The Permanent Forum takes note of the UNDP Global Programme for Electoral Cycle Support initiative, with its focus on indigenous women and youth in Latin America, and appreciates the contributions provided by donors to ensure the success of the initiative. The Forum recommends that Member States, UN-Women and UNICEF provide financial support for this important initiative for indigenous women and youth.
The Permanent Forum recalls the many recommendations that call for statistics on indigenous health. Data collection and disaggregation remain a challenge. In particular, the delivery of health care in rural and remote areas remains a major obstacle to the right to health. In addition, there remains an urgent need for more indigenous health professionals, mental health services and programmes addressing non-communicable diseases and reproductive health. In particular, the Forum reaffirms the recommendation of the eighth session that an expert group meeting on sexual health and reproductive rights be held.
In order to promote further knowledge of the Forum and the role of the United Nations among indigenous children and youth, the Forum decides to organize an indigenous youth art competition for the design of a logo for the Forum and to present the results to the Forum at its fourth session, in 2005, with the highest participation of indigenous children, including illiterate children.
The Permanent Forum recognizes the need to address the emergence of the mental health consequences of the pandemic. The consequences are being felt in all populations, but most acutely in populations that have traditionally been marginalized. The Forum calls for investments and preparations for mental and behavioural health interventions that are culturally adapted. Traditional medicines and practices can play a key role in the health of indigenous communities and individuals by encompassing a variety of dimensions, including the spiritual. The Forum calls on WHO, PAHO, States Members of the United Nations and indigenous peoples to work together to provide pathways for promoting mental health.
The Permanent Forum is deeply concerned that the problems and discrimination facing indigenous children and youth are not reflected in the Millennium Development Goals, and it urges States and United Nations organizations to develop culturally sensitive policies, programmes and projects that fully incorporate indigenous children and youth into achieving the Goals.
Considering their impact on the sexual health and reproductive rights of indigenous peoples, the Permanent Forum calls, in paragraph 62 of the report, for “a legal review of United Nations chemical conventions, in particular the Rotterdam Convention, to ensure that they are in conformity with international human rights standards, including the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities”.
The Permanent Forum reiterates its recommendation made at its eighteenth session for the Pan American Health Organization to prepare a study on the advancements in indigenous maternal health, including with the participation of indigenous midwives (E/2019/43, para. 45). The Permanent Forum also recommends that WHO prepare similar studies in other regions.
The Permanent Forum urges Member States to reform the agreements of intergovernmental conservation organizations, such as the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization, to comply with the principles of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
The Permanent Forum recommends that UNICEF continue to gather data on the issue of children and migration and information on the effects of migration on children, recognizing in particular the situation of indigenous children, the risks of serious exploitation, such as trafficking in human beings for various purposes, and the restoration of rights to victims and vulnerable children, such as street children, through all country-level programmes.
The Forum recommends that WHO, the United Nations Development Programme, the United Nations Children’s Fund, and the United Nations Population Fund convene a workshop on indigenous health, with the goal of addressing a system-wide strategy to address the health needs of indigenous peoples and setting out the terms of reference for a study on the health needs of indigenous peoples, with particular emphasis on indigenous children and women including infant mortality, reproductive rights, sterilization, domestic abuse and addiction and the collection of data relating to these issues. The Forum recommends that its focal point and a representative of the Indigenous Peoples’ Caucus on Health be invited to attend and be provided the means to participate.
The Forum is deeply concerned that particular problems and discrimination are faced by indigenous children and youth, including in the areas of education, health, culture, extreme poverty, mortality, incarceration, labour and other relevant areas. The Forum notes the need for new indicators to be developed by the United Nations that will specifically target those problems, and in that regard invites UNICEF to develop such new indicators and share them with other entities of the United Nations system, especially UNESCO.
The Permanent Forum strongly encourages States to provide disaggregated data on health and social welfare indicators for indigenous populations in order to better assist in the monitoring and evaluation of outcomes at the national and international levels.