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Addressee: Member States

Paragraph Number: 48
Session: 4 (2005)
Full Text:

States should:
(a) Endorse intercultural education as national policy priority to ensure equal access for indigenous children to quality and culturally appropriate primary education, as stipulated in the Convention on the Right of the Child; (b) Increase substantially State budgetary allocations in order to meet Millennium Development Goal 2 for indigenous children; c) Increase funding for Goal 2 for indigenous children through bilateral and multilateral cooperation; (d) Review current national curricula and textbooks to erase culturally discriminatory materials and enhance knowledge of indigenous cultures; (e) Establish effective arrangements for the participation of indigenous parents and community members in decisions regarding the planning, delivery and evaluation of education services for their children, including in the designing and implementation of their own education at all levels, including developing appropriate teaching materials and methods; (f) Ensure an increase in the number of indigenous persons in the educational sectors, including in policy, administration, teaching indigenous culture, history and contemporary society, indigenous languages and production of educational materials; (g) Ensure that indigenous children have access to free primary quality education; (h) Eliminate national policies and practices that create further difficulties for indigenous children to enjoy their right to education, such as the request for birth certificates for the enrolment of children and the refusal to accept indigenous names and traditional dress in schools; (i) Develop bilingual and culturally appropriate primary education for indigenous children to reduce dropout rates. The mother tongue must be the first learning language and the national language the second language; curricula should reflect indigenous peoples' holistic worldviews, knowledge systems, histories, spiritual values and physical activities, physical education and sports; (j) Recognize that isolation is a major obstacle that prevents indigenous peoples from fully enjoying their right to education. States should establish best practices, such as residential or boarding schools, where they have worked positively, and mobile and seasonal schools or the use of technologies, such as remote teaching and the Internet, to reach the most isolated and remote indigenous communities; (k) support enrolment of indigenous persons in teacher-training programs, colleges and relevant higher educational institutions; (l) Develop school curricula for indigenous peoples in cooperation with other Governments at the regional level in order to maximize the sustainable use of resources in this area; (m) Develop monitoring guidelines and indicators for achieving Goal 2 regarding indigenous children and set benchmarks in that regard; (n) In the context of the Millennium Development Goals, particularly the achievement of primary universal education, the Forum recommends that States, the United Nations system and other intergovernmental organizations pay attention to intercultural bilingual education for indigenous peoples at the preschool, primary and tertiary levels

Area of Work: MDGs, Education
Paragraph Number: 139
Session: 4 (2005)
Full Text:

The Forum encourages organizers of pre-sessional regional meetings of indigenous peoples to develop suggestions and recommendations for the Forum to consider and encourages its members to participate in such meetings

Area of Work: Methods of Work, Cooperation
Paragraph Number: 18
Session: 4 (2005)
Full Text:

The common country assessment/United Nations Development Assistance Framework, poverty reduction strategy papers and other development processes, national or international, should ensure the full and effective participation of indigenous peoples, including indigenous women

Area of Work: Cooperation, MDGs
Paragraph Number: 104
Session: 4 (2005)
Full Text:

The Forum urges States and the United Nations agencies to support the attendance and participation of indigenous youth at future sessions of the Permanent Forum

Area of Work: Indigenous Children and Youth, Cooperation
Paragraph Number: 19
Session: 4 (2005)
Full Text:

The United Nations system and other intergovernmental organizations and donor agencies should implement, at the country level, existing policies on indigenous peoples or develop such policies if they do not exist, and should strengthen the capacity of institutions to implement such policies and programs in an effective and sustainable manner

Area of Work: Methods of Work, Cooperation
Paragraph Number: 22
Session: 4 (2005)
Full Text:

Relations between development agencies and the organizations of indigenous peoples should be direct and not relayed through intermediate institutions of the dominant society

Area of Work: Cooperation
Paragraph Number: 50
Session: 4 (2005)
Full Text:

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), UNESCO, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the World Bank, the International Fund for Agricultural Development and other agencies should continue to support, in cooperation with indigenous peoples, intercultural and bilingual education programs and to promote in particular the right to education, with emphasis on indigenous children; direct financial assistance to indigenous educational institutions should be considered.

Area of Work: Education
Paragraph Number: 47
Session: 4 (2005)
Full Text:

The Forum recognizes that:
(a) The right to education is a key instrument for achieving equitable development and respect for cultural diversity. Education is an investment in the future, a means to reduce poverty and counter discrimination; (b) Indigenous peoples have the right, including treaty rights (as relevant) to quality primary education that is sensitive to their holistic worldviews, languages, traditional knowledge and other aspects of their cultures, which contribute to human dignity, identity, and intercultural dialogue; c) Mother-tongue mediated bilingual education is indispensable for effective learning for indigenous children and for the reduction of dropout rates; (d) Any efforts to achieve Millennium Development Goal 2 are likely to fail if impartial and effective implementation of culturally sensitive educational programs, curricula and actions addressing the needs of indigenous peoples are not undertaken; (e) indigenous children experience particular difficulties relating to access to education of quality and sociocultural relevance at all levels. Obstacles are numerous and complex and include, among others, distance to schools, differences in lifestyles, for example, nomadic and semi-nomadic communities, discrimination, violence, extreme poverty and exclusion; (f) Education can be one of the most important tools for combating prejudice and discrimination. National curricula frequently ignore the cultures, treaties, histories, and spiritual values of indigenous peoples and reinforce stereotypes; (g) In many cases, current criteria to measure the achievement of Goal 2 regarding indigenous education are absent or are based on insufficient indicators which do not reflect indigenous educational specificities and are culturally inappropriate and insensitive

Area of Work: MDGs, Education

Addressee: UNPFII

Paragraph Number: 136
Session: 4 (2005)
Full Text:

With a view to strengthening collaboration during the intersessional period, and further developing expert recommendations to member organizations of the Inter-Agency Support Group on Indigenous Issues, the Forum decides to increase visits by its members to these entities to carry out an in-depth analysis of the programs, activities and operations at the international, regional and national levels

Area of Work: Methods of Work, Cooperation
Paragraph Number: 16
Session: 4 (2005)
Full Text:

Governments, the United Nations system and other intergovernmental organizations should develop programs, in cooperation with indigenous peoples, to build the capacity and awareness of their staff to better understand and address indigenous issues

Area of Work: Cooperation, MDGs
Paragraph Number: 58
Session: 4 (2005)
Full Text:

The Forum urges the United Nations system and States to give special priority to implementing previous recommendations made by the Forum, and to take into account the cross-cutting nature of human rights issues.

Area of Work: Human rights, Cooperation
Paragraph Number: 57
Session: 4 (2005)
Full Text:

The Forum invites indigenous peoples, States and relevant organizations of the United Nations system to share experiences on education that represent best practices at the primary or community levels, based on indigenous cultures and traditions. The outcome of such discussions should be published and disseminated widely

Area of Work: MDGs, Education