5.5
Addressing women’s rights
Respect for women’s rights is integral to the corporate responsibility to respect human
rights. 48 This is particularly important in the context of mining within or near the customary
lands of indigenous or tribal peoples. Indigenous and tribal women face multiple forms of
discrimination. They are often discriminated against because they are indigenous or tribal,
and because of their gender. They can be increasingly vulnerable to human rights abuses
when they live in poverty. Around the world, research shows that the introduction of largescale mining can adversely affect indigenous and tribal women, often in distinct and
disproportionate ways when compared to indigenous and tribal men. 49 Further, unless the
problem of discrimination against women is recognized and actively addressed, indigenous
and tribal women risk missing out on benefits that are negotiated within an FPIC process or
a development agreement.
In 2015, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Victoria TauliCorpuz, stated that land and appropriation, for example, is not gender neutral and that
indigenous women’s rights interact with violations of collective land rights. In analyzing the
situation of indigenous women globally, the Special Rapporteur highlights that:
“The loss of land and exclusion of women can create vulnerability to abuse
and violence, such as sexual violence, exploitation and trafficking.
Additionally, the secondary effects of violations of land rights, such as loss of
livelihood and ill health, often disproportionally impact women in their roles
of caregivers and guardians of the local environment.” 50
In 2010, the UN Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women
and the Secretariat of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues developed a joint
brief on gender and indigenous peoples.51 The brief notes that in recent years, women
human rights advocates have worked to emphasize the indivisibility of human rights and, in
particular, to reassert the inter-relationships between cultural rights and women’s human
48
See United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, art. 44, “All the rights and
freedoms recognized herein are equally guaranteed to male and female indigenous individuals”; ILO
Conv. No 169, art. 3; and the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against
Women.
49
Keenan, et al. (2014) Company-community agreements, gender and development, Journal of
Business Ethics 135 (4): 607-615; Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples,
Communities of African Descent, Extractive Industries, 31 December 2015,
http://www.oas.org/en/iachr/reports/pdfs/ExtractiveIndustries2016.pdf: p. 168.
50
See: http://unsr.vtaulicorpuz.org/site/images/docs/annual/2015-annual-hrc-a-hrc-30-41-en.pdf
51
This document was compiled by the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, which provides
expert advice and recommendations on indigenous issues. See:
https://www.un.org/development/desa/indigenouspeoples/unpfii-sessions-2.html . Other relevant
instruments include the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against
Women.
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