MADRE Statements

International Indigenous Women's Forum (FIMI) highlighted in the UNPFII quarterly newsletter

Posted on: Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Keywords: Indigenous Rights, United Nations

The International Indigenous Women's Forum (FIMI), a MADRE partner organization, was highlighted in the March-July 2009 issue of The Message Stick, the newsletter of the Secretariat of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

Indigenous Women: The Permanent Forum reviews progress on recommendations

At its eighth session the Permanent Forum reviewed the implementation of relevant recommendations issued by the Permanent Forum throughout the course of its previous sessions.

Over the past seven years, recommendations made by the Permanent Forum regarding indigenous women have been addressed to States, UN agencies and bodies, indigenous peoples and civil society. Recommendations have reflected a large range of issues, including; education, culture, health, human rights, environment, development, conflict and political participation.
During the eighth session, a number of indigenous women’s organizations, including the International Indigenous Women’s Forum (FIMI), a network of Indigenous women leaders and organizations, convened side events to discuss the implementation of recommendations made during the past seven sessions as related to indigenous women.

At one such event, FIMI presented a report titled “Analysis and Follow Up of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues Recommendations Related to Indigenous Women.”2 The report outlines the recommendations adopted by the Permanent Forum during its seven sessions, presents a set of indicators to facilitate its monitoring, highlights advancements, identifies challenges and offers final recommendations. At the side event, panelists and participants agreed that the Permanent Forum has the possibility to play a key role in the integration of a gender perspective in its recommendations by mainstreaming specific issues, establishing mechanisms of participation and effective communication, planning a periodic evaluation of the implementation status of recommendations and supporting the elaboration of indicators for monitoring.

Earlier in the year, the analysis report that was prepared by the Secretariat assessed the implementation of the recommendations on the basis of reports submitted by UN agencies, intergovernmental organizations and States. It is noted that one of the key factors that contributed to the implementation of recommendations is the work of the Inter-Agency Support Group, a group of 30 agency members who share information and meet to strategize, cooperate and coordinate their activities.

At the side event organized by FIMI, it was also agreed by panelists and participants that United Nations agencies should take a step further than the already established Inter-Agency Support Group and develop interagency groups at the country level to coordinate actions and develop joint-programming, especially targeting Indigenous peoples and Indigenous women. Such country level interagency groups should also strengthen the capacity of the country-based Resident Coordinator office, especially with regard to relevant issues for Indigenous peoples including: interculturality; development with identity; free, prior and informed consent; self-determination, as well as international standards and principles.

On the review of indigenous women, the Permanent Forum made a number of follow-up recommendations. Continuing on from the observations made by both the Secretariat and the panelists and participants at the side event hosted by IIWF/FIMI, the Permanent Forum recommended that the Inter-Agency Support Group on Indigenous Peoples issues’ convene an international technical expert seminar on indicators of the well-being of indigenous peoples and the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Further, the Forum recommended that relevant United Nations bodies and agencies, States and indigenous peoples conduct assessments of the extent to which they have advanced the recommendations of the Forum on indigenous women, utilizing the framework of the Declaration as set out in the report provided by IIWF/FIMI. The Forum has called for immediate implementation of these recommendations.

Find a list of all UNPFII newsletters here.

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