PANEL ON INDIGENOUS WOMEN IN CONFLICT PREVENTION, PEACE-BUILDING AT HEADQUARTERS, 10 MARCH

Note to Correspondents

PANEL ON INDIGENOUS WOMEN IN CONFLICT PREVENTION,

PEACE-BUILDING AT HEADQUARTERS, 10 MARCH

A panel entitled “Participation of indigenous women in conflict prevention, conflict resolution and post-conflict peace-building” will be held at United Nations Headquarters on 10 March 2004 from 1:15 p.m. to 2:45 p.m. in Conference Room 2.  The panel has been organized by the Secretariat for the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, in cooperation with the Tribal Link Foundation, within the context of the 2004 session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women.

While the world's eyes have been focused on the Middle East, conflicts that affect indigenous peoples in Africa, Asia and Latin America have escalated.  These conflict areas are inhabited by indigenous peoples, and indigenous women are caught directly in the crossfire.  Militarization increases violations of the most fundamental human rights of indigenous peoples and causes the forced displacement of many from their ancestral homelands.

But indigenous women do not see themselves as passive victims and silent observers of conflict.  Indigenous women are not just hapless victims of war.  In war-torn societies, it is often the women who keep societies going.  Through the Manila Declaration on the International Conference on Conflict Resolution, Peace-Building, Sustainable Development and Indigenous Peoples (December 2000), indigenous peoples have emphasised that indigenous women must be integrated to seek positions at all levels of decision-making to restore the right of indigenous women to make choices about their lives and their families in times of war and of peace.

Unfathomable crimes affect indigenous peoples every day, including mass rape, trafficking, cannibalism, and conscription of child soldiers.  In some cases, indigenous peoples are forced to join guerrillas or paramilitary groups if they want to survive.  Spiralling conflict creates refugees and leads to displacements and devastation of traditional territories.  The people fall into famine and are deprived of their most fundamental human rights.

For example, Interpress service has reported that three indigenous Cofán women died in Ecuador in January 2004 from a toxic poisoning caused by the aerial fumigation of the illicit coca crops in the Colombian border area as a result of the so-called “Plan Colombia” war.  Toxins cause cancers and birth-defects and lands and waters become unusable.

It is time to consider a strong gender focus in conflict prevention and peace-building, and the United Nations system has made some efforts in this direction.  The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has, in places such as Guatemala, made gains in peace building by promoting multi-stakeholder participation and involving women as peace brokers not only because the number of woman-headed households usually increases during and after periods of strife, but also because women are effective at peace building.

During the panel of 10 March, indigenous women, as well as the other panelists, will discuss the validity of indigenous processes and systems for conflict prevention.  They will address the recognition and respect for the rights of all peoples and cultures, establishing intercultural and other relationships within the framework of plurality and mutual respect.

The panellists are Njuma Ekundanayo, Vice-Chairperson of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (Democratic Republic of the Congo); Stella Tamang, Chair of the International Indigenous Women’s Caucus (Nepal); and Carmen Jerez, Director of the Educational Network of Ambayata (Ecuador); the French presidency of the Security Council for the month of March, represented by Michel Duclos, Minister Plenipotentiary, Deputy Permanent Representative of France to the United Nations; and the Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Danilo Türk.  The panel will be chaired by Johan Schölvinck, Director of the Division of Social Policy and Development, Department of Economic and Social Affairs.

This panel is also a contribution to the special theme of the third session of the Permanent Forum which is devoted to indigenous women and will be held from 10 to 21 May 2004.

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