A guide to using International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) to defend and protect the rights of indigenous women, published by the Asian Indigenous Women’s Network (AIWN), Tebtebba Foundation and the Forest Peoples Programme.
This handbook is an introduction to the human rights of indigenous women. As an introductory handbook, it does not provide exhaustive information on the various human rights bodies available to indigenous women, but provides some detail on the CEDAW as the only instrument specifically for women. It also provides a brief overview of the other available human rights mechanisms. Further readings and study of the specific human rights instruments, their scope and limitations are recommended towards a more holistic understanding and stronger base to claim rights for indigenous women.
The book is divided into four chapters. Chapter 1 provides a brief overview of the particular situations of indigenous women in Asia, including the particularities of violence they are experiencing with the prevailing and existing conditions in indigenous communities and territories. Chapter 2 deals with the principles of human rights and the international human rights instruments providing for the rights of women. It focuses on the CEDAW as a specific instrument for protecting the rights of women. Chapter 3 presents the different mechanisms and possible options that indigenous women may take to seek redress for discrimination or violence. It provides specific information and tools that have been developed in aid of asserting human rights based on the mechanisms and procedures provided for under the CEDAW and other international human rights instruments. The final section, Chapter 4, provides a selection of previous jurisprudence from CEDAW that may assist in making arguments for future submissions to that body, or to national and other international legal instruments.
You can download this handbook for free here.
