Press Release
July 8, 2007
Vth Meeting of the Continental Network of
Indigenous Women of the Americas: Restoring Balance
Kahnawabe, Quebec, Canada -- More than 200 indigenous women from the
Americas will meet between July 9-12, 2007 in the indigenous Mohawk
Reservation near Montreal in Quebec, Canada, focusing on the theme,
“Restoring Balance.” Using rituals, song, dance, presentations and
plenaries, the women will analyze the situation of indigenous
peoples throughout the continent and to design a plan of action to
develop alliances to work together to improve the conditions
of the women and their peoples
The women from North,
Central and South America are the builders of the Continental
Network of Indigenous Women of the Americas (CNIWA or ENLACE in
Spanish) that since its creation in 1993 has become an autonomous
space where indigenous women of North, Central and South America
exchange and share experiences and look for joint solutions to their
economic, cultural and social problems. The Network also works to
give visibility and voice to indigenous women in local, regional and
international organizations, and to affirm indigenous women’s rights
as well as acknowledge their historic contributions to the
development of the continent.
Hosted this year by the
Quebec Native Women, Inc., the 5th Meeting of CNIWA has
the objectives of promoting and strengthening healthy leadership and
organizing capacities, sharing spiritual wisdom and teachings to
address issues related to cultural identity and language, discussing
and sharing strategies to build strategic alliances among indigenous
women and to address the unique human rights challenges that
indigenous women face.
They also aim to design strategies to further empower indigenous
women at the local, national and international levels in the
struggles that they share with their peoples and the social and
political movements in the region. The participants will also look
at traditional and holistic approaches to addressing these
challenges with a special emphasis on physical, mental, spiritual
and emotional healing.
Themes to be addressed at
the meeting include indigenous women’s health and human rights
issues including mental health and violence against women, economic
development and entrepreneurship among indigenous women, indigenous
women’s research and policy analysis, leadership, and intellectual
property issues and traditional medicine.
Violence against women
occurs in all cultures, classes, races and nations, violence against
indigenous women is exacerbated by a history of colonization and
brutal domination, as well as poverty, discrimination, displacement,
cultural disintegration, and other crises that have hit indigenous
communities particularly hard. City on a Hill Press report
that 500 indigenous women iin Canada have been killed or disappeared
in the last 20 years, and in Guatemala, 2600 have been murdered or
disappeared since 2001.
Violence against
indigenous women was the focus of a 2006 report entitled, “Mairin
Iwanka Raya: Indigenous Women Stand Against Violence” written by
the FIMI (International Indigenous Women’s Forum) that served as a
companion report to the UN Secretary General’s study on violence
against women. Monica Alemán, coordinator of FIMI, told FIRE in an
interview that “Mairin Iwanka Raya” means “indigenous women standing
against violence” in her Misquito indigenous language in Nicaragua.
She told FIRE that for the FIMI report, researchers “collected
stories of indigenous women around the world and systematized them
based on the seven generation principle, meaning what is the impact
on seven generations to come.” She noted that the report represents
an effort to “change the paradigm of analyzing violence against
women” by taking a broader approach to the issue.
Alemán, who also works
with MADRE, a women’s human rights organization, said that the study
focuses on the impact of neoliberal economic policies as a form of
economic and environmental violence by contributing to poverty of
indigenous women, and to environmental destruction and piracy of
medicinal plants through patents. The report also identifies state
violence in the form of violations of indigenous women’s human
rights and community violence including intertribal conflicts, and
domestic violence.
The focus on human rights
of indigenous women at the Vth Continental Meeting stems from the
ongoing debate in the United Nations about the Declaration on the
Rights of Indigenous Populations. The Declaration, which has been
under discussion for 20 years, was strengthened during the Decade of
Indigenous Peoples from 1995-2004, but faces obstacles because of
the opposition of some governments that resist recognizing the
autonomous rights of indigenous peoples to their land.
Intellectual property
rights is another issue to be addressed at the Vth Continental
Meeting. Sonia Henriquez of Panama, and Tarcila Rivera of Peru
share the concerns of many indigenous peoples and social movements
around the world that with the excuse of protecting authors’
intellectual property rights there will be further patenting of
indigenous knowledge, plants and genetic material that are actually
the collective property of indigenous peoples.
For more information,
contact María Suárez of FIRE at:
maria@radiofeminista.net
For more information
about the Vth Continental Meeting go to:
http://www.faq-qnw.org/5conti/news.html
To follow FIRE’s coverage of the Vth Meeting of go to
www.radiofeminista.org/
(Spanish) or
www.radiofeminista.org/indexeng.htm
(English).
You may use FIRE information, audio files, and photos and give
credit to FIRE (www.radiofeminista.net)
Other sources & links:
“Violence Against Women
is Rampant Around the Globe,” City
on the Hill Press(http://www.cityonahillpress.com/article.php?id=739)
FIMI Report, “Mairin
Iwanka Raya: Indigenous Women Stand Against Violence” (http://www.indigenouswomensforum.org/intadvocacy/vaiwreport.html)
Quebec Native Women Inc.:
http://www.faq-qnw.org/
FIMI – International
Indigenous Women’s Forum (http://www.indigenouswomensforum.org/index.html)