Abstract
On 25 July 2022, Droupadi Murmu (Santhal) was sworn as India’s second woman president, but the first of Indigenous origins. Women’s political participation remains quite low all over the world, including at the local level. In light of what Professor Rainer Hofmann has taught to the academic and the international communities on the (effective) political participation of (national) minorities, this chapter aims to offer a concise overview on how human rights law protects and tries to guarantee the political participation of Indigenous women. After briefly introducing what Indigenous political participation implies under international law, it looks at women rights’ standards and to the latest developments vis-à-vis Indigenous women (and girls’) rights regarding their participation in the political sphere.
Dr. iur. Alexandra Tomaselli, Senior Researcher, Institute for Minority Rights, Eurac Research, Bolzano, Italy.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsNotes
- 1.
Celorio (2022), p. xiii.
- 2.
Atz et al. (2019).
- 3.
Cultural Survival (2022).
- 4.
- 5.
Vinopal (2015), p. 9.
- 6.
Forsythe (2009), p. 75.
- 7.
It should be pointed out that Indigenous peoples have often declared that they do not want to be treated as minorities. This, however, does not imply that they cannot use minority rights-designed instruments, as it often happened with regard to the (soft) jurisprudence on article 27 of the ICCPR.
- 8.
Hofmann (2008), p. 9–15.
- 9.
Hofmann (2008), p. 9–15.
- 10.
Hofmann (2008), p. 14.
- 11.
Hofmann (2008), p. 14.
- 12.
Tomaselli (2016), p. 203–259.
- 13.
Tomaselli (2017).
- 14.
For further on this, see Tomaselli (2016), p. 203–259.
- 15.
- 16.
Celorio (2022), p. xv. See the 39 General Recommendations adopted so far, including the latest (39th) “General Recommendation on the rights of indigenous women and girls” at https://www.ohchr.org/en/treaty-bodies/cedaw/general-recommendations, accessed 30.11.2022. See also below.
- 17.
Convention on the Political Rights of Women (1953).
- 18.
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (1979).
- 19.
CEDAW Committee (1997).
- 20.
CEDAW Committee (1997), p. 8.
- 21.
CEDAW Committee (1997), p. 8–10.
- 22.
Report of the World Conference on Human Rights (1993): part I, chapter 3.
- 23.
Report of the World Conference on Human Rights (1993): part I, chapter 3, para. 38.
- 24.
Report of the World Conference on Human Rights (1993): part I, chapter 3, para. 36.
- 25.
Report of the World Conference on Human Rights (1993): part I, chapter 3, para. 43.
- 26.
Report of the World Conference on Human Rights (1993): part I, chapter 3, para. 43.
- 27.
Report of the Fourth World Conference on Women (1995).
- 28.
Report of the Fourth World Conference on Women (1995): para. 13. The commitment to achieve this is reiterated in para. 36.
- 29.
Report of the Fourth World Conference on Women (1995): para. 16.
- 30.
Report of the Fourth World Conference on Women (1995): para. 19.
- 31.
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (n.d.). Among its tasks, it raises awareness, puts forward specific recommendations, promotes mechanisms, prepares specialized studies and reports, and assists the Commission on women rights and gender equity and equality.
- 32.
European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (1950): Art. 14; European Social Charter (1965): Art. 4, para. 3 and Art. 8; European Social Charter (revised) (1996): Art. 4, para. 3, Art. 8 and Art. 27.
- 33.
European Commission (1996).
- 34.
European Commission (2015), p. 9.
- 35.
See also European Commission (n.d.).
- 36.
African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (1981).
- 37.
Protocol to the African Charter on the Rights of Women in Africa (2003).
- 38.
African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance (2007).
- 39.
Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence Against Women, “Convention of Belém do Pará” (1994).
- 40.
Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence, “Istanbul Convention” (2014).
- 41.
Xanthaki (2019), p. 715.
- 42.
UN Women (2020).
- 43.
UN Women (2020), para. 6, p. 3–4.
- 44.
International Indigenous Women’s Forum (2020).
- 45.
International Indigenous Women’s Forum (2021), p. 674.
- 46.
- 47.
International Indigenous Women’s Forum (2020), p. 6 and p. 28.
- 48.
- 49.
International Indigenous Women’s Forum (2020), p. 27
- 50.
- 51.
CEDAW (2022).
- 52.
CEDAW (2022), p. 16.
- 53.
CEDAW (2022), p. 16, para. 43.
- 54.
CEDAW (2022), p. 16–17, para. 44.
- 55.
CEDAW (2022), p. 17, para. 45.
- 56.
CEDAW (2022), p. 17–18, para. 46.
- 57.
Gender Equality is SDG no. 5, and Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment is the third principle of the universal values of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
- 58.
Tsosie (2010), p. 192–198.
- 59.
- 60.
References
Atz H, Bernhart J, Promberger K (2019) Wie weiblich ist die Gemeindepolitik? Der Mühevolle Weg der Frauen ins Rathaus. Athesia-Tappeiner Verlag, Bozen
Burns J, Gneck J, Bell S (2020) Missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls: a case for abuse screening in at-risk pediatric populations. J Pediatr Child Health 56:1641. https://doi.org/10.1111/jpc.15130. Accessed 30 Nov 2022
Carrillo-De la Cruz CC, Zapata-Martelo E, Ayala-Carrillo M, Díaz-Cervantes R (2015) Empoderamiento Femenino en la Casa de salud de la Mujer Indígena “Manos Unidas”. Ra Ximhai 11(2):47–64
CEDAW (2022) General recommendation on the rights of Indigenous women and girls. https://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/general-comments-and-recommendations/general-recommendation-no39-2022-rights-indigeneous. Accessed 30 Nov 2022
CEDAW Committee (1997) General recommendation No. 23: political and public life. https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CEDAW/Shared%20Documents/1_Global/INT_CEDAW_GEC_4736_E.pdf. Accessed 30 Nov 2022
Celorio R (2022) Women and international human rights in modern times. A contemporary casebook. Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham
Cervantes-Altamirano (2016) Sexual violence against Indigenous women: policies, human rights and the myth of development. eTopia [S. l]. https://doi.org/10.25071/1718-4657.36752. Accessed 30 Nov 2022
European Commission (1996) Recommendation no 96/694/EC on the balanced participation of women and men in the decision-making process, OJ L 319 10.12.1996
European Commission (2015) Strategic engagement for gender equality 2016–2019. https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/default/files/strategic_engagement_en_0.pdf. Accessed 30 Nov 2022
European Commission (n.d.) Gender balance in decision-making. https://ec.europa.eu/info/policies/justice-and-fundamental-rights/gender-equality/gender-balance-decision-making-positions_en. Accessed 30 Nov 2022
Forsythe DP (2009) Human rights studies: on the dangers of legalistic assumptions. In: Coomans F, Grünfeld F, Kamminga MT (eds) Methods of human rights research. Intersetia, Antwerp, pp 59–75
Gagliardi S (2019) The human rights of minority and Indigenous women. In: Reilly N (ed) International human rights of women. Springer, Singapore, pp 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-4550-9_35-1. Accessed 30 Nov 2022
Gottardi F (2020) Modern challenges in international law and Indigenous rights: the United Nations declaration on the rights of Indigenous peoples, Indigenous women’s activism, and the issue of violence against Indigenous women. Trento Stud Law Rev 2(2):93–120
Hofmann R (2008) Political participation of minorities. Eur Yearbook Minor Issues 6:5–17
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (n.d.) Rapporteurship on the rights of women. https://www.oas.org/en/iachr/jsForm/?File=/en/iachr/r/dmujeres/default.asp. Accessed 30 Nov 2022
International Indigenous Women’s Forum (2020) Global study on the situation of Indigenous women and girls. https://fimi-iiwf.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/GlobalStudyFIMI_20-englishRGB-2.pdf. Accessed 30 Nov 2022
International Indigenous Women’s Forum (2021) Defending the rights of Indigenous women. In: Mamo D (ed) The Indigenous World 2021. International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs-IWGIA, Copenhagen, pp 671–676
Kumar Sunuwar D (2022) Droupadi Murmu Sworn in as India’s First Indigenous President. Cultural Survival. https://culturalsurvival.org/news/droupadi-murmu-sworn-indias-first-indigenous-president. Accessed 30 Nov 2022
Radcliff SA (2015) Dilemmas of Difference. Indigenous women and the limits of postcolonial development policy. Duke University Press, Durham
Tomaselli A (2016) Indigenous peoples and their right to political participation. International law standards and their application in Latin America. Nomos, Baden-Baden. https://doi.org/10.5771/9783845268781. Accessed 30 Nov 2022
Tomaselli A (2017) The right to political participation of Indigenous peoples: a holistic approach. Int J Minor Group Rights 24(4):390–427
Tsosie R (2010) Indigenous women and international human rights law: the challenges of colonialism, cultural survival, and self-determination. UCLA J Int Law Foreign Affairs 15(1):187–238
UN Women (2020) Political declaration on the occasion of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the fourth world conference on women. https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/CSW/64/CSW64-Declaration-EN-Fin-WEB.pdf. Accessed 30 Nov 2022
Vinopal K (2015) Researching public international law. American Society of International Law. https://www.asil.org/sites/default/files/ERG_PUBLIC_INT.pdf. Accessed 30 Nov 2022
World Conference on Human Rights (1993) Report of the world conference on human rights. Vienna Declaration, A/CONF.157/24
World Conference on Women (1995) Report of the fourth world conference on women, Beijing declaration and platform for action, A/CONF.177/20 and Add.1
Xanthaki A (2011) The UN declaration on the rights of Indigenous peoples and collective rights: what’s the future for Indigenous women? In: Allen S, Xanthaki A (eds) Reflections on the UN declaration on the rights of Indigenous peoples. Hart, Oxford, pp 413–433
Xanthaki A (2019) When universalism becomes a bully: revisiting the interplay between cultural rights and women’s rights. Hum Rights Q 41(3):701–724. https://doi.org/10.1353/hrq.2019.0049. Accessed 30 Nov 2022
Yahyaoui Krivenko E (2020) Gender and human rights. Expanding concepts. Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2023 Der/die Autor(en), exklusiv lizenziert an Springer-Verlag GmbH, DE, ein Teil von Springer Nature
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Tomaselli, A. (2023). The Role of Human Rights Law for the Political Participation of Indigenous Women. In: Donath, P.B., Heger, A., Malkmus, M., Bayrak, O. (eds) Der Schutz des Individuums durch das Recht. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-66978-5_19
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-66978-5_19
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-662-66977-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-662-66978-5
eBook Packages: Social Science and Law (German Language)