4/2/07

Indigenous women demand rights

Iximche, Guatemala, March 31 (NNN-Prensa Latina) One of the most moving events in the Indigenous People's Summit was when women presented the Declaration of Iximche, where they expressed their main demands to the plenary session.

The silence to which they are submitted not only in the home but also in society, the triple discrimination of being a woman, poor and indigenous and the absence of policies to satisfy their needs were denounced at the meeting.

One of the demands was to put a stop to the use of women as a decorative object or symbol of political, social, cultural and economic spaces.

They also insisted on the eradication of machismo, racism and discrimination in the homes, work, study centres or as obstacles to their development.

The Declaration of Iximche read by the Nicaraguan leader, Ligia del Carmen Vanegas, demanded that governments fulfill international agreements to recognize and protect the rights of indigenous women.

They also asked the governments to approve legislation against genocide from intra-family violence, sexual harassment, rape and murder of indigenous women.

While the Declaration of Iximche was being read hundreds of women linked arms cordoning the hall and at the end shouted "Power to Women."

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