The Forum welcomes the nomination of the High Commissioner, Justice Louise Arbor, and recommends that she convene a meeting with the Forum members.
Foster the training of indigenous women in order to gain leadership skills to become community advocates and defenders for indigenous women's rights to achieve gender equity
The Permanent Forum urges States and State-owned corporations to consult and cooperate in good faith with the indigenous peoples concerned in order to obtain their free, prior and informed consent before the approval of any policies, plans and projects affecting their lands or territories and other resources, particularly in connection with the development, utilization or exploitation of minerals, water and other resources, in accordance with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
The Permanent Forum recommends that Paraguay should speed up the reform of INDI and of other institutions with competence in indigenous issues so that the proper participation of indigenous peoples will strengthen their democratic representation before the legislative and judicial powers, which are still reluctant to act.
The Permanent Forum reiterates that indigenous peoples should report to the Forum on how they are implementing the Declaration in their own communities, thereby contributing to the growing evidence of how the principles enshrined in the Declaration are being practised.
The Permanent Forum continues to be deeply disturbed by the threats that the extractive industries, infrastructure megaprojects, such as roads and dams, legal and illegal logging, and the expansion of large-scale agriculture pose to the indigenous peoples living in voluntary isolation and initial contact. While recognizing the guidelines for the protection of indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation and initial contact in the Americas prepared by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the corresponding guidelines elaborated by OHCHR, the Permanent Forum recommends that OHCHR, in cooperation with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and with the participation of indigenous peoples’ organizations, evaluate the progress made, identify implementation gaps and make recommendations to advance the protection of indigenous peoples living in voluntary isolation and initial contact and to guarantee their rights.
In October 2008, a Committee on Corporate Social Responsibility was established by under the Ministry of Employment and the Economy. The Committee is responsible for encouraging Finnish enterprises to follow all national and international regulations and standards. Also, the Committee will act as the National Contact Point for complaints concerning the inappropriate behaviour of the enterprises within the meaning of the OECD guidelines referred to above under Recommendation 15.
The Permanent Forum supports the work of the Committee on the Rights of the Child in its current effort to draft a general comment on the status of indigenous children worldwide, supports the Committee’s effort to secure broad input from indigenous peoples and encourages wide dissemination of the final report to indigenous peoples, States and United Nations bodies and agencies.
The Permanent Forum recommends to ILO and its Governing Body that a technical expert meeting be organized to consider the drafting of a recommendation to supplement the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention.
The Forum calls upon the United Nations Development Program to develop an indigenous peoples-specific development index by country to take into account the social conditions and human rights situation of indigenous peoples
The Permanent Forum welcomes the legal reforms and policies carried out in some States to recognize the right of indigenous peoples to food and food sovereignty. It would also like to encourage the remaining States to take the steps towards its recognition. The Permanent Forum encourages States to take positive actions to facilitate the capacity of indigenous peoples to strengthen traditional food systems, such as formally recognizing and demarcating indigenous territories to enable them to carry out productive food activities, in accordance with article
8 (2) (b) of the Declaration, which prohibits States from any action that has the aim or effect of dispossessing indigenous peoples of their lands, territories or resources.
The Permanent Forum takes note of the progressive decisions made by the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights in favour of the collective rights of indigenous peoples. The Forum is concerned about the lack of implementation and urges the Government of Kenya to fully implement its decisions on applications 006/2012 (African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights v. Republic of Kenya) and 276/03 (Centre for Minority Rights Development (Kenya) and Minority Rights Group (on behalf of Endorois Welfare Council) v. Kenya).