The Permanent Forum requests the host country to promptly issue entry visas for its members, Indigenous Peoples and civil society observers, in accordance with article IV, section 11 of the United Nations Headquarters Agreement.3 In addition, the Permanent Forum encourages other Member States hosting United Nations meetings with Indigenous Peoples’ organizations to expedite visa processing. The Permanent Forum also suggests that host countries consider waiving visa fees for participants involved in the Permanent Forum’s work and associated events. Addressing these issues is essential for promoting accountability, responsibility and inclusiveness in Indigenous Peoples’ decision-making processes.
The Permanent Forum clarifies its call on United Nations entities, in its report on the twenty-first session (E/2022/43-E/C.19/2022/11), to elevate the discussion on Indigenous Peoples to the highest possible governance level of their entities to ensure system-wide ownership and support for Indigenous Peoples’ rights. It encourages Member States to ensure that United Nations entity leaders appoint Indigenous Peoples focal points who report directly to their senior staff member on Indigenous Peoples. The Permanent Forum recommends that United Nations entities employ Indigenous Peoples for these positions.
The Permanent Forum encourages all United Nations entities to actively engage with United Nations resident coordinators and country teams to ensure that Indigenous Peoples’ issues are integrated into country-level initiatives and joint work planning, including through a reflection of their concerns in the common country analysis, in line with the system-wide action plan and the Secretary-General’s Call to Action for Human Rights.
The Permanent Forum reiterates its call at its twenty-first session for a clear distinction between Indigenous Peoples and local communities. All United Nations entities and States parties to treaties concerning the environment, biodiversity and climate are encouraged to eliminate the use of the term “local communities” in
connection with Indigenous Peoples, so that the term “Indigenous Peoples and localcommunities” would be abolished.
The Permanent Forum recommends that the full, effective and direct representation and participation of indigenous peoples, including their indigenous governments, councils, parliaments and other political institutions, should be ensured at all United Nations forums and multilateral and bilateral negotiations, and in the drafting processes of the corresponding emerging instruments, for example, those under discussion at the World Bank, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity. Such instruments must be harmonized with the Declaration, which is regarded as a reflection of the minimum human rights standards necessary for the promotion and protection of indigenous peoples, nations and communities. Such instruments should be consistent with or exceed those minimum standards.
The Permanent Forum calls upon Member States, the bodies and organizations of the United Nations system, the United Nations funds and programmes, the Inter-Agency Support Group and, in particular, the United Nations country teams, indigenous peoples’ organizations and non-governmental organizations in consultative status with the Economic and Social Council, to report on the implementation of the Forum’s recommendations, especially by responding to the questionnaire prepared by the Forum secretariat.
The Permanent Forum recommends that a meeting additional to the pre-sessional meeting be organized in the fourth quarters of 2012 and 2013, without any budgetary implications, to discuss methods of work.
The Permanent Forum wishes to express its thanks to the Government of Nicaragua for hosting its 2012 pre-sessional meeting. The Forum also thanks the Governments of Bolivia (Plurinational State of), Canada, China, Denmark, Greenland, Norway, Spain and the United States of America for having hosted the Forum’s previous pre-sessional meetings, and the Government of the Congo for offering to host the 2013 pre-sessional meeting. The Forum requests that the secretariat organize pre-sessional meetings for future sessions of the Forum and urges all Member States that have not considered hosting pre-sessional meetings of the Forum to do so.
The Permanent Forum reiterates its call to all Member States, intergovernmental organizations, the bodies and organizations of the United Nations system, in particular the Inter-Agency Support Group, non-governmental organizations and the private sector to cooperate fully with the preparatory processes and the World Conference.
The Permanent Forum recommends that United Nations funds and programmes and specialized agencies actively engage in the process leading up to the World Conference by prioritizing the development of concrete ways to support the full and effective participation of indigenous peoples in the World Conference, including technical and financial support.
The Permanent Forum recommends that United Nations organizations, funds and programmes, in particular the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), prepare a special report for the Conference on the realization of the rights of indigenous peoples, the objectives of the Second International Decade of the World’s Indigenous People, the Millennium Development Goals and the United Nations development agenda beyond 2015. It also recommends that the report contain disaggregated statistics in relation to indigenous women, youth and children and address associated thematic issues such as economic sustainability and youth employment.
The President of the General Assembly at its sixty-ninth session, in consultation with Member States and representatives of indigenous peoples, should appoint co-chairs from among Member States and indigenous peoples to preside jointly over the meeting of the World Conference.
