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.
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Notes
- 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.
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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
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