PRESS RELEASE #8

San Juan, Puerto Rico, 28 of June. 
Women´s Press Team/RIF-FIRE (Margarita Melgar)

Indigenous women from throughout the Americas at the meeting of CEPAL today affirmed their rights and expressed their continued commitment to the original Platform for Action of the UN International Conference on Population and Development that was approved in Cairo in 1994. 

This Continental Network is comprised of several groups, including the Continental Network of Indigenous Women of the Americas, the International Forum of Indigenous Women, the Indigenous Initiative for Peace, and the group MADRE. 

Some of the issues discussed by the Continental Network at today´s CEPAL meeting in San Juan, Puerto Rico, refer to Cairo +10, which is the 10-year evaluation of progress since the original Cairo agenda was passed in 1994.  The indigenous women indicated that the 1994 Cairo Conference incorporated in the Program of Action a chapter on the rights of the indigenous peoples, in which the indigenous women of the continent felt included.  The women shared their hope to work toward improving their productive capacities, their personal relations, their reproductive and sexual health rights, and the environment, all within a framework in which their diversities provide potential and are not viewed as a problem. 

The indigenous women also noted that at the Cairo Conference in 1994, their governments signed commitments to the equity, justice and welfare of all women, which was reaffirmed in 1995 in Beijing at the UN World Conference on Women.  They had trusted that the application of the Programs of Action from Cairo and Beijing would improve life in their towns.  The women also credited the the UN World Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa, for approving recommendations to fight to eradicate racism, exclusion and discrimination. 

At the CEPAL meeting, the indigenous women declared that: “we come 10 years later to reaffirm our rights to our culture, to the collective care of the land, natural resources, biodiversity, knowledge, art, language, spirituality and the conservation of the environment.”

They noted that in spite of progress in the application of the Action Plan of Cairo in many countries, many indigenous towns including the women remain poor and are not visible in the statistics.  Indigenous women have the highest rates of maternal mortality, too many girls and adolescents die from early pregnancies, gender violence continues to be a serious problem, and many youths have turned to prostitution as a result of lack of hope or expectations for the future.  In addition, HIV/AIDS associated with migration is a reality in many communities.  Meanwhile, many natural resources are being appropriated by foreigners, without economic reparations to the communities, which only intensifies the extreme poverty.

They declared: “As indigenous women, integral to life, with respect for diversity and against every form of exclusion, we began in 1993 a process of building a continental network, understanding that organizating and empowerment are the basis to ensure validation of our rights.”

The Continental Network met in Lima, Peru in April of 2004, for their IV Continental Encuentro, which included 430 indigenous women of the three Americas.  At that event, as they integrated feeling with thought and action, learning to listen and getting others to listen, they formed a consensus on recommendations about various themes: reproductive and sexual health, poverty and the economy, political participation, traditional knowledge and biodiversity, and empowerment of the indigenous girls and women. 

Also at today´s CEPAL meeting, the indigenous women recommended that the Conference ratify the Statement of Santiago completed in March, which urges stronger efforts to ensure that regional and national plans emphasize the reduction of the poverty, gender equity, reproductive and sexual rights of women and adolescents, sustainable development,  socio-cultural diversity and indigenous rights.  All such measure should include mechanisms that ensure the participation of indigenous women in the design, implementation, and evaluation of policies and programs. 

Likewise, the indigenous women´s network recommended that governments, CEPAL and other United Nations agencies, recognize and prioritize attention to indigenous peoples and particularly women in their agendas for future years.  These agendas should  include resources for actions that include indigenous women´s participation and should also contribute to building equity and inclusion.  The network noted that only through such efforts will the Goals of the Millennium be reached. 

The indigenous women concluded their presentation before the assembly saying that: “10 years later, in this world convulsed by wars, moral disorder, social discontent and in a region characterized by inequality, we indigenous women, who are the generators of life, have come to tell them that we contribute to the consensus and commitments adopted and we will convert words into action.