Database • Plan International - Girls' Rights Platform - Girls' rights are human rights: Positioning girls at the heart of the international agenda

Rights of indigenous women and girls 2015, para. 77a

Paragraph text: [Recommendations to Member States] [With regard to economic, social and cultural rights, Member States should:] Improve access by indigenous peoples to education, with interventions targeted towards understanding and overcoming the specific barriers faced by girls;

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Paragraph text: Abuses of indigenous people's cultural rights are endemic, owing to a sustained unwillingness on the part of many States to celebrate indigenous culture or to promote the use of indigenous languages in schools as part of the cultural diversity of citizens within their borders. That has a cross-cutting effect on the rights of indigenous women and children. Lack of respect for indigenous cultures is evident across all violations of indigenous peoples and is a fundamental part of the experiences of indigenous women and girls. The commodification of the cultures and cultural heritage of indigenous peoples is a common experience for many indigenous peoples. For example, indigenous territories have been declared World Heritage Sites without their free, prior and informed consent, thereby turning them into tourist areas. In most cases, the people who reap the biggest benefits are foreign or national travel and tour agencies or hotel owners. In those cases, indigenous women often end up as menial employees or entertainers for tourists. At worst, prostitution is encouraged and criminal syndicates promote trafficking of indigenous women and girls.

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Paragraph text: In that connection, indigenous girls tend to be more disadvantaged than indigenous boys. In additional to the factors impacting overall indigenous dropout rates, girls can experience a number of additional barriers. Firstly, their role within communities often means that they are expected to help with domestic and care responsibilities. Secondly, indigenous girls may also be subjected to child marriage, so that their roles as wives and sometimes child bearers mean that they have to leave school. Thirdly, indigenous girls may face the risk of sexual violence and rape during long journeys to school, as evidenced in the report of the Working Group on Discrimination against Women in Law and in Practice on its visit to Peru. The significance of this barrier to education is exacerbated by the presence of legislation in some States that prohibits women and girls from being able to seek abortion services, even if they become pregnant following rape.

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