Strategy for Inclusion and Visibility of Indigenous Women

This document presents UN Women’s strategy for the inclusion and visibility of indigenous women. It aims to scale up programming in a coherent and consistent manner. The strategy is guided by the UN Development Group Guidelines on Indigenous Issues and the UN-SWAP. It is especially valuable for those working to promote the rights and well-being of indigenous women across various contexts.

Key Insights

The Broader Contexts of Indigenous Women’s Lives

Indigenous women possess both collective and individual rights, as defined under international law. Tensions between collective rights and individual rights are often manifest in contesting spaces between universal human rights and the concept of “cultural relativity”.

Demographics

UNPFII estimates that there are more than 370 million indigenous people living in 90 countries across seven designated regions. Approximately 50 percent of the total indigenous population are women.

Six Elements of the UN-SWAP

The UN-SWAP includes these six elements:

1. Raise awareness on the UNDRIP
2. Support the implementation of UNDRIP, particularly at the country level
3. Support the realization of indigenous peoples’ rights in the implementation and review of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
4. Conduct a mapping of existing standards and guidelines, capacities, training materials and resources within the UN System, International Financial Institutions, and Inter-Agency Support Group on Indigenous Issues (IASG) members for the effective implementation of the UNDRIP
5. Develop capacities of States, indigenous peoples, civil society and UN personnel
6. Advance the participation of indigenous peoples in UN processes.

Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women

Programmes will integrate indigenous women’s perspectives in the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programmes. A gender equality perspective provides an understanding of the root causes and consequences of discrimination and the unequal power relations between men and women and boys and girls in specific contexts.

Free, Prior and Informed Consent

Various international instruments, such as UNDRIP, ILO Convention No.169, and the Convention on Biological Diversity, established the principle of free, prior and informed consent, which ascribes the rights of indigenous peoples to determine and/or make decisions about processes that directly or indirectly affect their lives.

Interculturality

The positive dimensions of indigenous peoples’ cultural practices, traditions and values play a critical role in advancing the human rights of all indigenous peoples. An intercultural approach is necessary for ensuring access to adequate and appropriate education, health, housing and other social services.

Key Actions Under SWAP Priority Area 1: Raise Awareness on UNDRIP

• Develop key messages to promote and advance the rights of indigenous women in collaboration with relevant UN agencies and indigenous women’s leaders and movements.
• Integrate UN Women’s commitment to UNDRIP and its provisions and encourage the ratification of ILO Convention No.169 in relevant talking points, speeches and statements of senior management.
• Contribute to the common UN System media and outreach campaigns. This may include the identification of prominent champions of indigenous women and leveraging their advocacy role.

Ancestral Lands and Territories

Ancestral lands and territories have material, cultural and spiritual dimensions for indigenous women. They are required for their survival and economic sustainability and are intrinsically linked to the identity and existence of a people. Indigenous peoples call for inalienable and collective ownership of their lands and territories.

Example of the WCIP outcome document on the UN-SWAP

“We request the Secretary-General, in consultation and cooperation with indigenous peoples, the Inter-Agency Support Group on Indigenous Peoples’ Issues and Member States, to begin the development, within existing resources, of a system-wide action plan to ensure a coherent approach to achieving the ends of the Declaration and to report to the General Assembly at its seventieth session, through the Economic and Social Council, on progress made.” (WCIP. 2014. “Outcome document of the WCIP”. Paras 31 and 32.)

Key Statistics & Data

• There are more than 370 million indigenous people living in 90 countries across seven designated regions.
• Indigenous people inhabit approximately 22 percent of the global land space, and speak more than 4,000 of the 7,000 world languages.
• Approximately 50 percent (185 million) of the total indigenous population are women.

Methodology

This strategy is based on a desk review of relevant recommendations of various intergovernmental processes, reports of indigenous women’s CSOs, global and regional mechanisms, and UN Women’s annual country reports and submissions to the UNPFII. The review took into account the priorities that indigenous women have expressed in various outcome documents, such as those of CSW and preparatory meetings towards the WCIP.

Implications and Conclusions

The strategy crystalizes UN Women’s long-standing commitment to indigenous women and ensures that no indigenous woman is left behind as beneficiaries and actors of development. It serves as the organization’s first official frame of reference for bringing UN Women’s programming to scale in a coherent and consistent manner across the organization. The implementation of the UN-SWAP requires a strategic approach to ensure sustainability and efficacy across the organization.