The Forum urges the Global Alliance For Vaccination Initiatives (GAVI) to sponsor a workshop and also urges UNDP to co-sponsor a workshop to expand global programmes for immunization and vaccination of indigenous women and children and to assess the need for safety protocols relating thereto. The Permanent Forum recommends that its focal point in health and a representative of the Indigenous Peoples’ Caucus on Health be invited to attend and be provided the means to participate.
The Permanent Forum welcomes the study entitled “Free, prior and informed consent: a human rights-based approach” (A/HRC/39/62), prepared by the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. It encourages Member States, United Nations entities, including the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the World Bank, regional development banks, the private sector, civil society organizations and other stakeholders, to use the study as guidance for understanding the principle of free, prior and informed consent when working on issues of concern to indigenous peoples. The Forum also encourages indigenous peoples to use the study to guide the development of their own community protocols on free, prior and informed consent for engaging with these stakeholders.
The Permanent Forum is concerned that the regional presence, representation and services of United Nations agencies in the Asia-Pacific region are limited mostly to the Asian subregion, and recommends that all United Nations agencies review their operations to provide equal services to the Pacific subregion and identify their operations separately according to the two subregions.
The Permanent Forum requests the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to undertake a specific assessment of the opportunities and threats for indigenous peoples arising from the various greenhouse gas emission strategies that are currently in place and will potentially come into operation to mitigate the impacts of climate change and requests that this assessment be undertaken with the full and effective participation of indigenous peoples around the world.
The Permanent Forum encourages the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) to continue its efforts in operationalizing the principle of free, prior and informed consent in its investments, including through the engagement of indigenous experts in project delivery teams.
The Permanent Forum welcomes the policy guides that are being developed by UN-Habitat, including on housing for indigenous peoples in the urban setting, which will be presented at the upcoming session of the World Urban Forum, to be held from 3 to 7 November 2008, in Nanjing, China. States are encouraged to support the production of the guidelines.
The Permanent Forum decides to extend the appointment as Special Rapporteur of Michael Dodson, a member of the Forum, to prepare a paper on the relevant principles contained in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, taking into account the provisions of ILO Conventions No. 169 and No. 107 that relate to indigenous land tenure and management arrangements, to assist indigenous peoples, States and United Nations agencies in negotiating indigenous land tenure and management arrangements and to present the paper at the eighth session of the Forum, in 2009.
The Permanent Forum welcomes the progress made in the development of community-based tools to monitor the implementation of the Declaration, the outcome document of the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and encourages collaboration and contributions from Governments, the agencies of the United Nations system, indigenous peoples and civil society organizations to the Indigenous Navigator framework and other tools in order to strengthen community-based monitoring of global commitments made under the Declaration, the World Conference and the Sustainable Development Goals.
With a view to establishing a partnership with the United Nations Forum on Forests to work in the area of traditional forest-related knowledge and social and cultural aspects of forests pertaining to indigenous peoples, the Forum appoints Pavel Sulyandziga, member of the Forum, as Special Rapporteur to work with the United Nations Forum on Forests, without financial implications, and to report on that subject to the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues at its fifth session
The Forum requests international financial institutions, such as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the Inter-American Development Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the African Development Bank and other regional organizations, to design special programmes for indigenous women to provide them with access to capital and microfinance programmes, taking into account the traditional mechanisms of each community.
The Permanent Forum recommends that the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals and the United Nations system ensure the inclusion and meaningful participation of indigenous peoples in all processes relating to the elaboration of the sustainable development goals. In this regard, the Forum recommends that indigenous peoples and their organizations and representatives participate in the dialogues between Member States and civil society during meetings of the Group.
The Permanent Forum urges States to include indigenous peoples in decision-making processes in all areas of water management, including commercial use, irrigation and environmental management, and to ensure that such decision-making processes are consistent with the principles of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, in particular its article 32, under which the free and informed consent of indigenous peoples is required prior to the approval of any project affecting their lands or territories and other resources.