#WCIP2014 IASG - thematic paper violence against girls and women rev1

ELIMINATION AND RESPONSES
TO VIOLENCE, EXPLOITATION
AND ABUSE OF INDIGENOUS
GIRLS, ADOLESCENTS AND
YOUNG WOMEN
INTER-AGENCY
SUPPORT GROUP
ON INDIGENOUS
PEOPLES’ ISSUES
THEMATIC PAPER towards
the preparation of the
2014 World Conference on
Indigenous Peoples
JUNE 2014

Thematic Paper on the Elimination and Responses to Violence, Exploitation and Abuse
of Indigenous Girls, Adolescents and Young Women
The United Nations Inter-Agency Support Group (IASG) on Indigenous Issues aims to strengthen
cooperation and coordination among UN agencies, funds, entities and programmes on indigenous
peoples’ issues and to support the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. It also seeks to
promote the effective participation of indigenous peoples in relevant international processes.
At its annual meeting held in October 2013, the IASG decided to develop a set of collaborative
thematic papers to serve as background information and analysis on key issues to contribute to the
process and preparations for the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples.
The preparation of each paper was led by one or more agencies with inputs from other IASG
members. The papers do not present or represent formal, official UN policy positions. Rather, they
reflect the collective efforts of the Inter-Agency Support Group to highlight selected key issues and to
provide substantive materials to inform the Conference, with a view to contributing to the realization
of the rights of indigenous peoples.
*The chair of the IASG rotates annually amongst the participating agencies. The Support Group has
been chaired by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) until the end of the 13th session of
the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in May 2014. The Office of the High Commissioner for
Human Rights (OHCHR) is currently holding the chair of the Group. The Secretariat of the
Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues acts as co-chair of the Support Group.

Contents
Key messages ............................................................................................................................ 1
Summary .................................................................................................................................... 3
Background and Analysis: Findings of the Study ....................................................................... 4
Looking ahead .......................................................................................................................... 11
Good practice resources .......................................................................................................... 12

1
Key messages
1. Violence against women and girls is a universal, unacceptable
phenomenon, carrying grave consequences on victims and society
Although limited, evidence gathered to date, on the risk factors and different manifestations of
violence against indigenous women and girls must influence global agenda setting milestones,
in particular the 2014 World Conference on Indigenous Peoples and the post 2015 development
framework. Violence against women and girls is globally recognized as a form of gender based
discrimination deeply rooted in values of unequal power relations between males and females.
The United Nations Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women is protective of
females of all ages. It defines violence against women as “any act of gender-based violence that
results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or mental harm or suffering to women,
including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in
public or in private life”.1 Its impact ranges from immediate to long-term multiple physical, sexual
and psychological consequences on victims as well as tremendous setback to socio-economic
development. In its different manifestations —physical, sexual, psychological and economic, the
most common forms include domestic violence, (including intimate partner violence) harmful
practices, femicide, sexual harassment, sexual violence in conflict, attacks on human rights
defenders, forced pregnancy and forced abortion.
2. Indigenous women and girls suffer discrimination and exclusion based on
their multiple identities, including membership of a wider group that is
perennially confronted with violations of their right to self-determination
Indigenous women and girl’s experiences of violence is closely linked to the history of
colonization, poverty and exclusion of their wider communities – best contextualized in terms of
the intersections of race, ethnicity, disability, age, sex and location and mutually reinforcing
forms of inequalities. These conditions ensure that they do not benefit to the same extent as
their non-indigenous counterparts from services which would otherwise protect them from
violence and enhance their ability to seek redress when it does occur.2
The United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII), the Special Rapporteur
on the rights of Indigenous peoples and the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous
Peoples have consistently documented the adverse impacts of loss of rights over lands,
territories, resources and self-determination over development priorities on the implementation
of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. While infrastructural
1 See the United Nations Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women, A/RES/48/104.
2 See Social Justice? The challenge of intersecting inequalities, UNDP, New York, 2010; United Nations,
State of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, New York, 2009; Hall, Gillette H. and Harry Anthony Patrinos, eds., Indigenous Peoples,
Poverty and Development, Cambridge University Press, New York, 2012.

development is a fundamental necessity for the fulfilment of economic, social and cultural rights,
as well as civil and political rights of all citizens, when such processes take place on the
ancestral lands of indigenous peoples without their “free, prior and informed consent” and
adequate compensation, the consequences are an erosion of these rights. Displacement, loss
of livelihoods, forced migration and relocation increase the risk of trafficking and, economic and
sexual exploitation. Indigenous girls and women are also at risk of violence in communities
where intra-communal and inter-communal conflicts have arisen, as well as in those that
conform to deeply-rooted patriarchal systems and practices that relegate women and girls to
subordinate roles and positions in society. The protective environments afforded by both
families and communities generally break down in circumstances of displacement, loss of
livelihoods, forced migration and relocation.
3. Violence impedes the critical role that indigenous women and girls play as
actors in the sustainable development of their communities
Indigenous women and girls possess both individual and collective rights. They contribute to the
strength, resilience and maintenance of community vitality and wellbeing – playing essential
roles as keepers of cultural identity, traditional guardians of the natural environment.3 A violation
of their human rights therefore constitutes a violation of the sanctity of the ecological, spiritual
and cultural identity of indigenous peoples as whole. The indigenous women’s movement
therefore consistently advocates for measures which are culturally, spiritually and historically
relevant to their experiences.
4. Strategies to prevent and respond to violence against indigenous women
and girls must be comprehensive, effective and relevant to their context
Research and empirical evidence show that successful prevention and response to violence
against women and girls are more sustainable if they form part of comprehensive and multi-sectoral
interventions. Attracting representation from the seven socio-cultural regions of the
world, the recent Peru Global Conference of Indigenous Women (2013), called for an end to
violence against indigenous women in all settings through the design and implementation of
culturally relevant legal frameworks and policies and the effectiveness of institutional
frameworks to address structural and underlying causes and risk factors including the
prevalence of impunity in many countries. These must be accompanied by investments in
research and data collection (qualitative and quantitative), culturally relevant monitoring and
evaluation, respect for indigenous peoples rights to self-determination, the maintenance of their
cultures, lands, territories and resources, the full operationalization of free, prior and informed
consent; and access to formal and informal systems of justice in line with the United Nations
Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
3 Capobianco, L (2010). Community Safety and Indigenous Peoples: Sharing Knowledge, Insights and Action. Montreal:
International Centre for the Prevention of Crime.
2

3
Summary
The two United Nations Secretary General’s global studies on violence against children and
violence against women, respectively underscore the universality of violence.4 Responding to
the recommendations of these studies, the UNPFII requested the UN system to undertake a
specific study on violence against indigenous girls and women at its fifth session in 2006.5
That study was informed by a progressively evolving normative framework, consisting of the
Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women, the Convention on
the Rights of the Child, the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women and
intergovernmental processes and mandates such as those of the Commission of Status of
Women, the Human Rights Council and the Special Representative of the Secretary General on
Violence Against Children and the Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples.
Three critical challenges associated with research on violence against indigenous women and
girls identified by the study point firstly, to the implications of government discretion over the
analyse and reporting of data by ethnicity as is the case with Demographic and Health Surveys
(DHS) and Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) which administer elective modules on
specific aspects of violence (e.g. Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting, child marriage and domestic
violence); secondly, significant sampling is limited in countries where indigenous peoples are
spatially scattered (e.g. Nepal) and small in size (e.g. Burundi), in contrast to countries such as
Bolivia, India, Kenya, Philippines and Viet Nam where there are larger concentrations of
indigenous peoples in specific administrative regions as a result of which household surveys are
able to capture data with a greater degree of precision; and thirdly, while qualitative data play an
important role in filling data gaps, such data tend to be patchy and therefore do not offer
comprehensive and cohesive detail of the situation of the groups that were studied.
Africa, Latin America and the Asia Pacific were selected for study on the basis of UNPFII
findings of significant gaps in data in relation to indigenous women and girls in these regions, in
contrast to more emergent literature on Europe, North America and the Pacific (i.e. Australia
and New Zealand). It finds that paying specific attention to risk factors for violence is essential
because when they accumulate and overlap – as they often do in the case of indigenous girls
and women – they not only contribute to underlying causes of violence but also mitigate the
protective factors that typically prevent or reduce the likelihood of its occurrence. Within this
context, it identifies six risk factors – (1) gender inequality and discrimination; (2) customary and
statutory standards on the minimum age of marriage; (3) poverty, exclusion and limited access
to services; (4) the impact of stigma and discrimination on access to and quality of services; (5)
the lack of legal recognition and identity; and (6) dispossession from ancestral lands that tend to
4 United Nations General Assembly, United Nations Secretary-General’s Study on Violence against Children, United Nations, New
York, 2006; United Nations General Assembly, In-depth Study on all forms of Violence against Women: Report of the Secretary-
General, United Nations, New York, 2006.
5 The study was undertaken by UN Women, UNICEF, UNFPA, ILO and the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-
General on Violence against Children.

overlap and increase the likelihood of violence occurring in the lives of indigenous women and
girls.
Background and Analysis: Findings of the study
4
Introduction
The study’s access to limited reliable data across a few countries implied that its outcomes can
only be used for illustrative purposes rather than for generalising the situation in the regions that
were studied. While the categories of violence against women and girls are wide in scope, it
succeeded in locating relevant data in only four broad areas of violence, exploitation and abuse,
namely (1) domestic violence; (2) harmful practices; (3) economic exploitation, sexual abuse,
sexual exploitation and other forms of sexual violence, including in public settings; (4) and
gender-based violence in situations of armed violence, insecurity and communal conflicts.
Based on three reasons advanced above, reliable sources of information on these forms of
violence emerged mainly from countries in which indigenous peoples are concentrated in
specific localities (e.g. Bolivia, India, Kenya, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Myanmar,
Philippines and Viet Nam) and data has been analysed and reported by sex, age, locality and
ethnicity.6 The following findings in each of the four clusters point to a mix of results and
particularly highlight how the situation of indigenous women and girls compares with the rest of
the population:
Domestic violence
Data from Bolivia (Plurinational State of) (2008), India (2005-2006), and the Philippines (2008)
provide illustrative findings on domestic violence across different age groups. In Bolivia, the
departments of Chuquisaca, Cochabamba, La Paz, Potosí and Oruro possess the highest
concentration of indigenous peoples who constitute 62 per cent of the population.7 Its DHS data
show that Potosi records the highest prevalence of ever-married girls and women aged 15-49
reporting physical or sexual violence by a current or former partner (29 per cent) compared to
the national average of 24 per cent. In relation to psychological violence by a current or former
partner however, Chuquisaca records the same prevalence (38 per cent) as the national
average and is lower than Santa Cruz, a more cosmopolitan department which records a
prevalence rate of 41 per cent.8 The 2005-2006 DHS of India finds that 47 per cent of ever-married
girls and women aged 15-49 belonging to Scheduled Tribes have experienced
6 See Breaking the Silence on Violence against Indigenous Girls, Adolescents and Young Women: A Call to Action Based on an
Overview of Existing Evidence From Africa, Asia Pacific and Latin America, 2013.
7 International Labour Organization, ‘Bolivia’, <ilo.org/indigenous/Activitiesbyregion/LatinAmerica/Bolivia/lang--en/index.htm>,
accessed 14 May 2013.
8 Ibid.

emotional, physical, or sexual violence committed by their husband, compared to 40 per cent of
the total population.9 In addition, 16 per cent of ever-married girls and women aged 15-49 who
belong to a Scheduled Tribe report that their husband has displayed three or more ‘control
behaviours’, compared to 12 per cent of the total population.10 The predominantly indigenous
state of Arunachal Pradesh has the highest percentage of ever-married girls and women aged
15-49 who have ever experienced different forms of spousal violence: physical or sexual (39 per
cent) and emotional, physical or sexual (43 per cent) violence and ranks higher than the
experience of girls and women of the same age in the total population—at 37 per cent and 40
per cent, respectively.11
The National Commission on Indigenous Peoples of the Philippines estimates that 61 per cent
of indigenous peoples live in Mindanao, which consists of six administrative regions (the
Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao, Caraga, Davao, Northern Mindanao,
SOCCSKSARGEN and Zamboanga peninsula).12 Mindanao generally reports higher
percentages of ever-married girls and women aged 15-49 whose husbands have ever exhibited
selected types of controlling behaviours, by background characteristics, compared to the total
population.13 In Caraga of Mindanao 17 per cent of women indicate that their husbands display
3 or more specific behaviours as do 13 per cent in Northern Mindanao, Davao and
SOCCSKSARGEN compared to 10 per cent of the total population.14
Harmful practices
In plural legal systems, the simultaneous existence and operation of national legislation,
customary and/or religious laws often lead to tensions and complications in the implementation
of the rights of women and girls. In this research, the area found to be most extensively
documented in relation to indigenous women and girls was child marriage and to a lesser extent
FGM/C – both with inherent other violence-related and attendant reproductive health
consequences. In Viet Nam, the 8 per cent of adolescents aged 15–19 years who are currently
married or are in a union nationally increases with lower levels of education and by localities
populated by ethnic minority groups. In the Northern Midland and Mountain regions, the
percentage of currently married 15-19-year-old adolescents is the highest, standing at 17 and
11 per cent, respectively.15 Similarly, while nationally, 12 per cent of women in the age group
20–49 were married by the age of 18, among those located in Northern Midland and Mountain
areas, the prevalence rate was 19 per cent.16In Myanmar, where 7 per cent of adolescents aged
15-19 are married nationally, the highest rates are found among the Shan indigenous group.
Twenty-two (22) per cent or one in every five females is found in the largely indigenous
9 International Institute for Population Sciences and Macro International, National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3), 2005–06: India:
Volume I, IIPS, Mumbai, 2007, p. 510.
10 Ibid. p. 506.
11 Ibid. p. 519.
12 National Commission on Indigenous Peoples: http://www.ncip.gov.ph/indigenous-peoples-of-the-philippines.html.
13 National Statistics Office, Philippines National Demographic and Health Survey 2008, p. 211.
14 Source: Philippines National Demographic and Health Survey 2008: Key Findings, p. 212.
15 General Statistics Office of Viet Nam, Viet Nam Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey 2011, Final Report, 2011, p. 179.
16 Ibid.
5

populated areas of Shan (East), followed by Shan (North) and Shan (South) at 14 per cent and
11 per cent, respectively.17
The Global Campaign to Stop Violence against Women finds that child marriage in the
indigenous-dominated Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) of the Philippines is
largely influenced by the Muslim Code, which sets the minimum age of marriage of both males
and females at 15 years and also confers powers on sharia district courts to sanction the
marriage of a girl who has attained puberty.18 A total of 593 respondents from five provinces in
ARMM who were younger than 18 at marriage when surveyed by Nisa Ul-Haqq Fi Bangsamoro,
and NGO, showed that 83 per cent were aged 15-17, while 17 per cent were aged 9-14. The
ages of the respondents’ husbands ranged between 11-59 years, and 57 per cent were
between 17 and 21 at the time of marriage.19 The ARMM also has the lowest median age at first
marriage and first sexual intercourse (both 19 years) among women aged 25-29, compared to
22 and 21 years respectively for the country’s general population.20
In India, there is a strong correlation between the low median age at first marriage and other
reproductive concerns of Scheduled Tribe girls and women. For example, the percentage of
Scheduled Tribe adolescents and young women aged 15-24 and 18-24 who had sexual
intercourse before 15 and 18 years, are 14 per cent and 50 per cent, respectively. This
contrasts with the total population of 10 per cent and 40 per cent for the same age groups on
the one hand and for Scheduled Tribal men: 4 per cent and 19 per cent on the other. The data
also shows that Scheduled Tribe girls and young women aged 15-24 are less likely (10 per
cent) to have used a condom at the last higher-risk intercourse compared to Tribal males (22
per cent) and the total population of females (22 per cent) and males (26 per cent) of the same
age group.21
Common place harmful myths about specific forms of violence (e.g. wife-beating and rape),
many of which accord blame to women and girls for such crimes committed against them, are
also documented on Africa. 22 Such myths not only perpetuate violence but also justify its
occurrence and negate possibilities for seeking justice. In the Democratic Republic of the
Congo there is a prevailing myth that sex with a Pygmy woman, imbued with mythical qualities,
can cure illness (including HIV).23 Studies on the Great Lakes region similarly document
prevailing myths that associate a cure of backaches with sexual relations with Batwa and Twa
17 See International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs, The Indigenous World, Denmark, 2012, p. 325 for a full description of
indigenous peoples in Myanmar. The data on child marriage is taken from the Myanmar Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey 2009 –
2010, p. 50.
18 The Global Campaign to Stop Violence against Women in the Name of Culture. Philippines: Early Marriage of Muslim Girls-Risks,
2010.
19 Nisa Ul-Haqq Fi Bangsamoro. Determinants and Impact of Early Marriage on Moro Women, 2009.
20 National Statistics Office, Philippines National Demographic and Health Survey 2008, pp. 73-75.
21 Ibid. pp 368-374.
22Myths justifying violence against women and girls are common in both indigenous and non-indigenous contexts. For example
“rape myths” are perpetuated in different societies in Latin America and the Caribbean, see Contreras, Juan Manuel, et al., Sexual
violence in Latin America and the Caribbean: A desk review, Sexual Violence Research Initiative, 2010, p. 41.
23 Overview Report of the Research Project on the Constitutional and Legislative Protection of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in
24 African Countries, p. 134.
6

women.24 In Namibia, San women are believed to be “generally sexually available and, when
assaulted, do not ‘feel’ raped.”25
In Kenya, DHS data from 1998, 2003 and 2008-2009 show a decline in the national prevalence
of girls and women aged 15-49 years who have undergone FGM/C in the country (38 per cent
by 1998, 32 per cent by 2003 and 27 per cent by 2008-2009).26 The most current data
demonstrates a higher prevalence of the practice among rural groups (31 per cent) than urban
groups (17 per cent) and with regard to ethnicity, FGM/C is far more prevalent among the
Somali (98 per cent), the Kisii (96 per cent), and the Maasai (73 per cent) and least common
among the Luo and Luhya women.27
Economic exploitation, sexual abuse, sexual exploitation, and other forms of sexual violence
Within the broad array of literature on economic exploitation, sexual abuse, sexual exploitation,
and other forms of sexual violence, the study finds that disaggregation by both sex and ethnicity
are rare, and references to indigenous girls and women are made in sectors that engage young
people in bonded labour, forced labour, domestic labour, human trafficking, in which they are
also at risk of being sold.
A 2003 ILO/IPEC baseline survey undertaken in Nepal among male and female short and long
route child porters found that the majority of the more than 5,000 respondents interviewed
comprised of ethnic groups who identify themselves as indigenous (e.g. Tamang, Rai and
Tharuin). It found that the maximum weight carried by female short-route porters was as high as
50 kilograms, while for long distance routes it ranged between 20 and 30 kilograms and
required carrying the weight for a period of one of more hours.28 While trafficking affects many
castes and ethnic groups in Nepal, an assessment undertaken by the ILO found that those most
at risk are members of the hill ethnic groups and lower castes.29 It finds that among girls who
are victims of trafficking, 28 per cent are Tamang.30 Additionally, roughly 70 per cent of persons
trafficked from Nepal to India on an annual basis are girls under the age of 16 from ethnic
minority groups such as Tamang, Gurung, Magar, and Sherpa, located in remote hill villages or
impoverished border communities.31
24 Ramsay, K. Uncounted: the hidden lives of Batwa women. Minority Rights Group International, 2010, p. 2; Jackson, Dorothy, Twa
women, Twa rights in the Great Lakes region of Africa, London, Minority Rights Group International, 2003, p.13.
25 Sylvain, Renee, At the Intersections: San women and the rights of indigenous peoples in Africa, International Journal of Human
Rights, vol. 15, no. 1, January 2011, p. 99.
26 Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2008-2009, p. 264. It must, however, be noted that
the 1998 findings, as presented in the report are not fully comparable with the findings from the 2003 and 2008-2009 reports, as the
sample in 1998 did not include the regions with the Somali population where FGM/C is most common. In this sense, the prevalence
was likely to be higher in 1998. Also see Feed the Minds, Female Genital Mutilation Practices in Kenya: The Role of Alternative
Rites of Passage: A Case Study of Kisii and Kuria Districts, London, 2011, p. 4.
27 Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2008-2009, p. 265.
28 International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour, Child Porters in Nepal: A Report on the 2002 Baseline Survey.
Compiled by Catalla, R.F. and Catalla, T., 2003, p. 42.
29 Kumar KC, Bal, Govind Subedi Yogendra Bahadur Gurung, Keshab Prasad Adhikari, Investigating the Worst Forms of Child
Labour No. 2: Nepal Trafficking in Girls with Special Reference to Prostitution – A rapid assessment, ILO/IPEC, Geneva, 2001.
30 Ibid.
31 Kumar KC, Bal, Govind Subedi Yogendra Bahadur Gurung, Keshab Prasad Adhikari, Nepal Trafficking in Girls with Special
Reference to Prostitution: A Rapid Assessment, ILO/IPEC, Geneva, 2001, p. 17.
7

Countries of the Asia Pacific serve as one or a combination of origin, transit or destination points
for child trafficking. Indigenous girls and young women throughout the Mekong region
(commonly known as hill tribes), are found to be especially vulnerable to trafficking for sexual
exploitation.32 The sale of indigenous girls for purposes of trafficking as well as debt bondage
has been documented in Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Myanmar, Taiwan Province of China and
Thailand.33 Girls aged 12-16 years from hill tribes in Thailand’s north and north-east for
example, make up most of the victims of internal trafficking, particularly for sexual exploitation. 34
Victims are usually lured by the promise of a better life, but are soon forgotten due to the social
stigma attached to victims of trafficking.35
ILO/IPEC finds that the steady decline in child labour in Latin America is not reflected among
indigenous communities and therefore remains a serious concern.36 Forced labour in the region
is closely linked to patterns of inequality and discrimination, especially against indigenous
peoples.37 The country mission of the UNPFII to the Plurinational State of Bolivia in 2009 found
evidence of sexual abuse of Guaraní girls while serving in homes of landowners.38In that same
year, the Committee on the Rights of the Child expressed concern that the abuse of Guarani
girls of the same country was increasing due to the absence of data to monitor prosecutions and
convictions for such crimes.39
Using data by locality, sex, age and ethnicity, the findings from aggregated data by locality, sex,
age and ethnicity in a 2010 survey supported by the Bolivia National Statistics Institute and
ILO/IPEC finds that participation rates of males and female indigenous children and adolescents
in hazardous employment is more pronounced compared to their non-indigenous counterparts
in both urban and rural areas. Based on figures for the age group of between 5-17 years it
suggests that 29 per cent of male and 24 per cent of female children and adolescents of
indigenous background in urban areas are in these forms of employment, compared with 16 per
cent and 14 per cent of their non-indigenous peers, respectively. At rural level, although the
rates for both indigenous and non-indigenous groups increase sharply (82 per cent of males
and 79 per cent of females in respect of those of indigenous background and 54 per cent and
46 per cent for those who are non-indigenous), those for the former remain significantly higher.
Furthermore, in all cases, the data shows that the participation rate of indigenous girls and
adolescents is consistently higher than that of non-indigenous males, non-indigenous females
and in some instances, exceeds that of indigenous boys and adolescents.40
32 Larsen, Peter, Indigenous and tribal children: assessing child labour and education challenges, Geneva, 2003; International
Labour Organization, pp. 1, 28.
33 Ibid.
34United Nations Children’s Fund, Children on the Edge. Protecting children from sexual exploitation and trafficking, UNICEF,
Bangkok, 2002, p.36.
35 Ibid p. 23, 28.
36 International Labour Organisation and International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour, IPEC action against child
labour 2010-2011: Progress and future priorities, ILO/IPEC, Geneva, Switzerland, 2010, p. 4.
37 International Labour Organization, The Cost of Coercion: Regional Perspectives, 2009, p. 1.
38 United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. Mission Report to Bolivia, UNPFII, 2009, p. 20.
39 United Nation Committee on the Rights of the Child, Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under article 44 of the
Convention, Concluding Observations: The Plurinational State of Bolivia, paras. 73-77.
40 Organización Internacional del Trabajo, Instituto Nacional de Estadística de Bolivia. Magnitud y Características del Trabajo Infantil
en Bolivia – Informe nacional 2010, La Paz, p. 76.
8

The shadow report of the United Organisation for Batwa Development in Uganda to the
Committee on the Elimination of Discriminations against Women details under-payment, forced
labour, sexual and physical abuse of Batwa women and girls when working on the lands of
dominant groups in Uganda.41 Similar situations pertain in Namibia, where the Working Group
on Indigenous Populations/Communities of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’
Rights learned of sexual abuse of indigenous girls in domestic work settings for which there had
been police inaction even after the incidents had been reported.42 Recruitment for domestic
labour of San girls and adolescents by non-San families in Namibia is sometimes disguised as
adoption, often leading to trafficking to other parts of the country.43 In all cases, the data shows
that the participation rate of indigenous girls and adolescents is consistently higher than that of
non-indigenous males, non-indigenous females and in some instances, exceeds that of
indigenous boys and adolescents.
Gender-based violence in situations of armed violence, insecurity and communal conflicts
General insecurity facing a country or community may serve as a potential risk factor for
violence, as it is often symptomatic of a breakdown of the rule of law and the systems
established to prevent and respond to violence. Gender motivated killings or femicides
emerging from the contexts of insecurity in Latin America is particularly critical for indigenous
women and girls. Indigenous women and girls have been victims of gender-based violence in
conflicts in countries such as Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua and Peru.44 The
Rapporteur on the rights of women of the Inter American Commission on Human Rights notes
that the situation of indigenous women and girls is particularly critical in the context of armed
conflict, given that they are victims of multiple forms of discrimination on the basis of race, age,
ethnicity and gender.45 During a visit to Colombia, the Rapporteur received complaints about the
use of indigenous women and girls as ‘spoils of war’ by armed actors and verified that they had
often been victims of sexual violence perpetrated by these groups. She also found that armed
groups occupying indigenous lands “had kidnapped indigenous women, collectively used them
sexually and abandoned them with impunity,” while young girls were forced to perform domestic
duties.46
The Women, Law and Development Asia Pacific Forum in 2008 on ending violence against
indigenous women – held in consultation with the United Nations Special Rapporteur on
violence against women, its causes and consequences and the United Nations Special
41 United Organisation for Batwa Development in Uganda and Forest Peoples Program, Batwa Women in Uganda: Disproportionate
human rights violations, UOBDU/FPP, 2010, p. 12.
42 African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights and International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs, Report of the African
Commission’s Working Group on Indigenous Populations/Communities: Mission to the Republic of Namibia, Copenhagen, 2005, p.
99.
43 Sylvain, Renee, At the Intersections: San women and the rights of indigenous peoples in Africa, International Journal of Human
Rights, vol. 15, no. 1, January 2011, pp. 89-110.
44 Bastick, Megan, Karin Grimm, Rahel Kunz, Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict: Global Overview and Implications for the Security
Sector, Geneva Centre for Democratic Control of Armed Forces, Geneva, 2007, pp. 72-84. Also see Leiby, Michele, Wartime Sexual
Violence in Guatemala and Peru. International Studies Quarterly, 2009 vol. 53, pp. 445-468.
45 Organization of American States, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Access to Justice: For Women of Victims of
Violence in the Americas, Washington, 2007, p. 5.
46 Organization of American States, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, ‘Violence and Discrimination against Women in
the Armed Conflict in Colombia’, <www.cidh.org/countryrep/colombiamujeres06eng/IV.htm>, accessed 13 May 2013.
9

Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples – assessed that forced dispossession from
ancestral lands leads to a number of actions and consequences which potentially results in
violence against women and girls. Primarily as a result of the expropriation of lands by both
public and private entities leading to resistance from indigenous communities over the last
decade, many indigenous communities in countries of the Asia Pacific region such as Fiji, India,
Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand and Timor-Leste continue to witness increased armed conflict,
political instability and militarization. In a number of these countries (e.g. Fiji, Myanmar, Papua
New Guinea and the Philippines), research finds that armed groups used rape as a tool of war
to terrorize indigenous communities.47 The Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous
peoples found evidence of numerous cases of gang-rape, sexual enslavement and killing of
tribal women and girls in a number of countries and was concerned that these acts had not
been investigated and prosecuted.
Situations of inter-communal and intra-communal conflicts involving indigenous communities in
Africa appear much more documented. Such conflicts tend to be common among and between
the Pokot, Turkana, Marakwet and Samburu of Kenya over issues such as diminishing water
resources for animal grazing and worsening climatic conditions leading to competing access for
land.48 Cross-border conflicts have also erupted between pastoralist communities located along
borderlands linking Kenya (Turkana and Pokot), south Sudan (Topsa) and Uganda
(Karimojong).49 Another source notes long standing and prevalent inter-clan and inter-ethnic
conflicts between the Gurgura and Issa clans of the Erer district of the Somali region of Ethiopia
for similar reasons and resulting consequences for women and girls.50Identical contexts and
situations have also emerged among the Tuareg, Bororo, Wodaabe and the Toubou pastoralists
of Niger; the Basarwa of Botswana; the Bagyéli of Cameroon; the Twa of Burundi, Rwanda and
Uganda; and the Twa, Bongo and Mbendjele of the Congo.51
47 Ibid.
48 Pkalya, Ruto, Mohamud Adan, Isabella Masinde, Indigenous Democracy: Traditional conflict resolution mechanisms – Pokot,
Turkana, Samburu and Marakwet, Intermediate Technology Development Group-Eastern Africa, 2004.
49 Leff, Jonah, ‘Pastoralists at War: Violence and security in the Kenya-Sudan-Uganda border region’, International Journal of
Conflict and Violence, vol. 3 (2), 2009, pp. 188-203.
50 Bamlaku, Tadesse, ‘Women in Conflict and indigenous conflict resolution among the Issa and Gurgura clans of Somali in Eastern
Ethiopia,’ African Journals Online, <www.ajol.info/index,php/ajcr/article/viewFile/59308/47606>, accessed 13 May 2013.
51 Example: Centre for Environment and Development, Réseau Recherches Actions Concertées Pygmées, Forest Peoples
Programme, Indigenous Peoples rights in Cameroon. ACHPR, May 2010, p. 25; ACHPR and IWGIA, Report of the African
Commission’s Working Group on Indigenous Populations/Communities: Mission to the Republic of Namibia, ACHPR and IWGIA,
Copenhagen, 2008, pp. 118-119.
10

11
Looking ahead
For sustainability, violence-related interventions for indigenous women and girls must be
addressed within the overall context of broader measures of protection, security and justice for
populations as a whole. At national level, countries continue to undertake legal, policy and
institutional reforms to empower girls and women and strengthen protection from different forms
of violence. In the past decade, many countries have enacted legislation designed to protect
women and children – including those of indigenous background – from violence and
exploitation. For example, more than 80 per cent of countries have full or partial legal prohibition
on violence against children, and more than 90 per cent have prohibited sexual exploitation of
children (including prostitution) and instituted legal measures to prohibit the sale or trafficking in
children. Moreover, 33 countries have prohibited corporal punishment of children in all settings,
such as the home, schools and penal institutions.
The capacities of national authorities to implement legislation and policies in a coordinated
manner are also improving. A number of countries have established special police units to
investigate gender-based violence and ensure gender-sensitive response to such violence.
Many more countries are also investing in comprehensive support services, including the
creation of shelters, counselling services, reporting mechanisms (such as helplines, legal and
paralegal services) and health services. Furthermore, parallel efforts are being undertaken by
governments and civil society to ensure that violence and exploitation of women and girls are
prevented in the first place through various awareness-raising and information initiatives that
aim to build community capacities to “break the silence” around violence.
The rights of indigenous women and girls will however be better secured if such broader
measures took account of their historical and cultural realities. This would require the
deployment of data gathering, analysis and reporting methods which take account of ethnicity;
addressing what the Economic Commission for Latin America describes as “institutional
violence”— a culture of impunity rooted in the lack of due diligence by relevant institutions to
address the structural barriers to justice and due process; tackling risk factors which enhance
the likelihood of violence committed against indigenous women and girls; promoting and
building on existing intercultural models of violence prevention and response and ensuring the
participation of indigenous women and girls in all phases of project formulation, implementation
and monitoring.

Good Practice Resources
http://www.unfpa.org/webdav/site/global/shared/documents/publications/2013/VAIW
12
G_FINAL.pdf
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/SP/Pages/Themes.aspx
http://srsg.violenceagainstchildren.org/category/regions/europe
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/Pages/HumanRightsBodies.aspx
http://childrenandarmedconflict.un.org/
http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/57sess.htm
Committee on the Rights of the Child. General Comment No. 11 (2009). Indigenous
children and their rights under the Convention.
United Nations. 2007. Indigenous Women and the United Nations System: Good
Practices and Lessons Learned.

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