Written submission to CEDAW on the Rights of Indigenous Women and Girls

With this written submission, the International Work Group on Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA) seeks to bring forward the voices, perspectives and experiences of indigenous women and girls, particularly from Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Arctic, and to include them in the development of CEDAW’s general recommendation on the rights of Indigenous women and girls.

The methodology used to collect the data contained in this written submission has been centered on Indigenous Women’s voices, and is extracted from interviews with Indigenous Women leaders from partner organizations, the data available through the Indigenous Navigator, NGO reports that gathered Indigenous Women and Girls’ testimony, and international organizations reports. It should be noted, however, that the short deadline provided to file these submissions hampered the ability of NGOs such as IWGIA to fully guarantee the inclusive participation of Indigenous Women and Girls in this process.

All these sources of information have confirmed how Indigenous Women and Girls worldwide are confronted to multiple layers of discrimination and structural barriers that lead to mutually reinforcing human rights abuses. Sexism, racism, economic status, as well as structural and institutional inequities resulting from colonization and globalization make indigenous women more vulnerable to human rights abuses. As will be detailed below, their lives continue to be marked by discrimination, inequity, violence, as well as obstacles to the fulfillment of their civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights.