United Nations Population Fund

Discrimination

Ensuring Everyone Counts — WAMAN

(WAMAN is a fictional character)

Waman and Ximena’s families have lived off the same stretch of land for generations and generations, yet they have always been treated as second-class citizens in their homeland. Navigating discrimination has been part of their life, but things are growing increasingly difficult as they are confronted with new obstacles in public health care and education, and they struggle to advance in the job market. It is not only that they feel marginalized, but more that they are tired of being left out of processes and significant decision-making. Their frustration builds to a point where they decide to take things into their own hands and begin engaging as active participants in their own movement. If the government won’t advocate for them and protect their rights, then they will fight to prevent public and private interest groups threatening to take over their home and land.

ICDP Review Report The 5 Pillars
Dignity & Human Rights
Governance & Accountability
Health
Place & Mobility
Sustainability

Discrimination

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A Sponge for Learning

Like many of the world’s most brilliant minds, Waman, an indigenous activist from Latin America, is happiest when he’s learning something new. After his family, books and information are his greatest treasures. Waman is known colloquially in his village as El Sponjee, because he is “like a sponge for information." Waman is a proud and humble man. He is one of the most skilled and educated people in his community, having completed primary and secondary school in both Spanish and his indigenous language. His favourite subject was natural science, where he enjoyed learning about agricultural techniques, botany and ornithology. Waman also knows basic English, which allows him to occasionally enjoy some side work opportunities with local tourism agencies.

“There are an estimated 370 million indigenous persons worldwide. Indigenous people have historically been, and continue to be, subject to social and political marginalization that has undercut their access to development.”

Waman’s educational success was made possible because of the government’s efforts in the past decade to include indigenous communities in the national education system. There are schools that teach through secondary school in local indigenous languages, alongside a Spanish curriculum. Some schools include English instruction as well. These schools also provide more culturally appropriate texts in all three languages. There are many indigenous communities in the region, however, and not all are given the same attention in the school system.

“Indigenous peoples continue to experience economic, social and political marginalization.”

School Disparities: Urban vs. Rural

Lower overall attendance is driven by lower attendance in rural areas, with the largest shortfalls in Africa and Asia. Countries with severe urban-rural differences have attendance rates of 60% or less.

Poverty in Indigenous Communities

A 2005 study on indigenous peoples in Latin America found that “despite significant changes in poverty overall, the proportion of indigenous peoples in the region living in poverty—at almost 80 per cent—did not change much from the early 1990s to the early 2000s." In Mexico, Panama, and Paraguay, poverty rates were as much as 7.9 times higher among indigenous people than non-indigenous people.

What Your Government Can Do

States should respect and implement the provisions of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as well as the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989 (No. 169) of the International Labour Organization, and call on those countries that have not already done so to sign and ratify the Convention; adapting legal frameworks and formulating the policies necessary for their implementation, with the full participation of indigenous peoples, including those who live in cities.

Culturally Appropriate Health Care

Waman and Ximena have one child, Berman, who is two years old. Ximena is pregnant with their second child and currently in her second trimester. While health services are available and subsidized for Waman and his family, they are not culturally appropriate for their community. The medical professionals aren’t in tune with the birthing rituals and traditions that Waman and Ximena’s families have practised for generations.

“Within selected middle and high-income countries, pockets of weak and poor health system coverage and quality abound for indigenous peoples.”

When Ximena gave birth to Berman, it was at home. She was able to deliver in a squatting position, while Waman held her up in his arms. She drank tea made from a native herb to help prepare for labour and give birth more quickly. Ximena had women whom she knew from her community present during Berman’s birth. The women served as midwives, tending to her needs during the delivery.

It was fortunate that during her second pregnancy, Ximena and Waman decided to go to a clinic where Ximena received antenatal care. While there, she was diagnosed with gestational diabetes. Because she has a high-risk pregnancy, she is now under the care of medical professionals at a regional hospital. Her doctor has made it clear that she must deliver in their facilities to reduce the risk of maternal and infant mortality. These professionals are trained on safe practices that Ximena and Waman aren’t familiar with. If they need to, the professionals will be able to treat any haemorrhaging Ximena might experience. Without access to immediate care, haemorrhaging could lead to significant blood loss and death.

In Ximena and Waman’s community and communities nearby, there still aren’t official efforts to create intercultural health-care practices for sexual and reproductive health programmes. The medical professionals have been accommodating, however, allowing Waman and two other family members to be present during Ximena’s delivery. This allowance will hopefully keep her levels of stress more manageable, as the foreign care can feel alarming and cold. Ximena is uncomfortable with the bedside manner and nature of the medical professionals who treat her. She doesn’t like to be touched by them and often leaves feeling like the doctors aren’t seeing her as a person. For example, the ob-gyn assumed Ximena had had a vaginal examination before. She hadn’t, so the procedure left her feeling violated, ashamed and embarrassed. She didn’t feel comfortable explaining what happened to Waman, so he wasn’t able to find a way to prevent something like that happening again. He feels vulnerable for not being able to better support, nurture and comfort the mother of his children.

“More than 50% of indigenous adults over age 30 worldwide suffer from type 2 diabetes.”

Waman and Ximena are more comfortable with family members who understand the powerful healing qualities of plants. Fortunately, they will also be allowed a "vertical delivery," instead of Ximena being required to lie down during the child’s birth.

Waman is has type 2 diabetes. Ximena has always had high blood pressure. Both conditions are non-communicable diseases that require ongoing treatment and monitoring by a medical professional. Taking prescribed medications to manage their health is foreign to them. They don’t have information about how these prescriptions interact with the traditional medicines they have long used. Generations of family members have relied on traditional medicine, so Waman and Ximena feel confident in it. Accepting the prescriptions was initially challenging, but being healthy for their children is a priority for Waman. Recently, the medicines have become more expensive, and less expensive alternatives have not been made available.

Waman often reminds Ximena that they are fortunate to access many services that the government provides, even if they are always presented from a Western perspective. Access comes largely thanks to the advocacy effort of local civil society organizations.

Health Conditions

Indigenous peoples experience significantly higher prevalence of tuberculosis, non-communicable diseases, poor mental health and a shorter life expectancy compared to non-indigenous nationals of the same country. For example, more than 50% of indigenous adults over age 30 worldwide suffer from type 2 diabetes. In the United States, the risk of contracting tuberculosis is 600 times higher among Native Americans than in the general population. In Ecuador, the risk of contracting throat cancer is 30 times greater among indigenous persons than other nationals. The life expectancy gap between an indigenous child and a non-indigenous child in Nepal or Australia is 20 years, in Guatemala, 13 years, and in New Zealand, 11 years.

What Your Government Can Do

States should guarantee indigenous peoples’ right to health, including their sexual and reproductive health and rights, as well as their rights to both the highest standard of care and the respectful accommodation of their own traditional medicines and health practices, especially as regards reducing maternal and child mortality, considering their socio-territorial and cultural specificities as well as the structural factors that hinder the exercise of these rights.

States should give the highest priority to strengthening the structure, organization and management of health systems, including the development and maintenance of necessary infrastructure, such as roads, electricity, clean water, facilities, equipment and commodities, to ensure fair and equal access by all persons to comprehensive, integrated and quality primary care that includes sexual and reproductive health care and proximity to referral centres of excellence for higher levels of care, with a commitment to providing universal access to quality healthcare to all rural, remote and poor populations, indigenous peoples, and all those living without adequate health care today.

Fighting for Land Rights

It is strange and polarizing to face discrimination within one’s own homeland. The land Waman and Ximena live on is where their families have lived for generations and generations—long beyond memory or recognized documentation. Sadly, discrimination is a reality they have long grown familiar with. This feeling is reinforced as Ximena readies to give birth to their second child and as they discuss the kind of life they want to be able to give to their children.

“Greater efforts must be made to foster the inclusive, transparent participation of all key population groups in the decisions that affect them, including adolescents and youth, persons with disabilities, older persons and indigenous peoples.”

Actually owning their land is the greatest benefit Waman and Ximena’s families experience as generations-strong agricultural workers who work and live off the land. Or so they thought. Over the last few years, a public-private partnership began conducting a large-scale development project. It is pressuring Waman’s family and fellow members in their community to sell their land. Many families have already sold for far less than their land is worth. This quick cash surrendering alarms Waman. He and many community leaders recognize the land takeover as a threat that denies his family their hard work and heritage. The public and private interest group’s efforts are aggressive and their messaging full of lies. Waman and the community members have witnessed the degradation of their natural ecosystem this season. Deforestation, water contamination and waste generation have resulted in poor agricultural yields and significantly less income.

“In Mexico, Panama and Paraguay, poverty rates are as much as 7.9 times higher among indigenous people than non-indigenous people.”

Waman is determined not to be pressured by strangers. He is an optimistic man at heart and also incredibly resourceful. He has stepped forward to take on the role of a community leader to protect their land. He is working alongside other community members, and together they’ve created an organization that demands free, prior and informed consent for land acquisition. This group is in the early stages of action, but is making some progress. Recognized participation is the only way Waman and his community can ensure a sustainable future for themselves, their families and future generations. It will be Waman’s children, Berman and their unborn child, who will carry on their customs and traditions, and hopefully, rightfully, on the land they’ve always lived on.

Urban Poor Displacement

“Development-based evictions” are common causes of displacement for the urban poor. These projects are often framed as being designed for the public good, but in practice, they violate the human rights of the poor, undermining their dignity and opportunities. At the 2005 World Summit, world leaders committed to slum prevention and housing upgrades in order to eliminate widespread practices of slum clearance and evictions. Justice systems need the authority to enforce these commitments and to protect the security of land tenure, particularly for women, who are often denied inheritance, and for both women and indigenous groups, who are often denied property ownership in practice, if not in law.

Structural Discrimination

Structural discrimination includes the violence of forced displacements, loss of homeland and property, separation of families, enforced loss of language and culture, the commodification of cultures, and a disproportionate burden from the consequences of climate change and environmental degradation.

What Your Government Can Do

States should respect and guarantee the territorial rights of indigenous peoples, including those of peoples living in voluntary isolation and those in the initial phase of contact, with special attention to the challenges presented by extractive industries and other global investments, mobility and forced displacements, and design policies that respect the principle of free, prior and informed consent on matters that affect these peoples, pursuant to the provisions of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

States should adopt, in conjunction with indigenous peoples, the measures needed to ensure that all indigenous persons enjoy protection from, and full guarantees against, all forms of violence and discrimination, and take measures to ensure that their human rights are respected, protected and fulfilled.

States should guarantee the full and equal participation of racial and ethnic minorities in social, economic and political life; guarantee free and safe integration in housing; lead an open dialogue on agreed public reconciliation and/or redress for past wrongs; and actively promote ties of mutual regard which are the backbone.

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