Declaración ECMIA en el 70º período de sesiones de la Comisión de la Condición Jurídica y Social de la Mujer (CSW 70)
Statement by the Continental Network of Indigenous Women of the Americas (ECMIA)
9 al 20 de marzo, 2026, Nueva York
Declaración del Enlace Continental de Mujeres Indígenas de las Américas - ECMIA
El Enlace Continental de Mujeres Indígenas de las Américas - ECMIA es una red de organizaciones indígenas de 23 países del continente con 30 años de trayectoria en la promoción de los derechos individuales y colectivos de las mujeres, juventudes y niñas Indígenas. Frente a la persistencia de las violencias estructurales, la discriminación y la falta de respuesta efectiva de los Estados, las mujeres, juventudes y niñas indígenas de las Américas instamos a la adopción de medidas urgentes y necesarias con enfoque intercultural, intergeneracional, interseccional y de género que garanticen el acceso a las justicias, la reparación integral y una vida libre de violencias, en pleno respeto a nuestras cosmovisiones y sistemas normativos propios.
En las Américas, la situación de las violencias que nos afectan se ha intensificado en los últimos años. A la persistencia de un sistema de dominación racista, clasista, colonial y patriarcal, se suma el mayor posicionamiento de grupos ultraconservadores antiderechos, los conflictos armados, la militarización de nuestros territorios, los asesinatos de defensoras y defensores Indígenas, el aumento de represión y criminalización de la protesta social, y el incremento de feminicidios y violencias sexuales, económicas, políticas y ambientales que amenazan nuestra espiritualidad y existencia como Pueblos. Por ejemplo, en la Amazonía peruana, se reportan más de 800 denuncias de violaciones sexuales contra las niñas y adolescentes awajun y wampis y los casos siguen en alarmante aumento sin acceso a la justicia.
Hoy, los marcos normativos internacionales reconocen nuestros derechos a vidas libres de violencias. Sin embargo, los Estados continúan sin avanzar significativamente, o incluso retroceden en el cumplimiento de sus obligaciones como garantes de derechos. La ausencia de políticas públicas consultadas, consentidas y con enfoque intercultural, los presupuestos insuficientes y la falta de datos desagregados configuran un escenario adverso para garantizar el acceso a las justicias y la erradicación de las violencias.
En determinados contextos, las Mujeres Indígenas solemos acudir en primera instancia a la justicia comunitaria, por su cercanía, su carácter gratuito y su capacidad de involucrar a las familias y a la comunidad en la resolución de conflictos. Sin embargo, se continúan enfrentando desafíos vinculados a la estigmatización o a la falta de credibilidad, al igual que la persistencia de normas patriarcales, cuando se denuncian violencias.
Esta situación, en muchos casos, nos conduce a recurrir a la justicia ordinaria, donde lamentablemente también se presentan diversos obstáculos que dificultan el acceso pleno y efectivo a la justicia como el racismo, la reproducción de las violencias patriarcales y la revictimización. Asimismo, la falta de documentos de identidad, la escasa legislación que contemple las realidades de los Pueblos Indígenas, la limitada cobertura institucional en las zonas rurales, así como la ausencia de personal indígena en las entidades públicas, la carencia de intérpretes y traductoras, el desconocimiento de los marcos normativos, la corrupción y la impunidad, constituyen obstáculos estructurales en el acceso a las justicias para las Mujeres Indígenas.
Estos desafíos se intensifican aún más en contextos urbanos y migratorios. Muchas mujeres, jóvenes y niñas Indígenas son desplazadas de sus territorios debido a las violencias, las actividades extractivas, las presiones económicas y los impactos de la crisis climática. En las ciudades y a lo largo de las rutas migratorias, a menudo enfrentamos el desarraigo, el aislamiento y la pérdida de las redes de protección comunitarias que tradicionalmente apoyan los procesos de justicia, sanación y cuidado colectivo. En este contexto, las mujeres Indígenas nos enfrentamos con frecuencia a un mayor riesgo de violencias, explotación, trata y discriminación, mientras los sistemas de justicia son culturalmente distantes, lingüísticamente inaccesibles e institucionalmente poco preparados para responder a nuestras realidades.
Para las mujeres, jóvenes y niñas Indígenas de las Américas, la justicia con perspectiva intercultural significa mucho más que la sanción. Es un proceso integral que busca restablecer la armonía, sanar las heridas, garantizar que las violencias no se repitan y asegurar una vida digna y feliz, con respeto pleno de los derechos individuales y colectivos. A diferencia de la justicia estatal, que con frecuencia centra su atención en la sanción del agresor, en nuestros sistemas la víctima y la comunidad ocupan el centro del proceso.
El acceso a las justicias debe garantizar el derecho a la libre determinación y a la autonomía de los Pueblos Indígenas, permitiéndonos elegir el sistema de justicia (ordinario y/o Indígena) que responda mejor a nuestras necesidades. El acceso a las justicias está estrechamente vinculado con el derecho a la reparación integral e intercultural.
Ante este contexto, instamos a los Estados y organismos internacionales a adoptar las siguientes medidas para garantizar el acceso a las justicias, la reparación integral y la erradicación de las violencias que afectan a las Mujeres, Juventudes y Niñas Indígenas:
Reafirmamos nuestro compromiso de continuar trabajando para la implementación de la Recomendación General N.º 39 y la consolidación de políticas públicas interculturales, integrales e intergeneracionales y con enfoque interseccional, de género y de derechos humanos que garanticen una vida libre de violencias para todas las Mujeres, Juventudes y Niñas Indígenas de las Américas.
Descarga la declaración en español aquí:
70th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW70)
March 9 - 20, 2026, New York
Statement by the Continental Network of Indigenous Women of the Americas (ECMIA)
The Continental Network of Indigenous Women of the Americas (ECMIA) is a network of national Indigenous women’s organizations from twenty-three countries across the continent, with over 30 years of experience in promoting the individual and collective rights of Indigenous women, youth, and girls. In the face of persistent structural violence, discrimination, and the lack of effective response from States, Indigenous women, youth, and girls of the Americas call for the adoption of urgent and necessary measures with an intercultural, intergenerational, intersectional, and gender-based approach that guarantee access to justice, comprehensive reparation, and a life free of violences, with full respect for our worldviews and normative systems.
In the Americas, the situation of violences affecting us has intensified in recent years. In addition to the persistence of a racist, classist, colonial, and patriarchal system of domination, there has been a growing influence of ultra-conservative anti-rights groups, armed conflicts, the militarization of our territories, the murders of Indigenous defenders, increased repression and criminalization of social protest, and the increase in femicides and sexual, economic, political, and environmental violences that threaten our spirituality and existence as Peoples. For example, in the Peruvian Amazon, there have been more than 800 reported cases of sexual violence against Awajun and Wampis girls and adolescents, and the number of cases continues to rise at an alarming rate without effective access to justice.
Today, international legal and normative frameworks recognize our right to live free from violences. However, States continue to fall short in fulfilling their obligations as guarantors of rights, and in some cases, there are clear signs of regressions. The absence of public policies that are consulted, agreed upon, and interculturally focused, insufficient budgets, and a lack of disaggregated data continue to prevent Indigenous women from accessing justice and protection from violences.
In certain contexts, Indigenous women often turn first to community justice due to its proximity, accessibility, and ability to involve families and the community in conflict resolution. However, challenges related to stigmatization or lack of credibility, and the persistence of patriarchal norms continue to be faced when reporting violences.
In many cases, this situation leads us to resort to the ordinary justice system, where there are also numerous structural barriers that hinder full and effective access to justice, such as racism, the reproduction of patriarchal violence, and revictimization. Likewise, the lack of identity documents, the scarcity of legislation that takes into account the realities of Indigenous Peoples, limited institutional coverage in rural areas, the absence of Indigenous personnel in public entities, the lack of interpreters and translators, ignorance of regulatory frameworks, corruption, and impunity constitute persistent structural obstacles to Indigenous women's access to justice.
These challenges are further intensified in urban and migratory contexts. Many Indigenous women, youth, and girls are displaced from their territories due to violences, extractive activities, economic pressures, or climate-related impacts. In cities and along migration routes, we often experience uprooting, isolation, and the loss of community protection networks that traditionally support processes of justice, healing, and collective care. In this context, Indigenous women frequently face increased risks of violence, exploitation, trafficking, and discrimination, while encountering justice systems that are culturally distant, linguistically inaccessible, and institutionally unprepared to respond to our realities.
For Indigenous women, youth, and girls in the Americas, justice with an intercultural perspective means much more than punishment. It is a comprehensive process that seeks to restore harmony, heal wounds, guarantee that violence is not repeated, and ensure a dignified and happy life, with full respect for individual and collective rights. Justice must therefore be restorative, community-centered, and culturally grounded. Unlike state justice, which often focuses on punishing the aggressor, in our systems, the victim and the community are at the center of the process.
Access to justice must guarantee the right to self-determination and autonomy of Indigenous Peoples, allowing us to choose the justice system (ordinary and/or Indigenous) that best meets our needs. Access to justice is closely linked to the right to comprehensive and intercultural reparation.
In this context, we urge States and international organizations to adopt the following measures to guarantee access to justice, comprehensive reparation, and the eradication of violences affecting Indigenous women, youth, and girls:
- Ensure effective mechanisms for access to justice, protection, reparation, and guarantees of non-repetition, with gender and intercultural perspectives, free from racism, discrimination, and patriarchal violence, and that fully involve Indigenous women in their design, implementation, and evaluation.
- Ensure the legal recognition of Indigenous Peoples' own regulatory and justice systems, ensuring their coordination with the state judicial system under principles of substantive equality, intercultural perspective, and non-discrimination, in accordance with the obligations established in General Recommendation No. 39 on the rights of Indigenous women and girls of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women.
- Allocate technical and financial resources to strengthen Indigenous justice systems for a comprehensive approach to violence against Indigenous women, youth, and girls, through awareness-raising processes and the development of specific protocols aimed at traditional and community authorities, among other actions. These processes must guarantee the full, effective, and equal participation of Indigenous women in decision-making and implementation spaces.
- Recognize individual and collective healing processes as an integral part of justice and reparation, including compensation for damages and guarantees of non-repetition, developing intercultural policies and programs that incorporate economic, psychosocial, spiritual, and dignifying memory dimensions.
- Ensure specialized agencies for addressing cases of violence against Indigenous women, designed, led, and implemented by Indigenous women, with the participation of interpreters, translators, and experts in Indigenous languages and worldviews, ensuring accessible, safe, and discrimination-free processes.
- Implement Indigenous jury mechanisms within the state justice system, with the effective participation of elder women and spiritual authorities, to ensure ethical and community-based processes with an intercultural approach.
- Strengthen the role of Indigenous women lawyers by promoting access for indigenous women to law school, supporting networks of indigenous women lawyers, and creating spaces for the exchange of strategies in strategic litigation and cultural and gender expertise, with sufficient funding for implementation. Law schools should also incorporate intercultural approaches and legal pluralism in their curricula.
- Eliminate the multiple structural barriers that Indigenous women face in reporting violences and accessing justice. This involves promoting a culture of reporting, strengthening public advocacy mechanisms and evidence recording, guaranteeing access to identity documents, and promoting economic autonomy, among other measures.
- Recognize and strengthen good practices of reparation and comprehensive compensation promoted by Indigenous women themselves, providing technical and legal support to victims and survivors. Reparation and comprehensive compensation must be fair, dignified, and intercultural, incorporating:
- Financial compensation and material restitution, including access to land and housing.
- Psychosocial, emotional, and spiritual health care, with support from authorities and ancestral elders.
- Dignification of memory through public recognition, symbolic acts, and spaces for paying tribute to victims.
We reaffirm our commitment to continue working towards the full implementation of General Recommendation No. 39 and the consolidation of intercultural, comprehensive, and intergenerational public policies with an intersectional, gender, and human rights approach that guarantees a life free of violences for all Indigenous Women, Youth, and Girls in the Americas.
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