FAO Statement for the Interactive Discussion on the Empowerment of Indigenous Women

 

Mister Chair, Distinguished Delegates, Indigenous Women, Ladies and Gentlemen

 

On behalf of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), I would like to stress the importance of this dialogue today, addressing, for the first time, the empowerment of indigenous women as an emerging issue in the Commission on the Status of Women.

 

At the same time, let me say that FAO strongly supports the request from many indigenous organizations, and the recommendation made by the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues to consider the empowerment of indigenous women as a priority theme for one of the next sessions.

 

In the last two days, this commission has thoroughly discussed several issues related to women’s economic empowerment. This is even more problematic for indigenous women, who face a “triple discrimination” based on their ethnicity, socio-economic conditions and gender. In addition, indigenous women are even more frequently prevented from taking an active role in political activities and participating in decision making processes.

 

We should not forget that, for millennia, indigenous women have played a key role as bearers of traditional knowledge, in particular for food security and environmental conservation, and have given a fundamental social and economic contribution to the well-being of their communities, yet often this contribution is not recognized and their work is undervalued and unpaid.

 

Supporting indigenous women to empower themselves means setting the foundations for a better future in which they can take leading roles and advocate for the respect of their rights. This includes the right to Free, Prior and Informed Consent, enshrined in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, whose tenth year anniversary we are celebrating during 2017.

 

FAO considers indigenous women not as recipients of development assistance, but primarily as key partners in achieving its mandate of hunger eradication. Indigenous women can in fact play a critical role within their communities and in the overall achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. 

 

This will not be possible if indigenous women are not specifically targeted. They will both be affected by, and could contribute to, the achievement of many Sustainable Development Goals, and in particular, those related to SDG2 ending hunger and ensuring food security for all, and SDG5 gender equality as well as those SDGs related to access to resources, climate change, conservation of biodiversity and sustainable management of natural resources.

 

From the Arctic to the Amazonia, Indigenous women have always been the backbone of indigenous communities. They are not only the custodians of the biodiversity and the bearers of customs but the stewards of the indigenous food systems and carriers of traditional knowledge, culture and spirituality.

 

Today, in the face of climate change, their traditional knowledge has even more relevance, providing alternatives that deliver responses to the climate change challenge.

 

To ensure that “no one is left behind” in the SDG process from now until 2030, specific policies and programmes that address indigenous women’s needs have to be planned and implemented. Social protection schemes that strengthen indigenous women and facilitate their access to resources have to be put in place. Specific capacity development programmes should be carried out, giving the right value to the ancestral knowledge that indigenous women have.

 

Technical assistance and development activities in general are usually not conceived to target indigenous peoples, failing to reach remote communities; when they do, they often benefit only indigenous men, leaving indigenous women outside.

 

The lack of data, specific statistics, dedicated research and trained staff, makes designing indigenous-women-sensitive policies and protections schemes a daunting task. However, as a UN Organization devoted to eradicating food insecurity, malnutrition and poverty, FAO does not give up.

 

This is the spirit of the SDGs and their call to leaving no one behind.

 

Indeed, FAO has not only mainstreamed the Agenda 2030 in its Strategic Plan but we have been working on indigenous women’s empowerment and leadership since 2015.

 

Thanks to a partnership between FAO and the International Indigenous Women’s Fund (IIWF), more than 150 indigenous women have been trained in the National Leadership School for Indigenous Women in 7 countries in Latin America and Asia.  The leadership training includes specific modules on Human Rights; Women’s Rights; Indigenous Peoples’ Rights as well as Food Security and Nutrition; Free Prior and Informed Consent; Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure; and many other topics.

 

The training has provided indigenous women from different socio-cultural regions with skills, networks and advocacy strategies that strengthens their leadership capacities and empowers them, contributing to the improvement of their livelihoods, promoting social changes in their communities and influencing decision making processes.

 

It has been a very important learning process for all of us in FAO. Indeed, it has been a true exchange of knowledge and expertise.

 

In this process, we have realized that, without statistical data on indigenous women, it is very unlikely that resources and public policies for development will address their specific needs.

 

The collection of disaggregated data and statistics about indigenous women is essential in order to help them become more “visible”, identify the challenges they face and understand how those challenges can be tackled through better public policies and programmes.

 

Considering the empowerment of indigenous women as a priority theme during a future CSW session would, on one side, encourage the collection of disaggregated data and statistics to better understand the challenges that States are facing in relation to indigenous women, and on the other, foster studies to share successful examples of indigenous women’s empowerment at country level, thus helping countries in the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.

 

Chair, Distinguished Delegates,

 

The achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development cannot be accomplished without ensuring respect for the rights of Indigenous Women and proper consideration of their key role. Their spiritual wealth, traditional knowledge, their ability to live in harmony with their territories, their sustainable management of natural resources, and the diversity of their food systems are essential in the identification of strategies to reduce poverty and achieve gender equality.

 

FAO is fully committed to continue working on the empowerment of indigenous women to address the deep-rooted barriers that prevent indigenous women from becoming agents of change. We are determined to continue working to support some of the estimated more than 180 million indigenous women around the world.

 

Indeed, we have taken steps to organize in the coming months a High level meeting to analyse the situation of indigenous women in the Americas.

 

We would like to continue our sisterhood and collaboration with the IIWF and we invite other organizations, countries, resource partners and academia to join us in this evolving work with indigenous women.

 

Join us in Stepping Up for the empowerment of indigenous women, leaders of tomorrow!