‘We have the solutions but there has to be respect for our culture’

Via National Indigenous Television

At the 69th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW69) at the United Nations, Indigenous Womenfrom around the world raised their voices to demand an end to violence and the recognition of their knowledge and leadership.

Marking the 25th anniversary of the International Indigenous Women’s Forum (FIMI), they presented a political declaration calling for action to end gender-based violence, human trafficking, and the murder of Indigenous women.

They also stressed the importance of respecting traditional knowledge, securing access to sexual and reproductive health services, and ensuring their inclusion in climate and biodiversity policy-making.
As Waanyi and Kalkadoon lawyer Sandra Creamer stated:

“We have the solutions, but there has to be respect for our culture. That’s been the basis of who we are from the beginning – with our laws and our cultural ways of dealing with things.”