E/2025/43 E/C.19/2025/8 Indigenous women in order to address contemporary intersectional discrimination and intergenerational and historical trauma, including for those living outside their ancestral homelands. 62. Despite facing immense adversity, Indigenous women continue to be resilient advocates. They call upon Member States to uphold their international commitments to gender equality and to prioritize the inclusion of Indigenous women in decision making on development policies and programmes. Global Indigenous women’s rights movement 63. Thirty years ago, Indigenous women delegates at the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing made a historic promise: never again would Indigenous women return to advocate at the United Nations alone. 64. The unity of Indigenous women is exemplified through three decades of the Continental Network of Indigenous Women of the Americas – a coalition of 26 national Indigenous women’s organizations across 23 countries – and 25 years of the International Indigenous Women’s Forum. These organizations have played a crucial role in establishing and transforming international platforms, including the Permanent Forum, the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples. 65. Indigenous women have played an invaluable role in shaping global standards, notably through the adoption by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women of its general recommendation No. 39 (2022) on the rights of Indigenous women and girls. The Permanent Forum had called upon the Commission on the Status of Women to prioritize gender equality and the empowerment of Indigenous women and girls as an emerging theme within its multi-year programme of work. 66. The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women must guarantee equal access and non-discrimination of Indigenous women in respect of its communications procedure under the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. States are encouraged to report annually on their progress in implementing general recommendation No. 39. 67. The Permanent Forum urges the representatives and institutions of Indigenous Peoples to submit candidates, especially Indigenous women, for the Working Group on Business and Human Rights of the Human Rights Council. It also encourages the Forum on Business and Human Rights to establish an ad hoc committee for Indigenous Peoples during the nineteenth cycle of the Human Rights Council. The Permanent Forum invites relevant mechanisms of the Human Rights Council to devote attention in their reports to the situation of Indigenous women and children. 68. States must ensure equitable and direct access to funding for Indigenous women’s organizations, with a view to enhancing their participation and leadership in decision-making processes. 69. The Permanent Forum acknowledges the commitment by Australia to develop a national action plan to address violence against Indigenous women and children – a milestone championed by Indigenous women. The Forum urges Australia to meet that commitment and provide sufficient resources to implement the plan and calls upon other States to adopt similar strategies. Indigenous children and the health of Indigenous women 70. Reports of Indigenous children being forcibly removed from their mothers by State agencies evoke painful parallels with discriminatory assimilationist laws of the 25-07572 13/23