Indigenous Women’s Program (IWP)
Amongst the 260 million Indigenous Peoples living in Asia, a safe estimate is that indigenous women make up 50% of this population.
The human rights of indigenous women, and their access to justice and remedies, are closely linked to their identity as indigenous peoples. Most of human rights violations faced by indigenous peoples are connected to their right to their land, territory and resources.
The Indigenous Women Programme of AIPP was established in 2010 as a means to promote indigenous women’s rights; encompassing capacity building activities for empowerment, advocacy and networking from the grassroots to the international level.
Indigenous Women [Facts]
According to UNFPII (UN 2019), discrimination is one of the factors contributing to Indigenous Women morbidity and mortality rates.
Indigenous women in low- and middle-income countries are less likely to be medically insured, due to historical circumstances related to colonial and neo colonial policies.
53.5 per cent of indigenous women in employment have no formal education (ILO 2019)
Indigenous women are significantly more likely to experience rape than non-indigenous women. It has been estimated that more than one in three indigenous women are raped during their lifetime.
See reports of the Special Rapporteur on Indigenous Issues and the reports of the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health.
Available at https://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/SP/Pages/Welcomepage.aspx
UN, 2019. UNFPII, Report on the eighteenth session, Economic and Social Council, E/C.19/2019/10.
Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, 2014, A/HRC/30/41
IWP focuses on
- Strengthening Indigenous women’s organisations, networks and alliances through institutional capacity building, exchange visits, and collective campaigns; For more information visit the NIWA page
- Assist member organisations to mainstream gender policies, practices and gender sensitive governance systems through technical assistance and orientation, gender survey and gender manual development;
- Strengthen and support advocacy and lobbying for Indigenous women’s rights including rights of Indigenous persons/people with disability (IPwD) at national, regional and global levels; and
- Research and documentation on women as repository of traditional knowledge and using these evidence-based documentations to lobby and advocate for women and women leaderships at all levels.