A Landmark Victory: Our ONG Drives UN Call for Indigenous Women's Rights in Chile via CEDAW’s General Recommendation No. 39
"This Historic Advocacy Win for Indigenous Women and Girls in Chile is a powerful tool 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), specifically 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), one of the six principal organs of the UN, focused on global economic, social, and environmental issues. 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 numeral 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.
Understanding the Importance of General Recommendation No. 39
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. It 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.
The UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues' call for Chile to implement General Recommendation No. 39 is a significant achievement that directly empowers Indigenous women and girls in a country where everyday and systemic institutional violence persists. 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.
IFI's Unwavering Commitment: Paving the Way for Change
This recent success at the UNPFII is not an isolated event but a testament to Images for Inclusion's sustained and strategic advocacy work. A clear example of our vision and early commitment was our intervention at the 15th Session of the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP) in Geneva, Switzerland, on July 7, 2022. There, months before GR 39's publication, IFI was already urging EMRIP and the State of Chile to create an intercultural legal framework to oversee the implementation of the UNDRIP. In that instance, we emphatically highlighted the historical marginalization and underrepresentation of Mapuche girls and women in Chile, the physical and political violence they experience due to the militarization of their territory, and the multiple forms of racial violence they face, including those from the LGBTQI2-S community. We urgently recommended the collection of precise, age-group-disaggregated data on their socioeconomic and environmental conditions, always respecting their culture, language, and Free, Prior, and Informed Consent. This early intervention demonstrates our proactive role in shaping the global agenda around the rights of Indigenous women and girls, anticipating and contributing to the need for instruments like GR 39.
Looking Forward: A Future of Justice and Inclusion
This momentous achievement at the Forum reinforces our international commitment to the rights of Indigenous Peoples, particularly, Indigenous women and girls in Chile. It reflects years of dedicated effort and principled advocacy by Images for Inclusion, laying critical groundwork for legislative and policy changes. We stand ready to leverage this powerful UN resolution as a catalyst for political and legal action, continuing our unwavering fight against discrimination and for the full recognition and exercise of Indigenous women and girls. With this renewed momentum, we look towards a future where equity, justice, and inclusion are not just aspirations, but lived realities for all Indigenous Peoples across Chile and beyond.