On December 23, 1994, the UN General Assembly decided in a resolution 49/214 that the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples will be celebrated every year on 9 August. The date marks the first meeting of the United Nations Working Group on Indigenous Peoples in 1982.
In honor of this day, the role of indigenous women and the transmission of traditional knowledge is reflected.
Indigenous women are the backbone of indigenous communities and play a crucial role in preserving and passing on the traditional knowledge and principles of their ancestors. They have an integral collective and community role as custodians of natural resources and preservers of scientific knowledge. Many indigenous women are taking the lead in protecting indigenous lands and territories and advocating for the collective rights of indigenous peoples worldwide.
Despite the crucial role indigenous women play in their communities as breadwinners, caregivers, knowledge keepers, leaders and human rights defenders, they often suffer high levels of gender-based discrimination. class, ethnicity and socio-economic status.
Indigenous women suffer particularly high levels of poverty; low levels of education and illiteracy; limitations in access to health care, basic sanitation services, credit and employment; limited participation in political life; domestic and sexual violence. Furthermore, their right to self-determination, self-governance and control over resources and ancestral lands has been violated over the centuries.
Small but significant progress has been made by indigenous women in decision-making processes in some communities, achieving leadership positions in municipal and national roles and standing on the front lines of protests in defense of their lands and declining biodiversity on the planet. However, the reality remains that Indigenous women are significantly underrepresented, disproportionately negatively affected by decisions made on their behalf, and all too often the victims of multiple forms of discrimination and violence.
On this International Day of Indigenous Peoples, let us reclaim the role of these heroines.
Source: news.unabg.org