The Permanent Forum recommends that appropriate United Nations organizations, including the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), as well as States, take immediate action to review and monitor the situation of indigenous women and provide comprehensive reports on violence against indigenous women and girls, particularly sexual violence and violence in the context of armed conflict. Indigenous women must be full participants in this process.
Noting that the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women makes no reference to indigenous women and that it does not take into account the specific nature of the gender dimension of racial discrimination, the Forum recommends that the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women:
a. Pay special attention to the issues related to maintaining the integrity of indigenous women and the gender dimension of racial discrimination against indigenous peoples;
b. Organize a meeting, in collaboration with indigenous women, UNIFEM, UNESCO and UNDP, with the objective of beginning a process to develop and adopt a general recommendation on indigenous women, including women living under colonization.
Sexual and gender-based violence increases in settings of conflict. Sexual violence has also been used systematically as a weapon of war against indigenous women. In the light of the particular risks and vulnerabilities of indigenous women and girls relating to sexual and gender-based violence, the Permanent Forum recommends that Governments, local authorities, specialized agencies of the United Nations system and civil society collaborate with indigenous peoples to establish multisectoral and holistic approaches to combat the various forms of violence against women and girls.
The Forum recommends that Governments integrate a gender framework that encompasses all areas of their work, including their agricultural and economic policies, and include in their policies actions that directly benefit indigenous women, through the following measures:
(a) Provide access for indigenous women to funding from public budgets;
(b) Create specific measures that enhance women’s participation in their own development processes;
(c) Create national policies that generate employment for indigenous women;
(d) Improve indigenous women’s access to education and the development of their skills, and reform education systems so that they allow women to take advantage of training and employment opportunities;
(e) Strengthen programmes in indigenous communities that ensure benefits for indigenous women.