FIMI Position Paper | Part 2
Indigenous Women Have Always Led
From Territorial Leadership to Global Commitment
“We were not organized from the start. We organized because it was necessary to become visible, to be heard and to be respected.”
— Tarcila Rivera Zea, FIMI’s Founder and President
The recognition of the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Women and Girls is the result of decades of collective leadership.
Across continents, Indigenous Women transformed local struggles into a global movement. They built alliances across cultures, generations and political contexts. They challenged systems that excluded their voices and demonstrated that the defense of Indigenous Peoples’ rights could not be separated from the leadership of Indigenous Women.
For more than twenty-five years, the International Indigenous Women’s Forum (FIMI) has contributed to that collective journey by connecting Indigenous Women’s organizations across the world’s sociocultural regions and bringing their priorities into international decision-making. Its work has helped strengthen leadership, generate knowledge, expand political participation and ensure that Indigenous Women’s voices shape global conversations on human rights, sustainable development, climate action and gender equality.
As Lucy Mulenkei reminds us, the strength of the movement has never come from speaking with one voice, but from weaving many voices into a shared vision. That ability to build solidarity while honoring the diversity of Indigenous Peoples has become one of the movement’s greatest contributions to international cooperation.
The proclamation of this International Day—like the adoption of CEDAW General Recommendation No. 39—reflects decades of sustained collective work. They are milestones, but they are not the destination.
The next challenge is implementation.
FIMI acknowledges the leadership of the Plurinational State of Bolivia for presenting draft resolution A/80/L.11, in 2025, which led to the proclamation of this International Day by the United Nations General Assembly. It also recognizes the support of the Member States that joined this initiative—Botswana, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Timor-Leste and Uruguay—demonstrating that advancing the rights and leadership of Indigenous Women is a shared international responsibility.
The first global commemoration, convened by UN Women in partnership with FIMI, gave this responsibility a public political voice. Indigenous Women leaders, Member States and United Nations representatives converged around a common message: recognition must now be translated into implementation, resources and decision-making power.
Mexico underscored the rights-based foundation of that transition: “The rights of women, of Indigenous Peoples, of Indigenous Women and children are not a concession, they’re not a favor.” Australia similarly emphasized that more sustainable outcomes are achieved when Indigenous Peoples are “partners in decision-making rather than the subjects of it.” Denmark carried the same principle into participation itself: Indigenous Women and Girls “must have a voice, a seat at the table, and the power to shape those decisions.”
These statements from the states matter because they move the conversation beyond visibility. They recognize Indigenous Women not as beneficiaries of decisions made elsewhere, but as rights holders, political actors and partners whose participation must shape the institutions, policies and resources that affect their peoples and territories.
The true significance of this International Day will not be measured by the number of commemorative events held each September.
It will be measured by decisions.
By laws that protect rights. By public policies designed with Indigenous Women rather than for them. By sustained investment in Indigenous Women-led organizations. By the recognition of Indigenous knowledge systems as essential contributions to addressing climate change, biodiversity loss, democratic resilience and social justice.
The United Nations system must ensure that Indigenous Women’s leadership is integrated across its work—not treated as a separate agenda, but as a cross-cutting priority. At the commemoration, UN Women called for Indigenous Women’s full, equal and safe participation in decision-making and for direct, flexible and culturally appropriate financing for Indigenous Women’s organizations. It also reaffirmed CEDAW’s General Recommendation No. 39 as a central framework connecting individual and collective rights with participation, justice, lands, territories and resources.
International cooperation and philanthropy must invest directly in Indigenous Women-led organizations as long-term strategic partners. Financing must move closer to the organizations already sustaining leadership, knowledge, territorial defense and community resilience—and become more direct, flexible, culturally appropriate and sustainable.
The event also established a clearer standard for accountability. UN Women urged participants to move “from commitments to practice, from policies to budgets, and from budgets to concrete changes in the lives of Indigenous Women and Girls.” FIMI reinforced that same message by calling on States, the UN system, philanthropy and partners to turn political recognition into programs, budgets and funding, with GR39 as a shared tool for implementation, monitoring and evaluation.
Academia must recognize Indigenous knowledge not as an object of study, but as a living body of knowledge that continues to enrich humanity’s collective future.
This International Day invites all of us to rethink leadership itself.
“When one of us speaks, she speaks with the voice of her ancestors and with the voice of the generations yet to come.”
— Teresa Zapeta
That voice has guided Indigenous Peoples for millennia. Today, it also offers guidance to a world searching for more just, sustainable and inclusive futures. Indigenous Women have never waited for permission to lead.
They have always led. The future the world seeks is already being woven in Indigenous territories. The responsibility now belongs to the international community. Not simply to recognize Indigenous Women’s leadership.
But to transform institutions, partnerships and public policies so that this leadership is fully reflected in the decisions that shape our shared future.
That is the commitment the first International Day of the World’s Indigenous Women and Girls must represent: a permanent point of accountability where recognition is measured against implementation, participation against decision-making power, and political commitments against the policies, budgets and resources that reach Indigenous Women and their organizations. The Day has opened a global space. The responsibility now is to ensure that the commitments voiced within it become sustained action.
