The Expert Meeting aimed at supporting Indigenous women’s petition for CEDAW (the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women) to adopt a General Recommendation on Indigenous Women. The Meeting, gathered about 40 Indigenous women from around the world, human rights law experts and solidarity NGOs, and was organized by MADRE, the International Indigenous Women’s Forum (FIMI), the Center for Women’s Global Leadership (CWGL) and the Women’s Human Rights Education Institute (WHRI). The Institute for the Study of Human Rights participated via the Director of the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Program. Gladys Acosta, the CEDAW Member from Peru, is focal point for this work in the Committee.
The specific objectives of the consultation were to: a) Identify the obstacles and intersectional factors that hinder the enjoyment of indigenous women’s rights; b) Compile measures and good practices to ensure indigenous women’s rights; c) Formulate recommendations for promoting and protecting indigenous women’s human rights.
The discussion deepened the understanding of Indigenous women’s rights, including individual and collective rights and identified priorities to include in the general recommendation mentioned above. Areas addressed were access to land and territories; political participation; violence against women; cultural rights; and economic rights.
