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INDIGENOUS PEOPLES: Women in Limelight at U.N. Forum

Marty Logan

UNITED NATIONS, May 10 2004 (IPS) - Indigenous women claimed the spotlight at a U.N. meeting Monday, first asking hundreds of delegates and observers to join hands with their neighbours while they sang a blessing, and later urging representatives of governments, civil society and development agencies to work harder to ensure that their ways of living survive.

The women were backed by the meeting’s chairman, who reminded their partners – indigenous men – that women’s struggle will not be won unless they play their part.

“Indigenous women remain attached to their culture, to their cultural values and to their traditions. And they struggle against many attempts to eliminate this cultural identity,” said Njuma Ekundanayo, vice-chairwoman of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, which opened its annual two-week session here Monday.

The Forum’s focus this year is indigenous women.

“We have to be custodians, sometimes in secret, of our knowledge”, added Stella Tamang, chairwoman of the International Indigenous Women’s Caucus.

In her address to the session’s men and women, many wearing brightly-coloured traditional dress, Tamang cited the women who save seeds for future years’ crops, while multinational agricultural companies try to stop the practice so they can expand their business.

While women will receive special attention throughout the this gathering of about 1,500 delegates and officials from governments, U.N. agencies and other international bodies, starting Tuesday discussions will centre on specific themes: education, culture, the environment, human rights and development and resources.

The results of those talks will be distilled into a report by the 16 members of the Forum’s board – eight chosen by indigenous peoples from the world’s regions and eight by governments – and delivered to the U.N. Economic and Social Council, which in turn will forward recommendations to the General Assembly.

The Forum’s mandate is limited to advising U.N. agencies on how to deal with indigenous peoples, known also as aborigines, tribal and native peoples.

The women made it clear Monday that those bodies – and governments – can only improve their performances.

“Some (societies) have given women a very high status within a legal system, however they are disenfranchised socio-economically,” said Ekundanayo. For example, growing poverty in Asia has driven women into forced labour, and in Africa famine has resulted in violent conflicts, both of which have a disproportionate effect on indigenous women.

“We are the ones losing our children and our husbands,” said Ekundanayo, although “we are not waging war.”

In March, indigenous women gathered at the United Nations to study how conflict affects their lives.

“While the world’s eyes have been focused on the Middle East, conflicts that affect indigenous peoples in Africa, Asia and Latin America have escalated,” said a U.N. press release.

“Spiralling conflict creates refugees and leads to displacements and devastation of traditional territories. The people fall into famine and are deprived of their most fundamental human rights.”

But “indigenous women are not just hapless victims of war,” it added. “In war-torn societies, it is often the women who keep societies going… indigenous peoples have emphasised that indigenous women must be integrated to seek positions at all levels of decision-making to restore the right of indigenous women to make choices about their lives and their families in times of war and of peace.”

Progress is being made in accepting the rights of indigenous peoples, Monday’s session heard. For example, the government of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez “is struggling to give dignity to indigenous peoples,” said Noeli Pocaterra, second vice-president of that country’s National Assembly, in a statement.

For the first time the constitution of the South American nation now recognises the rights of indigenous peoples, she said.

Tamang also acknowledged that their issues are increasingly being addressed by the world community, but “it is just a drop in the ocean… we need support from indigenous men and support from people of other communities.”

Permanent Forum Chairman Ole Henrik Magga took up the issue of indigenous men supporting the goal of gender equality.

It is more complex than women wanting to be men or of men having to move into the women’s world as it now exists, he said. And the concept is not alien to indigenous people, he added. “Indigenous cultures rely on gender complementarity, a symbiosis that values both women’s and men’s business… that affirms both with respect and balance.”

But the “growing problem” of domestic violence has pushed that system out of balance, Magga said. Although programmes have been developed to provide anti-violence counselling for men and boys who have abused women, “the sad thing is that there are too few of these kinds of examples,” he added.

He called on indigenous peoples to debate the stereotypical roles now assigned to men and boys. “We should resist attempts to construct this debate as (one of) girls and women taking from boys and men.”

Prior to the 2004 Forum, indigenous women held meetings globally to discuss the issues that will be on the table at the United Nations during the next two weeks. They produced many recommendations.

Such as: “Strengthen indigenous women’s participation in all aspects of leadership and governance. Special meetings, leadership training as well as other training courses and exposure programmes should be organised,” said the Baguio Declaration of the 2nd Asian Indigenous Women’s Conference.

“Women will be encouraged to take up decision-making positions, after gaining the necessary confidence. The role and perception of women should not follow stereotypes and women who are qualified and experienced should be selected as leaders,” said the text released on International Women’s Day, Mar. 8.

More recommendations were offered during Monday’s panel discussion. “Protect the rights of indigenous women and children,” said Pocaterra. “If schools run counter to our culture, do not take the child away – let’s change the schools instead.”

She summed up the women’s approach: “We’re not simply recalling the past. It is a way of engaging in relationships, of looking at life, of inter-connecting so that we can prove to others that there are many different ways to approach life.”