WUNRN
"Indigenous women, by virtue of their gender and ethnicity, face particular impacts and increased vulnerability from the consequent loss of traditional livelihoods, displacement, conflict and poverty. Violence against indigenous women is as intricately related to their collective and individual rights to their land, resources and territories as their wellbeing, cultures and identities are. The aggressive development models associated with intensive militarization have been ravaging not only our lands and resources but also our people, especially women and girls."
Claiming the Rights of Indigenous People in
By Sumshot Khular *
Sumshot Khular delivered the following speech at the 13th Session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNFPII), May 12–23, 2014. She spoke on behalf of the Asian Caucus, representing all Asian organizations registered with the UNPFII. She was supported by a grant of the United Nations Voluntary Fund on Indigenous Peoples.
Respected Madame, Chair, I am Sumshot Khular and I am presenting a joint statement for South Asia, endorsed by Community Action for Research and Development, Asian Indigenous Peo-ples Pact, the Shimin Gaikou Centre, the Kapaeng Foundation, NEFIN, the Mallaya Foundation, and the Centre for Research and Advocacy, Ma-nipur.
Madame Chair,
The non-applicability of the concept of indigenous peoples as recog-nized under international human-rights instruments remains a major and critical concern for millions of indigenous peoples. The idea that all citi-zens of a state are indigenous and thus entitled to the same rights has been used as a justification for denying recognition of particular indigenous peoples, as in India and in Bangladesh. These governments have rejected calls for the recognition of the collective rights by groups identifying themselves as indigenous.
In
The Northeastern states in
In South Asian countries such as Bangladesh, Nepal, and India, millions of indigenous peoples have been involuntary evicted, displaced and impoverished due to so-called development projects including coal and uranium mining and oil and gas exploration, without the free and prior consent of the indigenous peoples concerned. This is a direct denial of the universally established right to free, prior and informed consent, as outlined in several international human rights laws such as the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the recommendations of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD), the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESR) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
Many countries in
Article 11 of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous
Peoples stipulates that no military activities shall take place in the lands of
indigenous peoples, unless freely agreed upon by the indigenous peoples
concerned. However, many indigenous territories across
False climate change information has been propagated across
Indigenous women, by virtue of their gender and ethnicity, face particular impacts and increased vulnerability from the consequent loss of traditional livelihoods, displacement, conflict and poverty. Violence against indigenous women is as intricately related to their collective and individual rights to their land, resources and territories as their wellbeing, cultures and identities are. The aggressive de-velopment models associated with intensive militarization have been ravaging not only our lands and resources but also our people, especially women and girls.
In
An increasing number of cases of sexual violence and rape have
been reported in Chittagong Hill Tracks (CHT,
The ongoing armed conflict situation prevalent in the
In all these countries, women have played a proactive role in
peacebuilding within the communities. To mention a few examples: the Naga
Women’s
Recommendations for the Governments of
·
Ensure the full recognition of and
adherence to the principle and the practice of the right to self-determination
of all indigenous peoples in
·
Recognize the rights of indigenous peoples
over their land, territories, waters, and resources and their self-determined
development of their land and bodies of water in South Asian countries as
enshrined in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP),
2007.
·
Review your state’s own national legal
framework with a view to incorporate provisions of UNDRIP within your national
instruments, especially those with regard to the right to lands, territories
and resources, and the right to self-governance and cultural integrity, while
at the same time re-pealing/revising laws and policies that are not consistent
with the UNDRIP.
·
Stop mega development projects without the
prior free and informed consent of indigenous peoples and without recognition
of their self-determined development.
·
Repeal all emergency legislation that
facilitates political subjugation and militarization in South Asia, such as the
Armed Forces Special Powers Act (1958) in
·
Implement the recommendations of the UN
Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in 2007 to stop the
construction of mega dams in the territories of indigenous people, such as the
proposed 1500 MW Tipaimukh Dam project and the Chakpi HEP project in Manipur.
·
Implement the CHT Accord to demilitarize
the indigenous areas of
·
Ensure that international financial
institutions and corporate bodies desist from financing and taking up projects
in
*AuthorSumshot Khular
Sumshot Khular is an indige-nous Lamkang Naga from the Chandel district of Manipur, India. She is an active human-rights and peace activist, at present serving as the Pro-gram Coordinator of Commu-nity Action and Research for Development, a grassroots organization based in Chandel district in Manipur, which works to promote education, human rights, gender, devel-opment, and peace. She has previously worked for the Centre for Social Development and the Indian Social Action Forum (INSAF). She is current-ly a member of the Lamkang Snu Lop, Asian Indigenous Women’s Network (AIWN), the Indigenous Women’s Network of Northeast India (IWFNEI), Naga Women’ Union Manipur (NWUM) and Naga Peoples Movement for Human Rights (NPMHR). She is actively in-volved in the peacebuilding and reconciliation processes after the Kuki- Naga conflict and has been engaged in me-diation at the local level. She was elected Vice President of the Naga Women Union last October 2013 for a term of three years. Khular holds an MA in the Theory and Practice of Human Rights from Essex University, UK. She participat-ed as a trainee in the WPP 2012-2013 Asia Training of Trainers Cycle “Together for Transformation: Gender-sensitive Nonviolence for Sus-tainable Peace”.