Exhibition “Her Image, Her Voice, Her Story: A Photographic Journey of Australian Indigenous Women”

Ambassador Quinn,
Professor Quilliam,
Ms. Hill
Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen,

It is my privilege to represent the Director-General, a.i. of the United Nations Office at Geneva, Mr. Michael Møller, who very much regrets that he cannot be here with you today. He has asked me to deliver a message in support of this important event.

The message goes as follows:
It is my pleasure to welcome you all to the opening of this insightful, yet intimate photography exhibition entitled “Her Image, Her Voice, Her Story”, promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment through the personal experiences and achievements of Australian Indigenous women.

I would like to thank Ambassador Quinn and the Permanent Mission of Australia for making this event possible. And I would like to extend special thanks to the internationally acclaimed photographer, Professor Wayne Quilliam, for generously sharing with the world community the outcome of his unique access to Indigenous Australian culture. I am pleased to showcase this important issue of Indigenous women’s rights at the Palais des Nations, especially in the context of the 29th session of the Human Rights Council, which began earlier this week.

Both Indigenous rights and women’s rights are key priorities for the United Nations. In 2007, following more than two decades of negotiation, the General Assembly adopted the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous peoples. For nearly 15 years now, the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples has been very instrumental in protecting Indigenous rights. In recent years, several more mechanisms were also established by the United Nations to address these issues, such as the Expert Mechanism and the UN Permanent Forum, which has proven to be an excellent platform of concerted action between civil society and the United Nations. Last September, finally, the first-ever World Conference on Indigenous Peoples resulted in an action-oriented Outcome Document strengthening the rights of more than 370 million Indigenous people worldwide.

The United Nations is also actively working to achieve gender equality and to empower women and girls. The Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women is one of our greatest accomplishments, and the Beijing Declaration of Indigenous Women was a significant step forward towards Indigenous women’s rights in many parts of the world.

But despite all these advances, Indigenous women continue their struggle for equality and suffer multiple forms of discrimination, which is a clear reminder of the need to recommit to promoting the rights of Indigenous women and girls. It has finally now been accepted that women’s rights are human rights. We now need to recognize that Indigenous women’s rights are also human rights. As we enjoy this exhibition, let us work to ensure that the post-2015 Development Agenda is firmly rooted in the principles of gender equality and non-discrimination.

Thank you.”

That was the end of the Director-General, a.i.’s message.

I join him in wishing you a very successful event.

Thank you.