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or university educaion; when they get to the city they encounter an urban culture diferent to their own which causes not only discriminaion but also
weakens their idenity; their lack of economic resources and their status as poor indigenous woman means that they only have access to jobs in which
they are exploited, and this becomes a factor causing them to leave educaion. The construcion of educaional trajectories contributes to drawing the road-
map of discriminaion and at the same ime highlights muliple discriminaion or obstacles that appear along the way, throughout the life of indigenous wom-
en, which end up being a key impediment to change in their living condiions both personally and in their communiies. These muliple discriminaions end
up not only condiioning indigenous women, but also blocking and destroying their psychological, spiritual and cultural integrity, erasing and causing injury to
the world view of women and their indigenous peoples.
D. Litigation
The judicial process is long and alien to the culture of indigenous women. This experience must be transformed through acions, from a source of pain
and rejecion, into a possibility for reparaion for the afected women. Some of these acions are the responsibility of those who accompany indigenous
women, such as indigenous organizaions, lawyers or atorneys, and others are the responsibility of the naional jusice system and internaional protecion
systems. Naional legal systems all have their speciiciies but none really ofers an inter-
cultural perspecive of jusice or the necessary services for indigenous women to really feel that they are in a safe environment free from prejudices or stereo-
types. Obviously training and awareness-raising is required with jusice work- ers, while monitoring and measures for control must be established to ensure
that indigenous women are encouraged to report crimes against them, provid- ing them with a saisfactory risk -free experience and efecive results.
At the Inter-American level, the exising case law reveals a trend of increased sensiivity to the speciiciies of indigenous peoples and indigenous women.
However, the format and codes of the system are alien to the indigenous way of administering jusice. So far there has only been legal assimilaion rather
than real ariculaion between diferent jusice systems, both of which are valid but not equally recognized.
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It is fundamental to relect on what acion needs to be taken to facilitate beter cultural adaptaion of the system of jusice to the reality of indigenous peoples
and indigenous women in paricular. On one hand we want to win cases and on the other to help change the system so that it guarantees women their
rights. Of course, the opportunity to tesify in their own language and to be understood according to their own cultural codes are important elements. This
requires skilled interpreters who understand both the vicims’ culture and the dominant jusice system, and a willingness on the part of State insituions to
engage in intercultural dialogue. In some cases this is impossible, for example for newly-contacted indigenous peoples who do not have qualiied translators.
The quesion of the condiions needed for a fair process for indigenous peoples and indigenous women therefore remains open.
E. Advocacy
