The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) has asked the government to help indigenous women achieve fully their fundamental freedoms like leadership roles in private and public sectors.

It said that the human rights issues faced by indigenous women have been exacerbated by Covid-19 and the lockdowns imposed by the government as a result of the pandemic.

The “worries and anxieties” of indigenous women in the country are revealed in the CHR’s 206-page report covering women aged 15 to 65 from communities in Region X, XII, and the Cordillera and Caraga Administrative Regions.

Based on its report, the CHR said only half of the respondents can rely on their local governments’ for support, and many indigenous women do not feel that their local government officials support indigenous peoples in their struggle for their rights.

While these women would rather have a leader who would stand up for their rights, they do not want to take the task on themselves because they lack the resources or they are busy taking care of their own families, it said.

At the same time, the CHR said it is viewed negatively when women take on leadership roles as some of them shared that their families refused to allow them to run for public office.

It said their only participation in the elections was through voting, campaigning for a candidate, and agenda-building. The indigenous women said that they conducted their own research on who to vote for, and some discussed their opinions with families and communities, it also said.

The issues on fundamental freedoms of indigenous women were one of those tackled by the CHR, through its Center for Gender Equality and Women Human Rights (GEWHRC), in partnership with LILAK (Purple Action for Indigenous Women’s Rights).

The CHR and LILAK then recommended that the government address their concerns by encouraging indigenous women to take on leadership roles and engage in formal political processes.

They added that government resources should be utilized to support indigenous women in their initiative as leaders, such as mediating peace and facilitating humanitarian response.

Lastly, the CHR and LILAK urged to "conduct more rigorous campaigns on the part of the government to make visible the indigenous women’s struggles and their own initiatives as active agents of change" and "make both national and local elections accessible to indigenous women, including linking them to factual and relevant information."