Youth employment poverty-reduction strategies of States and the intergovernmental system should especially focus on indigenous youth, women and men, who are among the most marginalized within the current economic system. Addressing the needs of indigenous youth will also help to achieve Millennium Development Goal 3 and address pressures and problems arising from mass rural-to-urban migration
With regard to the development of national action plans, as committed to by Member States at the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples, the Permanent Forum welcomes the adoption by the Government of El Salvador of a national action plan and encourages its full and effective implementation. The Forum strongly urges other States to follow this good practice and develop their own national action plans for the full implementation of the Declaration. The Forum also encourages States to review recommendations made at past sessions, renew efforts at their implementation and report on progress made by 2021. The Forum invites the United Nations system to support the efforts of Member States in this regard.
The Permanent Forum notes the proposed Celebrate Life through Sports and Culture within the World Indigenous Nations (WIN) Games and Sports, to be held in Winnipeg, Canada, in August 2012. The Forum encourages indigenous peoples, nations and Member States to support the continuing development of sports, traditional games and culture.
The Forum, taking into account that indigenous children, youth and women are more vulnerable and are often physically and psychologically mistreated, and that children represent the future of indigenous peoples, recommends that the Council support the declaration of an international day or an international year of the indigenous child, to be celebrated with awareness-raising activities to honour the cultural identity of indigenous peoples.
The Permanent Forum takes notes of the recent publication of the adolescent-friendly version of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples by UNICEF, the Forum and the Global Indigenous Youth Caucus. The Forum recommends that UNICEF, Member States and indigenous peoples translate this publication into all languages, in particular indigenous languages. The Forum also recommends that Member States, indigenous peoples and others use this publication in the curricula of studies of indigenous and non-indigenous youth.
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
The Permanent Forum recommends that the WHO End TB Strategy and the Global Partnership to Stop Tuberculosis, in collaboration with UNFPA, PAHO and the Inter-Agency Support Group on Indigenous Peoples ’ Issues, organize an expert group meeting on tuberculosis by 2020 to analyse the sociocultural an d economic determinants of health for the prevention, care and treatment of tuberculosis in indigenous communities, with the cooperation of the Forum, in order to ensure the realization of target 3 of Sustainable Development Goal 3. The Forum also recommends the review of the Moscow Declaration to End TB, which considers indigenous peoples to be disproportionately affected by tuberculosis.
The Permanent Forum reiterates the call, made at its tenth session, to United Nations agencies and funds to conduct and support regional and international human rights training programmes aimed at building the capacity and advocacy skills of indigenous youth. Furthermore, the Forum recommends the use of social media, youth forums and other popular cultural forms of communication to disseminate information and training material on the rights of indigenous youth and to facilitate consultation processes at the national and international levels.
The Forum welcomes the new initiatives undertaken by UNICEF with regard to indigenous children, in particular the ongoing development of a digest on the indigenous child, as well as a number of case studies aimed at understanding development programming to fulfill the rights of indigenous children. The Forum requests UNICEF to make the digest and the results of those studies available to the Forum at its third session.
The Permanent Forum requests that UNICEF design, in partnership with other relevant United Nations agencies, a protocol for emergency situations resulting from natural disasters to ensure that, in cases of emergency, there are no violations of the human rights of indigenous peoples, especially indigenous youth, children and women, owing to forced relocation.
Further, the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goal on ensuring access to affordable and modern energy for all (Goal 7) is posing threats as well as providing opportunities for indigenous peoples. The Permanent Forum encourages States to work with indigenous peoples to develop guidelines for responsible renewable energy development.
In support of their country-level programming, and with a view to a deeper appreciation of indigenous peoples’ perceptions of such interventions, UNICEF and UNFPA should undertake a study on the social, cultural, legal and spiritual institutions of indigenous peoples and how these affect the rights of women and children as laid out in local, regional and global frameworks.