Partner from Peru chosen as Continental Coordinator of Indigenous Women group

This past February, Indigenous women from across the Americas came together in Mexico City for the 8th Continental Conference of Indigenous Women of the Americas. The Conference was hosted by the Continental Network of Indigenous Women of the Americas (ECMIA), a network of organizations from 23 countries that has been fighting for more than two decades for the individual and collective rights of Indigenous women and children. In particular, the network has focused on inserting themselves as Indigenous women into “the global, regional and national arenas in order to gain a voice in the formulation of, adherence to, and revision of State agreements, particularly in the area of the United Nations.”

PWRDF is proud to announce that CHIRAPAQ (Centro de Culturas Indigenas del Peru) – one of the three implementing partners in PWRDF’s Indigenous Maternal Health and Midwifery program – was chosen as the Continental Coordinator for the ECMIA. Tarcila Rivera, Vice-President of CHIRAPAQ, shared the good news with PWRDF in a letter and also pointed out that a key agenda item for the ECMIA meeting was Indigenous maternal health and midwifery practices in the Americas. Rivera also expressed gratitude to PWRDF for supporting, promoting and disseminating CHIRAPAQ work at the national and international levels.

Almost 300 attendees called for respect to the right of Indigenous women from the Americas to give birth according to their worldviews and spiritual beliefs. Supported by the indigenous women leaders that attended this international meeting, they urged the governments and public health authorities to respect, acknowledge and promote the work of Indigenous midwives who are marginalized and persecuted in Latin America.

The four resulting Calls to Action from the ECMIA are relevant to PWRDF’s Indigenous work:

1. We denounce crimes against humanity, stigmatization, persecution, criminalization, femicide, disappearances and trafficking. We hold the States responsible for not preventing, punishing, repairing and eradicating them, as well as for not having mechanisms that ensure that indigenous women enjoy a life free of violence.
2. We call upon society in general, Indigenous and non-Indigenous people, and political and economic decision makers to prioritize the value of the lives of Indigenous peoples, women, youth and girls, acknowledging their contributions to humankind and to climate balance, as guardians of the land, forests, seeds, water, cultures, knowledge, languages etc. and life itself.
3. We demand measures to sanction media outlets that promote, reproduce and sustain stereotypes that reinforce racism, discrimination and all violence against Indigenous peoples, women, youth and girls. Therefore, we call on alternative media and Indigenous communicators to define a communication protocol based on the individual and collective rights of Indigenous peoples and women in coordination with Indigenous peoples’ and women’s organizations.
4. We demand that the States and public health authorities respect our autonomy and self-determination in our female body-territory, and we demand that those who do not respect women’s right to give birth according to their worldview and spirituality be brought to justice, and that the work of traditional midwives be respected, recognized and promoted. Furthermore, we urge States to make visible the situation of peoples with a disability in Indigenous communities, producing statistics disaggregated by gender and disability, as well as to develop and implement policies to assist this population with an intercultural and comprehensive perspective.