Title of paper:
‘International Human Rights and Indigenous Women: How the UNDRIP and CEDAW Can Help Reclaim our “Stolen Sisters”’
Abstract:
Women’s rights have been formally codified as human rights in the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), which has the status of a binding treaty. Indigenous peoples’ human rights have been codified in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), which, unlike CEDAW, is not a binding treaty. Notwithstanding the adoption of these two key international human rights instruments, Indigenous women’s rights remain a contentious and often neglected issue at both international and domestic levels, including within Indigenous communities themselves. Arguably, this is a result of the fact that historically Indigenous movements have emphasized the centrality of cultural and collective rights, such as autonomous self-government, control over territory and natural resources, and preservation of cultural traditions, religions and languages. These movements have argued that the bias toward individual rights reflected in national constitutions and international human rights conventions has contributed to the demise of Indigenous communities and ways of life. In fact, collective rights are oftentimes unthinkable within the limits imposed by the liberal discourse of individual rights. This perspective is incompatible, however, with many Indigenous women’s own theorization of their rights, which emphasizes the collective rights of their people and their individual rights as women. What is the place of Indigenous women within the international human rights framework? Can a human rights paradigm oriented around a liberal conception of individual rights be used to promote the collective rights of Indigenous peoples? What are the limitations of dominant notions of gender when applied to the actualities of Indigenous women? Is it possible to speak of Indigenous women’s rights and simultaneously be loyal to the struggle of a people as a whole? This presentation will speak to the norms articulated in international instruments that could be used to protect Indigenous women and the difficulties associated with using international human rights instruments to address the human rights issues of Indigenous women.