Women's Human Rights Resources Database

The central position of Indigenous women in food production in Cameroon means that the loss of ancestral land and natural resource development has contributed to the marginalization of indigenous women. The author provides a comprehensive discussion of the history of various Indigenous peoples and the customary notion of land rights in Cameroon. While land is regarded to be collectively held, Indigenous women are largely excluded from decision-making in relation to land. Customary law grants no land rights to women which can only be attained through marriage. The author outlines the various legal mechanisms, both domestic and international, which can be applied to land rights.  The challenges Indigenous women face in relation to land rights include lack of proper recognition, exacerbated poverty, and marginalization. The author advocates for legislative attention towards Indigenous women and their participation in decision-making. 

This article analyzes international indigenous rights law through the lens of the UN Human Rights Treaty Monitoring System and the UN Charter-Based System. The article highlights the conflict between framing indigenous peoples as both a minority and a people, and argues that this conflict and the diversity of treaties relating to indigenous peoples rights have blurred the contents of the rights to self-determination, respect for identity, and effective participation. The article examines the evolution of indigenous peoples rights in regards to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and determines that there has been an erosion of divisions between large ranges of rights, which are clearly separated in the traditional system of international human rights protection. The article concludes by recommending that indigenous groups be concurrently classified as both a people and a minority, and notes the risks to people and states inherent in a lack of recognition for the interdependence and indivisibility of human rights.Helen Quane, A Further Dimension to the Interdependence and Indivisibility of Human Rights?: Recent Developments Concerning the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2012) 25 Harv Hum Rts J 49.

This article deals with an issue of special relevance to Indigenous women: the appropriation of the scientific and technical knowledge of Indigenous peoples. The purpose of the article is to present an overview of this problem and to suggest recourse by which Indigenous peoples, and largely Indigenous women, can claim the right to control access to their knowledge and resources. This article reviews the main problems Indigenous peoples face in securing their rights and presents international and domestic legal remedies. Appropriation of the genetic characteristics of the people themselves is also explored through a critique of projects such as the Convention on Biological Diversity.

The Forest Rights Act (FRA) is legislation meant to advance the rights to land for Indigenous forest peoples in India. The author identifies two main challenges to the implementation of the FRA as the incompatibility of the legislation with Advisasi's legal traditions, and the reliance on elected officials to work towards justice. The legislation operates amidst colonial legal frameworks and neoliberal ideology. The author discusses the colonial legal past of India and the recent trend towards recognition of human rights and Indigenous human rights reflected by international law instruments such as UNDRIP. The author argues that these rights have not been realized in reality, and provides the protest of a hydroelectricity project in Chamba District as an example of the government’s disregard for the FRA. The author concludes by emphasizing that continued government neglect of the FRA risks ‘hollowing’ out the efficacy of the land rights that the legislation grants.

The article explores how the human security risks that come out of the extractive industry development in the circumpolar region of the United States affect Indigenous women specifically. The rapidly melting ice in the Arctic is exposing new natural resources which have encouraged the attention and presence of outsiders in the region. Extractive industries have been proven to increase human rights violations and cause human security risks to the local populations because of factors including the large and predominantly male workforce brought to the areas, the rural nature of the locations, and the marginalized populations which live in the areas. Indigenous women will be most affected by security concerns.  The four areas this article identifies as the potential security threats are: environmental impact, health impact, personal safety impact, and economic impact.

This article discusses the legitimacy of using human rights discourse in an Aboriginal context. The author begins by examining differences between Aboriginal and Western cultures in reference to the notion of individual human rights within a collective society. The article also reviews some Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms jurisprudence regarding Aboriginal rights and demonstrates how these cases focus on the notion of individual rights. The issue of gender-based discrimination is also examined within the author's discussion of the appropriateness of the international human rights framework. In conclusion, the author recommends recognizing Aboriginal societies as distinct so as to more appropriately apply the human rights framework to their situation. [Descriptors: Indigenous Women, Canada]

In this short piece, the author reflects on the experience of being an Aboriginal Australian woman. In considering this experience, she questions how an individual's humanity is defined. Moreover, she questions whether that identity is defined by the individual, the community to which he or she belongs, or other communities. The author argues that human rights provide the power to define what it is to be human. Human rights posit that no individual should be subject to unlawful discrimination. The experience and enjoyment of rights can be measured by proximity to power and privilege, and Aboriginal women suffer from a historical disadvantage in this regard resulting from colonialism. This disadvantage is perpetuated as a result of compounded discrimination on the grounds of sex and race.

This article looks at the specific issues Indigenous Palestinian women are faced with as a consequence of the Intifada, especially concerning custom, religion and human rights. The author presents an overview of the problems inherent in legal reform in an area with a complexity of religious and customary heritages. This historic perspective serves as a backdrop for a discussion on legal reform effecting Palestinian women. Three options for reform are reviewed: a reinterpretation of Islam, adoption of European style civil codes and building upon the changes resulting from the Intifada. The author suggests that the ultimate goal of any method of reform must be compliance with international human rights norms and conventions and that legal change can only be achieved if other societal changes also occur.