MADRE/RLS — NYC Office

16th Session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues

April 27, 2017

Item 3: Follow up on the Recommendations of the UN Permanent Forum

Empowerment of Indigenous Women

Thank you Madam Chair. May I take this opportunity on behalf of the African Indigenous Women’s organizations and all our Partners present in NY today congratulate you for being selected as chair of this 16^th session;

We, Indigenous women from Nepal, Kenya, Canada, Nicaragua, and the United States, would like to address the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues on some critical issues undermining the realization of Indigenous women and girls rights around the world.

Madam chair, we all know that  Indigenous women globally are at the forefront of movements to model sustainable environmental solutions and are key in using these models to halt climate in their land and territories. They do this with the knowledge that they and their communities bear many of the worst impacts of climate change. We however note with concern that women and girls still continue facing inequality, discrimination, and often do not have the sufficient means to adequately research, access, and implement climate change adaptation and mitigation practices

We welcome the recommendation from the 61st session of the CSW calling Member States, UN agencies and other institutions to take measures to promote the self-determined economic empowerment of Indigenous women, including access to education, meaningful participation in the economy, and noting the importance of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples for indigenous women and girls. We believe economic empowerment leads to the political empowerment, and for Indigenous women and girls to have a voice in policies that affect their lives.

We value that the Commission in March recommended states, UN agencies and other institutions to develop and adopt gender-responsive strategies on mitigation and adaptation to climate change, in line with international and regional instruments.

We call for the following recommendations:

1. We call on Member States and UN Agencies to include  Indigenous women and girls in implementing national and international development frameworks and policies with particular focus on Sustainable Development Goals, agenda 2030, and the Paris Agreement. These processes should respect Indigenous Peoples’ rights and promote Indigenous women’s ability to access and manage resources. This will help indigenous women lead in adaptation and mitigation practices based on own  knowledge and needs.

2. Urge the UN Permanent Forum to work closely with other UN Agencies in collaboration with Indigenous Peoples Organization to establish a monitoring mechanism that oversees the implementation of UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the actions taken in ensuring free, prior informed consent in development process. And to provide resources and technical assistance to Indigenous women to conduct research and monitor the processes at the local, national and regional level.

3. The Permanent Forum to conduct a study on the impacts of climate change on Indigenous women for the 17th Session in 2018, and further include climate change and its impacts in future reports, studies and publications, indigenous Knowledge Platform, as a standing/cross-cutting issue in all mandated areas of the Permanent Forum.

4. We urge Members States, UN Agencies and other donors to work closely with Indigenous women at the national level for financial support enhancing economic activities that empower Indigenous women and girls at all levels.

We reiterate that the special theme of the next session should be water and the violence against water and the water protectors.