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Advancing Legal Protections
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Advancing Legal Protections

Imagine a world in which laws concerning Indigenous women and forest women were developed with their full and effective participation and consent. The drafting of the CEDAW General Recommendation 39, (GR 39) which aims to ensure that the rights of Indigenous women and girls are respected, gave us a glimpse into what that process could look like.

Context

With the adoption of CEDAW GR 39 and other gender-responsive documents like the Convention on Biological Diversity’s Gender Plan of Action, the Gender Programme is seeking to ensure their use and implementation across our programmes and the policy spaces we are engaged with. This work is in concert with other legal tools that support the reciprocal and intersecting nature of the rights of Indigenous women and forest women and their communities, peoples, and nations.

A new social pact between human beings is needed, where companies and States put the right and respect for the lives of indigenous peoples at the top of the global agenda. To do this, we must dialogue as brothers and sisters who recognize and respect the rights of those who defend life, the environment and the future of the new generation."

Marisol Garcia, president of the Federation of Kechwa Chazuta Amazonia Indigenous Peoples

Aims

The Gender Programme supports strategic advocacy at the international, regional, and national levels to advance the rights of indigenous peoples and forest peoples and women. Through this advocacy, we seek to secure legal protections for indigenous and forest women’s collective and individual rights and advance the integration of indigenous women and forest women’s rights into global action plans and policies.

Our Work

The work towards these aims includes:

  • Contributing to law and policy making processes that advance indigenous peoples’ and forest peoples’ and women’s rights
  • Analysing how recent advances made in policy have (or have not) effected change in the everyday lives of indigenous and forest women, through supporting partner-led monitoring at local and national levels. Where changes in law or policy have not led to changes on the ground, we support our partners to push for better implementation.
  • Sustaining ongoing engagement with international fora which can support the realisation of indigenous and forest women’s rights, including CEDAW, the Convention on Biological Diversity, UN Special Rapporteurs, and other relevant bodies.
  • Supporting actions towards gender justice within indigenous peoples traditional legal and governance systems, and community protocols and actions, as determined and led by indigenous women and peoples

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