Item 9: Thematic discussion on Violence against Indigenous Women

Statement of The Indigenous Peoples Rights International-IPRI

Delivered by Beverly Jacobs, Board Member

Violence against Indigenous women has a distinct dimension based on the combination of our identity, our gender and low social and economic status resulting to multiple forms of discrimination, oppression and exploitation. In this context, addressing the violence against Indigenous women should take into account the indivisibility of our individual rights as Indigenous women and our collective rights as Indigenous peoples.

In this context, the Indigenous Peoples Rights International is addressing the additional dimension of violence against women which is their criminalization in asserting both their individual and collective rights. Many indigenous women as environment and human rights defenders experience different forms of violence including killings, torture, rape, intimidation when we defend our collective rights to our lands, territories and resources against exploitation and destruction by states and business. Likewise, there is hardly any access to justice and Indigenous women in incarceration also experience more discrimination. It is an urgent concern for states and the UN systems to put greater attention to the plight of Indigenous women as human rights and environment defenders and to fully acknowledge our role in the protection of our lands, territories and resources for the future generations.

IPRI also wish to draw the attention of EMRIP to our serious concerns about violence and crisis on the murdered and missing Indigenous women in Canada.  “According to a report published in 2022, Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people are still experiencing alarming rates of violence and are over-represented as victims of crime. More than six in ten (63%) Indigenous women have experienced physical or sexual violence in their lifetime (compared to 45% of non-Indigenous women). The homicide rate is over five times higher for Indigenous women as compared to non-Indigenous women. Further, it has been found that Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people are 12 times more likely to be missing or murdered than non-Indigenous women, although the exact number is unknown as thousands of these deaths or disappearances have been unreported or misreported.”^[1]

We therefore call on the EMRIP to urge states to adopt measures for the protection of the individual and collective rights of indigenous women against all forms of violence and ensure access to justice to victims of VAW in law and practice.

[1]National Action Plan, 2022 Progress Report on the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ People National Action Plan https://4c3tru4erdnui9g3ggftji1d-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/NAP-progress-report-2022-1.pdf  *citations omitted