UNECE Regional Review Meeting on Beijing+30
21-22 Oct 2024, Geneva
Below text is a statement by ONWA and CRIAW which was written - but not delivered - for the session "Item 7: Ending violence against women and girls in the ECE region". Learn more about the regional review here.
Thank you Chair.
Gagee Ge Be Kweg indigo, biizhew dodem, Kenora, On nindoonji
My name is Ingrid Green. I am here with the Ontario Native Women’s Association—the oldest and largest Indigenous women’s organization in Canada.
I am here amplifying the collective voices of almost 40 Indigenous women’s organizations and groups.
I would like to thank the Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women for supporting our participation – it is critical that Indigenous women’s voices are not silenced in this space, and that others do not speak for us.
ONWA and CRIAW work together and are part of a larger network of organizations committed to implementing the Beijing Declaration.
Despite the tireless grassroots efforts and advocacy from Indigenous women and our organizations, Indigenous women are still not safe, and our inherent rights continue to be violated
The discrimination we face, and the context in which it occurs, is different from that of non-Indigenous women.
Our experiences must be understood through the racism, sexism and discrimination we face both as women and as Indigenous peoples.
The violence and discrimination we experience is rooted in the legacy of colonialism and targeted, State-led assimilation policies, which severed Indigenous women from our identities, cultures, and communities.
States created these systems, and continue to fail to address them, placing the burden on Indigenous women to have to fight for our safety and our lives.
The rates of violence that Indigenous women continue to face today are directly linked to the patriarchal policies from colonization that have dismantled Indigenous women's leadership, roles, and responsibilities.
As a result, we face among the highest rates of violent victimization – for example in Canada:
Indigenous women are 3 times more likely than non-Indigenous women to have been a victim of a violent crime
Nearly two thirds of Indigenous women have experienced physical or sexual assault in their lifetimes.
And, Indigenous women and girls are 12 times more likely to go missing or be murdered than any other women.
We recommend that all States invest in Indigenous women’s safety by supporting Indigenous women’s organizations with long-term, core sustainable funding to continue to develop practical, tangible, and culturally grounded safety mechanisms. Indigenous women are the medicine needed to heal ourselves, our families, and our communities.
We are concerned to see that the Beijing Declaration of Indigenous Women has not been included in any discussion for this session.
Without engagement with, and solutions led by and for Indigenous women, we will continue to have our safety compromised.
The failure to adopt an approach to this regional review that is inclusive of Indigenous women is a fundamental barrier to the advancement of human rights in the UNECE region and around the world.
Indigenous women’s inherent right to participate in decision making on all issues that impact our lives must be upheld.
Miigwetch.