I met Jacobs Sept. 13 in the United Nations General Assembly hall just before 144 nations voted to adopt the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Four countries voted no. Eleven abstained.
Jacobs, president of the Native Women's Association of Canada, was one of the only people I met from an English-speaking country who arrived in New York specifically to advocate for the rights of indigenous women.
The United States and Canada were among two of the four countries that voted against the declaration. Meanwhile, both nations share a responsibility in the horrendous treatment of indigenous women.
This past Wednesday, police in Ontario released a composite sketch of a suspect in the murder of Kelly Morrisseau, a 27-year-old aboriginal woman found naked and stabbed in a parking lot last December. Kelly died later in a hospital. She was seven months pregnant.
Family members hope witnesses will step forward. A vigil will be held in memory of Morrisseau on Oct. 4. She will be a reminder that aboriginal women in Canada are five times more likely to die a violent death than non-aboriginal women. They are more likely to live in poverty and more likely to be homeless. These women are being wiped out of existence. Some 500 indigenous women were missing or murdered in Canada in 2003.
In the United States, one in three Native women will be raped in their lifetime. And violence against them is nearly three times higher than any other group in the United States, according to a U.S. Department of Justice report.
While there are several Native women's coalitions in the United States, I'm not aware of a single organization dedicated specifically to indigenous women, unlike the Native Women's Association of Canada, which consists of 13 aboriginal women's organizations. The group provides a national voice for women in Canada and empowers women by developing and changing legislation to better protect them.
In the United States, women are undisputed victims of a state, tribal and federal jurisdictional maze that endangers their lives.
The last time I was at the United Nations was in December 2000. I had been invited to be a part of the U.N. Workshop on Indigenous Media as part of a subcommission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights. As the only U.S. Native journalist, I joined 35 media colleagues from around the world. We discussed a number of issues, including this question: How do the world's indigenous peoples get the mainstream media to pay attention to Native issues?
It's an important topic because news outlets help define the world around us and provide a framework for daily community discussions. When indigenous peoples are missing from the framework, it's the equivalent of being invisible.
It's one of the reasons why I express sincere appreciation for women like Jacobs who provide a presence and voice for indigenous women. She expressed hope that the declaration would be used to protect women.
“Now we have an international declaration that can be used in the sense of the government's responsibilities to address these issues,” said Jacobs. “They keep saying it's not a legal responsibility, but it doesn't matter. When it comes to responsibilities to indigenous people, one of the biggest principles that needs to be addressed is respect and trust.”
Those ideals were expressed by others.
“The declaration does not represent solely the viewpoint of the United Nations, nor does it represent solely the viewpoint of the Indigenous Peoples,” Les Malezer, chair of the International Indigenous People's Caucus, told the U.N. General Assembly. “It is a declaration, which combines our views and interests and which sets the framework for the future. It is a tool for peace and justice, based upon mutual recognition and mutual respect.”
The declaration states that countries “shall take measures, in conjunction with indigenous peoples, to ensure that indigenous women and children enjoy the full protection and guarantees against all forms of violence and discrimination.”
The declaration had been a U.N. work-in-progress for 25 years. Many others worked years before that to clear the declaration's path to the United Nations.
Now it's time to put the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People to work.
Reach Missoulian reporter Jodi Rave at 1-800-366-7186 or at jodi.rave@lee.net.
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