The Permanent Forum is concerned by the killings, violence and harassment targeted at indigenous human rights defenders, which are also frequently committed with impunity. The Permanent Forum is concerned that, despite international condemnation, these criminal acts of violence persist, especially in a small number of countries in South and Central America, Africa and Asia.
The Permanent Forum calls upon States to ensure that national policies regarding indigenous pastoralism and hunter-gatherers comply with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
The Permanent Forum recommends that the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, ILO and UNESCO convene an expert workshop in cooperation with the Permanent Forum on the situation of indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation in order to develop strategies and programmes for the protection of their rights and territories and report to the Permanent Forum thereon at its next session.
The Permanent Forum was presented with horrific testimonies of Indigenous children incarcerated in prisons and other holding facilities. The Permanent Forum reminds Member States to fulfil their obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child in relation to the arrest, detention, or imprisonment of a child. No child should be in prison. In that regard, the Permanent Forum notes the finding in 2022 of the Supreme Court of Western Australia that the extensive solitary confinement and significant reduction in liberty of children, primarily Aboriginal children, was unlawful. The Permanent Forum calls upon Australia to respect the Court decision and remove its reservation to article 37 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Permanent Forum recommends that Member States review and reform their child protection policies and systems to prevent undue removal of Indigenous children from their families and communities.
The Forum recommends that Governments and international organizations encourage indigenous peoples to participate fully in the work of reconciliation and truth commissions. The Forum welcomes the contribution of a paper by the Division for the Advancement of Women on the work of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (see E/C.19/2004/CRP.7) and recommends that the Committee enhance its monitoring of the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women regarding indigenous women, and that it prepare and adopt a general comment on indigenous women, with the full participation of indigenous women.
The Permanent Forum recommends that in the case of projects affecting indigenous peoples, States ensure that transnational corporations and other business enterprises comply with specific standards contained in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and ILO Convention No. 169.
The Permanent Forum requests that the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people undertake a study on the rights of urban indigenous peoples and migration, paying particular attention to their ability to exercise and enjoy their economic and social rights, and that the study be considered at the eighth session of the Permanent Forum. The themes that could be considered in the study include cultural identity, equitable access to essential services, the challenges facing indigenous youth and border issues.
The Permanent Forum calls upon all States to ensure that their political institutions and structures are not used as a reason to relieve the State of its responsibility to implement international human rights obligations in relation to the rights of indigenous peoples.
The Permanent Forum recommends that States take effective measures to halt land alienation in indigenous territories, for example, through a moratorium on the sale and registration of land, including the granting of land and other concessions in areas occupied by indigenous peoples, and also to assist indigenous communities, where appropriate, to register as legal entities.
In this connection, and in respect of articles 41 and 42 of the Declaration, the Permanent Forum trusts that, at its ninety-eighth session, in 2009, the Conference Committee on the Application of Standards of the International Labour Conference will pay due attention to the cases of violation of ILO Convention No. 169, which have been signalled by the Committee of Experts, in the light of the Declaration, and urges States to respond promptly to the reports of the Committee of Experts.
The Permanent Forum urges States, with the effective participation of indigenous peoples, to address the concomitant loss of community citizenship and human rights when indigenous peoples are forced to migrate or are displaced by violent conflicts, with a particular emphasis on indigenous women.
With reference to article 42 of the United Nations Declaration, the Permanent Forum invites African States, in particular Burundi, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Libya, Mali, Nigeria and Rwanda, to present, at its sixteenth session, information on the situation of indigenous peoples affected by conflict in those countries.