forum should continue to look beyond indigenous complaints in pursuit of improvement in the overall situation of indigenous peoples worldwide. In particular, ensuring indigenous peoples enjoyment of equal rights also meant ensuring that those rights applied equally to indigenous men and women. In his own country’s experience, extensive territorial and resource rights had been accorded to the Maori people. The new draft legislation on the foreshore and seabed would allow all New Zealanders to apply for recognition of their ancestral rights.

An indigenous representative from Brazil drew attention to the situation in her country, where 23 indigenous leaders had been assassinated in 2003 for engaging in the protection of their peoples’ rights. Furthermore, the indigenous peoples of the Amazon faced threats to their continued existence from the invasion of illegal miners, who had brought increased violence, particularly against women and children, alcoholism and malaria. In response, the Forum should recommend that Brazil formulate an indigenous policy recognizing the multicultural nature of the State, and withdraw from indigenous territories and demarcate and register them as indigenous territories.

Other speakers raised issues including the disproportionately high rate of infant mortality among indigenous populations. That phenomenon was due to lack of access to adequate health services suffered by indigenous women. The Forum should recommend the allocation of a high level of resources to the health sector, with specific consideration for indigenous peoples and indigenous women in particular.

Among other recommendations addressed to the Forum, the representative of the Asian Indigenous Caucus said the body should urge the Secretary-General to formulate guidelines and principles for the inclusion of indigenous peoples in the working of the United Nations system, to enable them to participate in the formulation of country-related notes and reports. The Forum should also encourage United Nations agencies to establish capacity-building programmes aimed directly at indigenous populations.

As the discussion on human rights continued in the afternoon, a number of recommendations were made to the Forum, including that it encourage reform of the ILO system and of the Commission on Human Rights to ensure representation and participation of indigenous groups; urge the High Commissioner for Human Rights to promote the human rights of indigenous peoples; recommend that the ECOSOC urge States and the specialized agencies of the United Nations system to respect international agreements ensuring indigenous rights; and organize activities with indigenous peoples in the Pacific, Asia, Latin America, North America and the Arctic.

States were urged to respect indigenous peoples’ right to self-determination by adopting the draft declaration on indigenous peoples; promote the establishment of a second International Decade for Indigenous Peoples; and establish monitoring mechanisms to track the implementation of Forum recommendations on human rights.

Other requests included that the Special Rapporteur for indigenous rights visit Ecuador and that the Secretary-General provide necessary financial assistance to indigenous women to participate in the working group on the negotiation of the draft declaration on indigenous peoples.

The representative of the International Indigenous Women’s Caucus also urged the Vatican to rescind the Papal Bulls, issued by Innocent IV in the thirteenth century, which had laid the foundation for the doctrine of discovery and the right of conquest that had ultimately facilitated colonization.

Responding to an earlier statement by the Government of New Zealand, an indigenous delegate from the Pacific region said she felt it incumbent to disagree with the attribution of responsibility for the stalemate in negotiations on the draft declaration on indigenous peoples. Whereas New Zealand’s position was that a handful of organizations refusing any change to the original text had caused the recent breakdown in the negotiating process, those organizations that had participated had noted that several articles of the draft text had been close to adoption without change. The stalemate should be attributed to the handful of States submitting blatantly discriminatory proposals for changes to the draft declaration, and which sought changes so drastic that they would undermined the document’s original intent.

MARISELA PADRON QUERO, Director, Latin America and the Caribbean Division of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), stressed that legal systems must protect and enforce women’s rights, and that all forms of discrimination and violence against women must be eliminated. For more than 30 years, the UNFPA had been in the forefront of bringing greater attention to gender issues, promoting legal and policy reforms and gender-sensitive data collection, and supporting projects that empowered women economically. The UNFPA’s efforts had been aimed at incorporating the perspectives, needs and rights of indigenous women into the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the population, development and environment programmes that affected them, to ensure they received reproductive health services that were socially, culturally and ecologically appropriate.

The UNFPA’s programmes focusing on indigenous peoples had attempted to incorporate a gender perspective to respond to the very different needs of indigenous women and men, and to address such issues as violence against women, she said. Indigenous women and girls in many countries needed increased support to live lives of dignity, with their human rights respected and their human needs met. Laws and procedures must be reformed and existing rights protections better enforced.

The UNFPA, she said, must continue supporting the empowerment of women to challenge violations to their rights, and to help promote change in basic norms and institutions of society. She recommended that a gender perspective be placed at the centre of all policies and programmes affecting women’s health, particularly indigenous women; that efforts for comprehensive and accessible health services and programmes be expanded; and that governments strengthen national information systems to produce reliable statistics.

Participants also recommended that United Nations and human rights bodies carry out fact-finding missions in areas where gross violations of indigenous peoples’ rights had been committed, and request the Office of the High Commissioner and United Nations bodies to strengthen implementation of human rights instruments. One participant noted the continuing uncertainty of the United Nations declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples, and said it was highly unlikely it would be acceptable to indigenous peoples by the end of the decade. No other standard setting activity within the United Nations had been as time-consuming. She suggested that the current procedure to complete the declaration was inadequate, and that an effective working method was needed.

Colombia’s delegate, also speaking on behalf of a Colombian indigenous organization, described the situation of indigenous peoples in his country and said that the territories of the last nomads of South America were being taken away, their ecosystem altered and their heritage lost due to the ravages of the war under way in Colombia. The different armed groups and narcotics traffickers had forced indigenous peoples to take part in such activities and give up their cultural identity. To combat such phenomena, it was suggested that those companies producing goods such as alcohol, tobacco, weapons and oil, among others, should commit 1 per cent of their yearly sales to funding indigenous priorities and that States using fumigation systems against illicit crops should also dedicate a part of their budgets to the same. Another suggestion was that the goods produced by indigenous peoples should not be subject to taxation, but should be incorporated into the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Other speakers drew attention to violations of the human rights of indigenous peoples including, among others, by the Mexican military in Chiapas; by the Government of Chile on Rapanui (Easter Island); by the Government of the United States against the Hawaiian peoples; by the Government of Cameroon against the Mbororo people; and by the Vietnamese Government against the Khmer Krom people of South-East Asia.

Drawing attention to the plight of urbanized indigenous people in Canada, the representative of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples said that those not living on reservation lands, who constituted the majority of Canada’s indigenous population, did not benefit from the country’s Indian Act and suffered unacceptable levels of poverty, poor health and lack of education. Prime Minister Martin’s assurance that redressing the situation of Canada’s indigenous people figured as one of his top five priorities was welcomed, but must be proven in practice as well. Among the ways in which the Forum should promote such reforms was through the establishment of accountability scorecards for States as they sought to rid themselves of discriminatory legislation.

The representative of the Asian Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Network drew attention to the need to reform the working of the Permanent Forum, including punctuality with regard to session start times and the logical limitation of prayers and ceremonies; the perfunctory nature of applause after statements, even for the statements of governments responsible for gross violations of indigenous peoples’ human rights; and the need to rationalize the speakers’ list to avoid redundancy.

Also on the work of the Permanent Forum, the representative of the Foundation for Aboriginal and Islander Research Action said there must be consideration of whether the role of the Forum was conducive to holding States more accountable for abuses committed against their indigenous people, and that the adoption of the draft declaration on indigenous peoples should be supported by all governments and indigenous groups.

In other areas, all country-specific and thematic Special Rapporteurs should dedicate special attention to the situation of indigenous peoples. The International Decade of Indigenous Peoples should also be extended for a second decade.

Participants lamented the effects of conflict situations, when indigenous women and children were forced to become refugees, displaced from their ancestral homes. They also objected to irresponsible logging in indigenous areas, which led to deforestation, damming of ancestral waters, and multinationals being allowed to buy indigenous land.

A representative of the Saami Parliamentary Council proposed that the Forum urge States to establish decision-making bodies with indigenous women’s issues on the agenda. Indigenous men and women would participate in such bodies, which would also discuss land rights, education, health, environment, business, and culture. Another speaker suggested that the issues of indigenous women be included in national constitutions.

A representative of the Association of Nepalese Indigenous Journalists recommended that the Forum promote the establishment of a media watch committee to ensure that indigenous peoples were not unfairly portrayed by the media.

Source: UN