No More Stolen Sisters: Addressing Femicide Against Indigenous Women and Girls. The Americas Report

This report presents a summary of the discussions, insights, and recommendations from the Americas regional roundtable on No More Stolen Sisters. Addressing Femicide Against Indigenous Women and Girls, hosted by CEVAW and UNFPA. In the Americas, femicide terminology is a form of resistance. In North America, ‘Missing and Murdered’ captures the reality of state neglect and erasure; while in Latin America, ‘Feminicidio’ is preferred to femicidio as it encompasses the State’s complicity and the structural racism inherent in these killings. Participants identified racism, militarisation, and extractive industries as primary drivers of femicide. Femicide is a tool of ‘territorial control’ where women’s bodies are treated as extensions of the land to be conquered and violated to displace entire communities. Culture provides a system of femicide prevention that must include the revitalisation of Indigenous languages, the protection of land rights, and the restoration of matrilineal governance (such as Clan Mothers).