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Addressee: UN System
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The Forum encourages all United Nations entities to mainstream indigenous gender issues and to integrate the special needs and concerns of indigenous women into their programmes and policies by taking the following steps:
a. Compiling and integrating disaggregated data (both qualitative and quantitative in nature and taking into account local and regional cultural/social/ economic differences) on indigenous women’s issues in their own annual reports. The Forum commends those who have already begun to address this issue of lack of relevant data;
b. Integrating indigenous experts on indigenous women’s issues in their programming staff;
c. Appointing indigenous focal points on indigenous women’s issues within wider gender portfolios;
d. Planning special events centred on the theme "Indigenous men" and integrating that theme in their documentation and outreach activities (web site, reports etc.);
e. Increasing outreach to indigenous women’s organizations worldwide;
f. Increasing the outreach and information flow to and from the academic community, including indigenous educational institutions, on indigenous women’s issues.
Responses
UNESCO is participating in the Special Interagency Task Force on Indigenous Women facilitated by the Secretariat of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and as mentioned in the response to recommendation 35, will continue to explore possibilities of strengthening the consideration of indigenous women's and gender issues in its Programme.
(a) ILO is currently addressing the issue of disaggregation of data within the context of individual projects and programmes to address lack of qualitative and quantitative data. ILO's work on Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers, and Indigenous and Tribal Peoples not only addresses the lack of data, but goes further to look at the manner in which poverty indicators can better reflect indigenous peoples' own priorities and concerns, including differential concerns of men and women. In addition, within the context of projects to eliminate child labour, national child labour surveys often provide statistical information about overtime child labour trends and are used as inputs for policy making. results usually show that child labour rates are higher among indigenous children and that, in turn, their school attendance rates are lower especially among girls. Specific case studies have been carried out to understand the reality of child labour in indigenous communities from an intercultural and gender perspective. Finally, as part of baseline survey studies
and rapid assessments conducted by IPEC in Latin America, the reality of indigenous children has been considered with emphasis on certain countries and sectors.
(b) Presently, UNIFEM has numerous partnerships with leaders of indigenous women's groups and subsequently integrates their unique experience and expertise into its programming.
(d) UNIFEM plays an active role in facilitating indigenous women's participation and participation in interagency meetings and forums, both regionally and globally. UNIFEM hopes that this initiative will continue and that in cooperation with other organizations (both indigenous groups and women's groups) that it will expand its capacity to support the international presence of indigenous women
(e) UNIFEM has supported projects designed to create dialogue between educational institutions and indigenous women's issues though it hopes that over the course of the next three years that there will be an increased exchange between academic institutions and indigenous women's groups as UNIFEM feels that facilitating a space for indigenous women within educational institutions is an effective way to build capacity.
Final Report of UNPFII Session 3 (2004)
Area of Work
