Statement by Indigenous Peoples Network of Malaysia
On the occasion of International Women’s Day on 8th March
2016, the Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP) joins hands with women and men across
the globe in the spirit of solidarity in advancing gender equality and social
justice for all.
Women are the primary caregivers to children, elderly family members and the sick.
We also take this opportunity to acknowledge indigenous
women’s invaluable contributions and roles in community welfare and development
in all dimensions.
In most indigenous communities, it is the women who serve
as primary caregivers to children, elderly family members and the sick. It is
the women who are the holders and teachers of the traditional knowledge passed
down through generations.
It is indigenous women who are the main food producers
and managers of their natural resources and it is the women who have the
knowledge to strengthen their community’s resilience to the devastating effects
of climate change.
In Sarawak, Malaysia, Iban women are facing forced
evictions at the hands of the Malaysia Agricultural Research and Development
(MARDI).
The indigenous Iban women have lost their essential food
sources and raw materials that are needed to sustain their traditional
livelihoods. The dispossession of their
land is not only a deprivation of their right to land, but also the deprivation
of their only familiar means of survival,
culturally and physically.
.
On the occasion of International Women’s Day 2016, we
call upon States, civil society and indigenous communities to implement the following
recommendations, in order to ensure indigenous women’s rights to land and
resources are recognised:
1. Secure full and effective participation, including
equitable representation of indigenous women, in decision-making bodies and
processes that affect their rights as indigenous peoples and as women.
2. Implement measures for the legal recognition and
protection of the collective rights of Indigenous Peoples, including indigenous
women, over their lands territories and natural resources.
3. Recognize, protect and enhance the contributions and
roles of indigenous women in natural resource management, as well as ensuring
the equitable benefits and entitlements necessary to
their wellbeing.
4. Ensure effective grievance mechanisms that are
accessible to indigenous women at the local and national levels, including resolution
of all cases of Violence against Women and other human
rights violations.
5. Ensure the recognition and respect for rights to
property of indigenous women, as well as equal rights to employment opportunities,
benefits and culturally sensitive healthcare.
6. Wholly implement the Convention to Eliminate
Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and take all measures available to improve
the economic and social conditions of indigenous women.
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