WUNRN
Women’s Human Rights Education Initiative
http://learnwhr.org/initiative-for-a-cedaw-general-recommendation-on-indigenous-women/
INITIATIVE FOR A CEDAW COMMITTEE GENERAL RECOMMENDATION ON INDIGENOUS WOMEN
The Women’s Human Rights Education Institute is very pleased to
play a supportive role to the “Alianza de Mujeres Indígenas para la CEDAW” (the
Indigenous Women’s Alliance for CEDAW) in their global campaign to call on the
CEDAW Committee to adopt a new General Recommendation on Indigenous Women
that will help to:
·
further visibilize the intersectional discrimination experienced
by indigenous women around the world
·
broaden and expand the understanding of women’s human rights at
the international level
·
support more effective mechanisms for holding states accountable
for ongoing colonial and racist violence against indigenous women.
How Can You Get Involved?
1. Please sign and
share our global petition on Avaaz in support of the General
Recommendation: www.learnwhr.org/petition
2. Read the draft
recommendations created by the Indigenous Women’s Alliance for CEDAW (download
below) to be submitted to the CEDAW Committee and:
3. Write a letter of
support to be submitted to the CEDAW Committee, signed by your organization or
coalition of organizations
4. Send your comments
and feedback to the Alliance for incorporation into the document
5. Share this
initiative with your networks
Letters of support, questions and/or feedback on the draft General
Recommendation and its presentation to the CEDAW Committee can be sent to:
·
In English: info@learnwhr.org
·
In Spanish: mujeresindigenascedaw@gmail.com
Download the Document Here:
Suggested CEDAW General
Recommendation on Indigenous Women
What is a General Recommendation to CEDAW, and Why Is It
Important?
CEDAW General Recommendations are important extensions to the text
of the CEDAW Convention that explain to governments the scope of their
obligations in regard to the implementation of women’s human rights. The
adoption of a General Recommendation on the specificity of indigenous women’s
experiences, and the obligations of the State in relation to the intersectional
discrimination experienced by indigenous women, would expand the
understanding of indigenous women’s rights within the UN system and open new
spaces for activism using women’s human rights. They need the
support of many Indigenous women’s organizations and networks, as well as ally
organizations, worldwide to make this happen.
Letter from the Indigenous Women’s Alliance for CEDAW:
Warm greetings to you all. May the energies of the universe fill
you with strength and optimism as you work to make this world a better place,
characterized by equality and harmony between men and women and all the beings
with which we live in relationship.
The purpose of this letter is to request your support and
participation in order to step forward together in affirming and exercising our
specific rights as indigenous women in this region and other regions of the
world.
As you know, the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of
Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) is the first and most important instrument
of the United Nations that holds states responsible for acts of violence
against women, whether those acts are perpetrated by the State or
by private persons. We also know that indigenous women in all parts of the
world face conditions and situations that intensify the violence that we
experience as women and that our demands as indigenous women relative to our
specific rights are often invisibilized.
Faced with this situation, a group of organizations joined forces
to develop a document that reflects our concerns and claims regarding our
individual and collective rights as indigenous women. At the end of 2013, with
the input of organizations from Guatemala and the participation of
organizations from Colombia, Panama, Canada, Nepal and Mexico, we produced the
document attached to this letter.
It is our intention to place this document before the CEDAW
Committee with the goal of convincing the Committee to issue a specific General
Recommendation on indigenous women, based on the proposals contained in this
document.
Those of us who have joined together from different countries and
regions in this initiative ask for your support in persuading the members of
the CEDAW Committee to issue recommendations to States that take into account
the situation and condition of indigenous women and to monitor advances that
are gradually made in our countries.
To this end, we have set up an e-mail account: mujeresindigenascedaw@gmail.com
to which we request that you send a message of support, share any questions or
thoughts you may have about the document or any contributions you wish to make.
Documents in English can also be sent to info@learnwhr.org.
Once we have backing for the document from as many organizations
as possible, we will be sending it to the CEDAW Committee along with the names
of all the supporting organizations. We will keep you informed of any and all
advances made.
We end this letter with a heartfelt embrace in hopes that this
initiative will acquaint us with the efforts being developed by other
indigenous women’s organizations and groups in different regions.
From the convening
organizations with leadership and support of the Tzununijá Indigenous Women’s
Movement, Tik Na’oj, Maya Association Uk’ ux B’e, Sinergia No´j, Coordinación y
convergencia Nacional Maya Waqib’ Kej, Community Studies and Psychosocial
Action Team (ECAP), JASS (Just Associates) and the Women’s Human Rights
Education Institute (WHRI) along with the consultation of multiple
organizations.