Every year on September 5th, the International Day of Indigenous Women is celebrated to advocate for the individual and collective rights of Indigenous women, their full and effective participation in decision-making processes, and the fundamental role they play in transmitting ancestral knowledge, cultural identity, native seeds, preserving biodiversity, and keeping Indigenous languages alive from generation to generation.
Within the framework of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), General Recommendation No. 39 on the rights of Indigenous women and girls was adopted. This recommendation is and will continue to be a fundamental pillar for the implementation of their economic, social, political, and cultural rights.
In paragraph 41, the Declaration of Belém calls for strengthening the leadership and participation of all women, Indigenous peoples, and youth in forums and decision-making spaces, deepening and building proposals that turn them into key actors in climate solutions, and creating an intersectional forum on gender, culture, ethnicity, and climate to contribute to the discussion on the development and implementation of public policies for adaptation and mitigation in the State Parties, in alignment with national plans.
Additionally, the RES/XIV MRE-OTCA/14 resolution, within the framework of the ACTO’s Amazon Regional Observatory (ORA), decided to create a rural women’s module for the Amazon, with an interactive data platform and other tools to inform the development of strategies, projects, programs, and public policies for women working in sustainable agricultural, forestry, and aquaculture activities, among other topics.
At #ACTO, we are committed to continue promoting the inclusion and full and effective participation of Indigenous Women.
According to UN Women, CEDAW, ratified by 189 member states, is the most important binding international instrument for promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women, and its implementation enables the effective fight against the discrimination, violence, and poverty that women face.
