Historic UN Milestone: Chile Urged to Implement Indigenous Women and Girls' Rights – NGO Images for Inclusion's Advocacy Plays Key Role
"This UN call to Chile is not merely a declaration; it is a powerful tool for Indigenous Peoples to advance their rights, both nationally and internationally."
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New York, USA – A historic milestone in the defense of Indigenous Peoples in Chile has emerged from the United Nations. Following the ongoing advocacy work by Images for Inclusion (IFI) at the 24th session of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII), which concluded on May 2, 2025, the Forum's final report, explicitly urges Chile to implement General Recommendation No. 39 (GR 39). This crucial recommendation, issued in October 2022 by the Committee on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), focuses on the rights of Indigenous women and girls.
The Permanent Forum’s final report is an official document issued by the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), which is one of the six principal organs of the UN, focused on global economic, social, and environmental issues. Through the Council, the Forum recommends that States, entities within the United Nations system, intergovernmental organizations, Indigenous Peoples, the private sector, and non-governmental organizations help implement them.
The GR 39 is a fundamental guide that recognizes intersectional discrimination and underscores the need for their Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC). Its implementation is a decisive step toward fostering public policies that guarantee the rights of Indigenous women and girls, promote collective respect for them, and combat race-based violence based on Indigenous identity. For IFI, this recommendation is also a powerful legal and advocacy tool.
Understanding Race-Based Violence Against Indigenous Peoples
Race-based violence based on Indigenous identity is an undeniable and extensively documented phenomenon that tragically spans the globe, impacting Indigenous Peoples in numerous countries, including Chile. Far from diminishing its severity, this widespread reality highlights an urgent and unacceptable human rights crisis that demands immediate and specific interventions, particularly in nations like Chile. International bodies, like the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and the CEDAW Committee (with its General Recommendation No. 39 on Indigenous women and girls), explicitly recognize and address this form of violence and discrimination rooted in Indigenous identity. They advocate for states to take concrete measures to prevent, investigate, and punish such acts, and to ensure the full recognition and protection of Indigenous Peoples' rights.
The manifestations of this violence are extensive and deeply impactful. They include discriminatory legal systems where Indigenous Peoples often face biased treatment; a pervasive lack of access to justice where crimes against them go unpunished; and enduring forced assimilation policies that historically, and in subtle ways still today, undermine Indigenous cultures and languages. Within the education system, this is evident as the colonizer's language and protocols are imposed, sidelining traditional knowledge. Inadequate public services that often avoid or disregard Indigenous medicine further compound health disparities. Moreover, environmental violence stemming from extractivist industries and the designation of "sacrifice zones" disproportionately harms Indigenous Peoples. Cultural violence, through the suppression of Indigenous Peoples practices, and the militarization of their territories, intensify human rights abuses and intimidation. Recognizing these multifaceted forms of violence is critical to understanding the daily challenges faced by Indigenous women and girls, and underscores the profound importance of advancements like GR 39 in securing their rights.
The relevance of this achievement directly impacts the complex reality faced by all diverse Indigenous Peoples in Chile, including the Mapuche, Aymara, Rapa Nui, Atacameño or Lican Antai, Quechua, Colla, Diaguita, Chango, Kawésqar, Yagán, and Selk'nam peoples. The Chilean Constitution still doesn't formally recognize them, and everyday violence and systemic issues persist, profoundly affecting their communities. These challenges include the devastating impacts of extractivist industries like lithium mining, salmon farming, and forestry, which disrupt traditional lands and livelihoods. Furthermore, Indigenous Peoples, such as the Chango Peoples in Antofagasta and those near Quintero-Puchuncaví, are disproportionately affected by so-called "sacrifice zones." These areas, designated due to intense industrial activity, suffer from severe environmental contamination, critically impacting their health, traditional livelihoods, and cultural and spiritual practices. Added to this is the historical struggle for sovereignty and the recognition and respect of the Treaty of Tapihue, signed in 1825 between Chile and the Mapuche Nation during the government of Ramón Freire, and the Agreement of Wills signed in 1888 between the Ariki (chief) of Rapa Nui, Atamu Tekena, and Captain-Commander Policarpo Toro of the Chilean Navy.
Gaps in Indigenous Rights and the Path Forward
Profound shortcomings in recognizing and implementing Indigenous Peoples' inherent rights and international guarantees are clearly reflected in current legislation. A prime example is Law 21.120, Chile's Gender Identity Law. While this law advances the rights of women in general, it is discriminatory and detrimental to Indigenous women and girls. It falls short by omitting their particular and collective rights, such as self-determination and autonomy, and by failing to address the specific and multiple forms of violence they face due to their Indigenous identity.
In this context, Images for Inclusion actively bridges the gap between the UN and the realities on the ground. We promote Free, Prior, and Informed Consent and organize vital events like last year's 1st Seminar on Climate Change and Indigenous Science in Temuco. During this seminar, we dedicated an entire section to the inclusion of Indigenous women in decision-making proceses and the General Recommendation No. 39. It became evident there that even special guest panelists, including an ancestral authority and the Regional Ministerial Secretary (SEREMI) for Women and Gender Equity, were largely unaware of GR 39. This critical lack of awareness underscores the urgent need to widely disseminate this recommendation. It is indispensable to ensure that international advancements directly translate into tangible impacts and protections for Indigenous women and girls at the local level.
A Powerful Call to Action in Chile
This call from the UN to Chile is a powerful tool for Indigenous Peoples to advance their rights. Article 54 of the UNPFII 2025 report explicitly invites Chile to apply General Recommendation No. 39 by adopting the necessary legislation and public policies. It also urges Chile to extend these positive advancements to other Indigenous Peoples within its territory and to present the progress made to the Forum at its 25th session. This resolution will serve as a basis for political and legal advocacy and strategic litigation. The GR 39 is vital because it obliges Chile to specifically address the rights of Indigenous women and girls, recognizing their intersectional discrimination and promoting their protection, participation, and access to fundamental rights.
The GR 39 demands its incorporation into Chilean legislation. At Images for Inclusion, we believe that a decisive example of necessary urgent action is the creation of an Indigenous identity law—analogous to the gender identity law—that aligns with the principles of the GR 39 and directly addresses political and legislative decisions that impact the lives of Indigenous girls and women, such as how climate change disproportionately affects them. Despite Indigenous Peoples stewarding 80% of global biodiversity and possessing ancestral solutions for the climate crisis, their sciences are frequently disregarded. A clear example of this is Chile's exclusion of indigenous science or indigenous ancestral knowledge in the Law Marco de Cambio Climático (2022) where Chile disregards the urgent need for their inclusion in their policies, plans, programs, regulations, actions, and other instruments issued or implemented within that framework. Calls for direct funding for Indigenous Peoples to tackle the climate emergency, specially for women, the transmitters of indigenous traditional knowledge, has also been ignored, exacerbating the impact that affects their livelihoods and very survival.
Moreover, To effectively address the complex issues faced by Indigenous women and girls in Chile, it's fundamental to develop disaggregated data. This data is essential for understanding their unique circumstances and the multiple factors that contribute to disparities and inequities. A deeper understanding of these factors, which range from territorial dispossession and militarization to limited access to essential services like traditional medicine (lawen), clean water, justice, higher education, housing, healthcare, and decent work, will lead to more appropriate public policies. The General Recommendation No. 39 acknowledges that these violations impact both the individual and collective rights of Indigenous peoples. Therefore, it serves as a vital guide for creating comprehensive public policies aimed at combating race-based discrimination and the various forms of violence Indigenous women and girls experience.
Images for Inclusion stands out for its ability to build necessary bridges between UN mechanisms and the realities of Indigenous Peoples in Chile, translating diplomatic achievements into concrete tools for defending their rights. Driven by a firm commitment to justice that must not exclude indigenous women and girls—recognizing the violence and lack of opportunities they face— our NGO issues an urgent call to local and regional authorities, civil society organizations, CONADI, and public bodies of Chile: to truly reaffirmed their firm commitment to unrestricted respect for International Law, it is imperative they fulfill their obligation to ensure Indigenous Peoples have complete and accessible information regarding GR 39. And very importantly, they must actively work alongside Indigenous organizations, their representative institutions, and traditional authorities (lonko, machi, werken) to disseminate and apply the RG 39, ensuring full respect for principles like the Free, Prior, and Informed Consent, to foster a more equitable, just, and inclusive future for all.