Overview
Each day, the climate crisis, environmental degradation, and the expansion of large-scale industries worsen the gender-based violence risks that women and girls face – and Indigenous communities are at the frontlines of these attacks. In recent years, on average, an environmental defender was killed every other day – and Indigenous Peoples face disproportionate attacks – nearly 40%, despite accounting for 5% of the global population. Two-thirds of women environmental human rights defenders that have been killed are Indigenous leaders. Among these threats, women defenders face the threat and use of many kinds of gender-based violence to silence their activism and remain excluded in environmental policymaking spaces. Through the RISE grants challenge, the Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP) is partnering with the International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA), the Persekutan Perempuan Adat Nusantara (PEREMPUAN AMAN), and the Network of Indigenous Women-BAI to empower and elevate the voices of Indigenous women environmental human rights defenders to self-determine their priorities, voices, and strategies to end gender-based violence as a barrier to their defense of the environment. The project provides a regional knowledge sharing, capacity strengthening and solidarity platform for Indigenous women as they lead and disseminate their own research on the impact gender-based violence has on their activism, human rights, and environmental contributions with the support of a safety plan and fund.
