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| Quannah Chasing Horse, U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issuess 2025, Screenshot by Censored News |
Gwich'in, Okinawa and Morocco: Indigenous Women, Voices in Struggle, at United Nations Permanent Forum
NEW YORK -- It is the sacred place where life begins, and now the U.S. has opened it to leasing for oil and gas drilling, Quannah Chasing Horse of the Gwich'in Steering Committee, told the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.
As matriarchs, Indigenous women play an essential role in the community, and are the life-givers and defenders of the earth.
"Our identity as Gwich'in is inseparable from the caribou. What happens to the caribou, happens to the Gwich'in."
The Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is the sacred place where life begins, Iizhik Gwats’an Gwandaii Goodlit. It is the calving grounds of the Porcupine Caribou herd, which has sustained Gwich'in for a millennium.
"It is the womb of our ecosystem."
Today, Chasing Horse said due to climate change, the permafrost is melting, there is a shift in migration patterns, and the decimation of the salmon puts the peoples food security at risk.
Now, along with these threats of survival for the Gwich'in, the United States government has opened the coastal plains to oil and gas drilling.
The Gwich'in have never given consent to development, but the Gwich'in land is being considered a commodity. Gwich'in are not at the table to negotiate with the U.S., she said.
Gwich'in urge the United States to halt all oil and gas leasing and protect the sacred land from drilling. Gwich'in are calling for a new designation for the region, as a federal wilderness area co-managed with the Gwich'in.
Chasing Horse said she is inspired by the struggles from around the world, and urged the global community to join with Gwich'in in their struggle.
"Please stand with us."
"Stand with us to say that our homelands are too important to be sacrificed for short term profits."
As matriarchs, Indigenous women play an essential role in the community, and are the life-givers and defenders of the earth.
"Yet too often our leadership is overlooked," said Chasing Horse, Hän Gwich'in and Sicangu Oglala Lakota, from Eagle Village, Alaska. She honored her mother and grandmother for their guiding words about the caribou.
"Our identity as Gwich'in is inseparable from the caribou. What happens to the caribou, happens to the Gwich'in."
"It is the womb of our ecosystem."
Today, Chasing Horse said due to climate change, the permafrost is melting, there is a shift in migration patterns, and the decimation of the salmon puts the peoples food security at risk.
Now, along with these threats of survival for the Gwich'in, the United States government has opened the coastal plains to oil and gas drilling.
The Gwich'in have never given consent to development, but the Gwich'in land is being considered a commodity. Gwich'in are not at the table to negotiate with the U.S., she said.
Gwich'in urge the United States to halt all oil and gas leasing and protect the sacred land from drilling. Gwich'in are calling for a new designation for the region, as a federal wilderness area co-managed with the Gwich'in.
Speaking of the crisis facing Indigenous women, Chasing Horse called for support in the epidemic of murdered and missing Indigenous women. Women suffer from the ongoing gender-based violence and silencing, she said.
Chasing Horse said she is inspired by the struggles from around the world, and urged the global community to join with Gwich'in in their struggle.
"Please stand with us."
"Stand with us to say that our homelands are too important to be sacrificed for short term profits."
Chasing Horse's words came after the U.S. said it would open the refuge's entire 1.5 million-acre coastal plain to developments. Indigenous women from every region of the world spoke on the rights of Indigenous women at the Permanent Forum.
In Okinawa, Ryūkyūan women and girls suffer from interpersonal, environmental and vehicular violence that mostly comes from the U.S. military, a representative told the U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, urging Japan to take new measures to protect Indigenous women and girls.
While some progress has been made in Morocco for Indigenous rights -- with new laws and policies for equality and recognition of an Indigenous language and identity of Amazigh -- in reality Indigenous women and girls continue to suffer from widespread discrimination and violence.
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| Okinawa, Ryūkyūan representative. Screenshot by Censored News |
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| Federation of the Leagues for Women's Rights in Morocco. Screenshot by Censored News |
Women's roles in decision-making progresses are not adequate and women's rights to property and inheritance remain insufficient, said a representative of the Federation of the Leagues for Women's Rights in Morocco, speaking to the U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in New York.
Voices of Indigenous Women at the U.N. Permanent Forum
More in our original series at Censored News
From the heart of the Amazon, women arise about violence, demand sanctions on mining
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2025/04/from-heart-of-amazon-women-rise-above.html
The ecocide of mining in Bolivia
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2025/04/the-ecocide-of-mining-testimony-at-un.html
Australian Indigenous brings power of warrior women to United Nations
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2025/04/australian-indigenous-brings-power-of.html
U.N. Permanent Forum Begins with Voices of Indigenous Women
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2025/04/un-permanent-forum-on-indigenous-issues.html
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2025/04/from-heart-of-amazon-women-rise-above.html
The ecocide of mining in Bolivia
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2025/04/the-ecocide-of-mining-testimony-at-un.html
Australian Indigenous brings power of warrior women to United Nations
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2025/04/australian-indigenous-brings-power-of.html
U.N. Permanent Forum Begins with Voices of Indigenous Women
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2025/04/un-permanent-forum-on-indigenous-issues.html
Copyright Brenda Norrell, Censored News
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