State of the minority rights World’s Minorities group and Indigenous international Peoples 2011 Events of 2010 Focus on Women’s Rights Focus on Women’s Rights State of theWorld’s Minorities and Indigenous Peoples 20111 Events of 2010 Edited by Joanna Hoare Minority Rights Group International Acknowledgements Getting involved Minority Rights Group International (MRG) MRG relies on the generous support of institutions gratefully acknowledges the support of all organizations and individuals to further our work. All donations and individuals who gave financial and other assistance received contribute directly to our projects with to this publication, including CAFOD, the European minorities and indigenous peoples. Commission, the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, One valuable way to support us is to subscribe to and Matrix Causes Fund. our report series. Subscribers receive regular MRG reports and our annual review. 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The Printed in the UK contents of this document are the sole responsibility of Minority Rights Group International and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the European Union Front cover: Women from the pastoralist Gabbra community, in the Chalbi desert of northern Kenya, Minority Rights Group International perform a traditional dance. Eric Lafforgue. 54 Commercial Street, London E1 6LT, United Inside front cover: Two Guatemalan women Kingdom. Tel +44 (0)20 7422 4200, Fax +44 (0)20 Julio Etchart. Inside back cover: A girl from the 7422 4201, Email [email protected] pastoralist Karrayyu minority in the Awash Valley, Website www.minorityrights.org Ethiopia. Eric Lafforgue. To the memory of Kevin Boyle and Kristina Hedlund Thulin, former Chair and Member of the Council of Minority Rights Group International, who dedicated their careers to the advancement of human rights. Introduction 6 Foreword Gay J. McDougall United Nations Independent Expert on minority issues 10 Preface Yakın Ertürk Former United Nations Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences (2003–2009) Part 1 Thematic essays 14 Why focus on minority and indigenous women? Kathryn Ramsay 20 Minority and indigenous women and the Millennium Development Goals Corinne Lennox 32 Violence against women in indigenous, minority and migrant groups Claire Rowland and Michelle Carnegie 42 Reproductive rights: a long way to go Tanya Saroj Bakhru 50 Women and armed conflict: from victims to activists Deborah Eade and Morna Macleod Part 2 Regional overviews 62 Africa Rahnuma Hassan, Anna Horvai, Paige Jennings, Bobbie Mellor and George Mukundi Wachira 92 Americas Maurice Bryan 124 Asia and Oceania Joshua Castellino, Irwin Loy, Matthew Naumann, Marusca Perazzi and Jacqui Zalcberg 180 Europe Katalin Halász and Nurçan Kaya 208 Middle East and North Africa Preti Taneja Part 3 Reference 231 Peoples under threat 2011 244 Status of ratification of major international and regional instruments relevant to minority and indigenous rights Compiled by Marusca Perazzi 256 Who are minorities? 256 Selected abbreviations 257 Contributors 259 Acknowledgements Foreword Gay J. McDougall United Nations Independent Expert on minority issues 6 Foreword State of the World’s Minorities 2009 inority groups are not monolithic, but communities fractured by conquest, colonization, the diversity within minority com- slavery, imperial domination, and armed conflict. M munities is often overlooked, both by Poverty, ethnic prejudice and gender-based those who are guided by prejudice, and by those restrictions can weigh heavily on women and girls. who, with well-meaning intent, want to ‘accom- And marginalized women bear the most severe modate’ the ‘culture’ of minority groups as a whole. negative consequences of the modern globalized Meanwhile, the aspirations of minority women economy. are often sacrificed by internal group dynamics to In developed countries, I found women struggling demands for loyalty to broader community strug- for personal autonomy in the context of either gles, before issues of feminism and women’s rights debates about banning the burqa in some countries, can be advanced. And so women’s self-realization or ‘multicultural’ policies in other countries. may be surrendered for notions of group culture Immigrant women in Europe are dealing with the and solidarity, into which women have had little consequences of male-centered immigration laws input. that deny wives separate status, thereby creating My mandate as United Nations Independent added vulnerabilities of deportation in situations Expert on Minority Issues explicitly requires me to of domestic violence or divorce. Or they may apply a gender perspective in my work. This has face immigration regimes that deny them the led me to seek out women in minority communities right to work, regardless of their own professional around the world on my country visits; to convene credentials. them in separate forums, as well as to sit with them I talked to Roma women who lowered their in their kitchens, places of work and agricultural voices to a whisper when the subject of domestic fields. I have listened to their issues and concerns. violence was raised, but let me know that it was I have found two concerns among women in out of the question to seek assistance from police, all the minority communities that I have visited, because of the general antagonism between the regardless of the region of the world. First, within police and all Roma. each community, there is activism among minority In Canada, single black mother-led families have women to address the condition of women and that three times the poverty rate of mother-led families of their larger community. In many cases, they are of the majority population. Even in the fast moving leading their community struggles, sometimes by economy of Brazil, where upwards of 50 per cent of default, always by their vision and the force of their the population is now considered to be of African determination. But their leadership role comes at descent, Afro-Brazilian women are largely seen as greater cost than that of their male compatriots, either maids, or cultural icons of the tourism trade. who need not also defeat general negative notions As one indigenous Colombian women recently about the appropriateness of female activism. said to me: ‘Indigenous women are tired of being Second, there is a common struggle for projected in romantic notions’. recognition and voice within the broader movement Minority women in rural or remote areas in some for women’s rights. The feminist movements of developing countries must cope with profound majority women in both developed and developing isolation, exacerbated by lack of education and countries are fraught with hierarchies and disregard language barriers. Their workload is made heavier for minority issues. They have not made space for by a lack of basic amenities such as clean water the full empowerment of minority women within and sanitation, cheap and clean cooking fuels, the the movement. availability of child-care support, and protection Women members of minority and indigenous against domestic and societal violence. Entrenched groups in all regions of the world are struggling gender roles leave women highly vulnerable, to be recognized and heard. They are hidden particularly in regard to ownership of land or behind walls of prejudice, patriarchy, paternalism, property, inheritance rights, and access to credit, traditions, culture and the boundaries of the home. technology or markets. They are easy and common targets of violence In India I heard the testimony of scores of Dalit in the home, their communities and the larger women who had been beaten, raped or had their society. Many strive to knit families together in families threatened because they were serving on State of the World’s Minorities Foreword 7 and Indigenous Peoples 2011 Right: Dalit women work to collect recyclying at an illegal dump near the Gujarati village of Kalol, India. Andy Martinez. local governing councils. I also had the privilege to stand with nearly 1,000 Dalit women as they rallied to declare themselves ‘free’ of the degrading work of ‘manual scavenging’; that is, cleaning the excrement from dry toilets by hand —a task reserved for women of the lowest caste, despite the practice having long been banned in India. Those women were raising their voices to claim their rights and dignity and had symbolically burned their manual scavenging baskets. I was struck by their bravery. Many of them had known no other way of life and had no guarantee of an alternative source of income for their families - yet they were making a stand. Several of the Afro-Colombian women that I met had taken leadership positions in the Community Councils that have authority to make decisions regarding collective lands.