The Permanent Forum notes that in international law, the right to adequate food and the fundamental right to be free from hunger apply to everyone without discrimination. The Permanent Forum is concerned about the implementation gap between what is legally recognized and the reality. The right to food is frequently denied or violated, often as a result of systematic discrimination or the widespread lack of applicability of indigenous peoples’ rights. The Permanent Forum recommends that States engage in an inclusive and participatory process to ensure food sovereignty and security, in accordance with the principles of free, prior and informed consent, and develop standards and methodologies and cultural indicators to assess and address food sovereignty.
The Permanent Forum welcomes the initiatives of national human rights institutions, such as those from Malaysia, Indonesia and Bangladesh, and encourages other human rights institutions to conduct national inquiries on the rights of indigenous peoples to their lands, territories and resources.
The Permanent Forum invites the Working Group on the use of mercenaries as a means of violating human rights and impeding the exercise of the right of peoples to self-determination to conduct a study on the human rights abuses against Indigenous Peoples of the Sahel region by mercenaries and other non-State armed actors.
The Permanent Forum strongly urges Member States to uphold the linguistic rights of indigenous peoples.
It is stated in article 4 of the Declaration that “Indigenous peoples, in exercising their right to self-determination, have the right to autonomy or self-government in matters relating to their internal and local affairs, as well as ways and means of financing their autonomous functions”. The Permanent Forum welcomes the international seminar to assess the global status and trends with regard to indigenous autonomies, held in Mexico City in March 2019, which was organized by the Inter- American Commission on Human Rights, the Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the Permanent Forum and the International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs. The Forum calls upon States and United Nations entities to continue to discuss these issues in each region. The Forum also encourages the convening of a global conference on the state of indigenous autonomies by the three United Nations mechanisms on the rights of indigenous peoples (i.e., the Forum, the Special Rapporteur and the Expert Mechanism) and invites Member States to host the event.
The Permanent Forum recommends that the annual report of OHCHR to the Permanent Forum provide a summary of relevant reports, decisions and recommendations of the Human Rights Council, its subsidiary bodies and special procedures, as well as the universal periodic review working group, United Nations treaty bodies and other relevant United Nations reports and conferences.
The Permanent Forum recommends that Asian States:(a)Adopt the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, as adopted by the Human Rights Council on 29 June 2006, before the end of the sixty-first session of the General Assembly;(b)Recognize indigenous peoples constitutionally and legally as peoples, promote legal reform, in particular with regard to the recognition of indigenous peoples’ collective land rights and their customary laws and institutions, which promote diversity and pluralism;(c)Adopt laws regulating the activities of investors and mitigating the negative impact of economic liberalization on the territories of indigenous peoples;(d) Have national laws in conformity with relevant international norms and standards;(e)Establish land commissions or mechanisms that address violations of indigenous peoples’ land rights, facilitate the restitution of alienated land and settle disputes;(f) Establish full transparency regarding projects on indigenous territories by States and corporations, through the implementation of the principles of free, prior and informed consent, in accordance with customary laws and practices of the respective indigenous peoples;(g) Abandon transmigration policies and programmes and prevent illegal migration to indigenous territories.
The Permanent Forum invites UNESCO to call jointly for a world conference on linguistic diversity, indigenous languages, identity and education. The United Nations Member States are encouraged to provide political and financial support for such a conference.
The Permanent Forum takes note of the study by Elisa Canqui on forced labour and indigenous peoples (E/C.19/2011/CRP.4) and urges Member States, in collaboration with United Nations agencies and regional intergovernmental organizations, to increase their efforts to combat forced labour and human trafficking and to put in place adequate instruments to protect victims, paying particular attention to indigenous peoples and the restoration of victims’ rights.
The Permanent Forum notes that forced labour and all forms of servitude constitute serious human rights violations that it is urgent to address; it therefore urges the Government of Paraguay to combat these practices as a matter of urgency.
The Permanent Forum recommends that the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the United Nations Institute for Training and Research and other relevant United Nations agencies and offices provide necessary information and training on the universal periodic review process for and with indigenous peoples.
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.