The Permanent Forum welcomes the effort of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to establish a regional human rights mechanism and offers its expertise and cooperation in this matter. The Forum recommends that the mechanism be called the “ASEAN Human Rights Commission” and that the commission explicitly recognize indigenous peoples in its terms of reference. We look forward to a strong commission with full investigatory and implementation powers, which uses the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as its framework in dealing with indigenous peoples’ issues. The Forum also recommends that the commission establish a committee on indigenous peoples in addition to its proposed committees on migrant workers and women and children.
Relations between development agencies and the organizations of indigenous peoples should be direct and not relayed through intermediate institutions of the dominant society
Considering the statements made by Brazil at the fifteenth session, the Permanent Forum welcomes the willingness of the Government to engage in dialogue concerning the status, conditions and rights of the indigenous peoples of Brazil, many of whom have faced the suspension of the land demarcation process. The Forum respectfully requests Brazil to uphold its national and international obligations to recognize and respect the human rights of indigenous peoples, as affirmed in the United Nations Declaration and ILO Convention No. 169. Furthermore, the Forum urges the interim Government of Brazil to safeguard the status of the National Indian Foundation and its mandate with regard to the indigenous peoples of Brazil.
The Permanent Forum recommends that States, in consultation with the indigenous peoples concerned, provide financial and technical assistance for indigenous peoples to map the boundaries of their communal lands, finalize legal and policy frameworks for the registration of collective titles, as a matter of urgency, and support indigenous peoples in preparing their claims for collective title.
The Permanent Forum has paid particular attention to the participation and representation of indigenous peoples in development processes, such as those related to the Millennium Development Goals, data collection and disaggregation, and urban indigenous peoples and migration. The Forum has recommended on numerous occasions that United Nations agencies, international financial institutions and other development actors change their paradigms and approaches to their work with indigenous peoples. This includes increased mainstreaming of indigenous peoples’ issues in their work, respect for the principle of free, prior and informed consent, recognition of collective rights, including treaty rights, and increased participation of indigenous peoples, including women, in programme design, implementation and monitoring.
The Permanent Forum recommends that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change prepare a special report within its seventh assessment cycle, led by Indigenous academics, scientists and traditional knowledge holders, to assess the opportunities for and threats against Indigenous Peoples in the areas of adaptation, mitigation, and loss and damage.
The Permanent Forum recommends that the Human Rights Council include the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as a normative basis for universal periodic review.
To meet the major challenges facing indigenous peoples in Africa, the Permanent Forum recommends that the United Nations system and other entities with expertise on indigenous peoples’ issues in the African region support the Working Group on Indigenous Populations/Communities in Africa to promote and protect the rights of indigenous peoples.
Given that the right of indigenous peoples to free, prior and informed consent is recognized and affirmed in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, questions have arisen concerning its implementation. In the light of such fundamental concerns, the Permanent Forum has decided to prioritize free, prior and informed consent. Therefore, in the context of future work, the Permanent Forum will explore the potential for the development of guidelines on the implementation of free, prior and informed consent. The Permanent Forum will endeavour to do so in collaboration with the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, who are specifically mandated to address the human rights of indigenous peoples. This initiative, as well as those referred to immediately below, are fully consistent with articles 38, 41 and 42 of the Declaration.
The Forum recommends that Governments:
(a) Respect the fundamental rights of indigenous peoples, in particular women and children, and ensure that they are able to exercise these rights in accordance with international human rights standards;
(b) Include relevant information on the rights of indigenous peoples, in particular indigenous women, in the reports presented to the Committee on the Elimination of All Discrimination against Women and other relevant human rights bodies;
(c) Create mechanisms to ensure access to legal processes, especially for indigenous women, to enable them to take advantage of available juridical instruments including free legal aid, in cases of violations of their fundamental rights;
(d) Encourage the appointment of qualified indigenous women to decision-making positions in the areas of administration and public service.
The Forum recommends that all Member States, with the assistance of United Nations agencies, as necessary develop capacity-building programs, including curricula that have a strong human rights focus, including collective rights of indigenous peoples, across the spectrum of national educational institutions
The Permanent Forum encourages analysis by States, the specialized agencies, academics, indigenous peoples and their organizations of the implementation of free, prior and informed consent principles and mechanisms regarding projects on indigenous lands and territories, and encourages them to submit such analyses to the Permanent Forum for consolidation and to identify good practices and barriers.