Special emphasis should be placed by States on the involvement of city and local government authorities in engaging and supporting young indigenous people to achieve the Millennium Development Goals at the local level. Priorities for local authorities should include the creation of local youth councils with the participation of indigenous youth in decision-making, the provision of meeting spaces for young people to gather and coordinate projects, develop youth leadership, support for youth artistic and cultural expression, promotion of sport for development and peace and access to information and communication technologies
Aware of the massive exodus of indigenous youth to the alien environments of cities around the world and the discrimination, socio-economic hardships, weakened family networks and drug abuse, inter alia, affecting those youngsters and "street children", the Forum requests the World Bank, the ILO and UNICEF to conduct an in-depth comparative study of legal frameworks and social programmes addressing indigenous urban youth in selected countries. The study should assess key problems and best practices and should provide recommendations for the formulation of policies and strategies for future action.
The Permanent Forum welcomes the measures undertaken by several countries that aim, inter alia, to explore and develop alternative sources of income, significantly reduce the exploitation of natural resources, enhance conservation of biological diversity and establish measures in favour of indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation, such as the national initiative undertaken by Ecuador entitled “Yasuni-ITT initiative”. The Permanent Forum recommends that such measures respect the right to free, prior and informed consent of the indigenous peoples concerned.
The Permanent Forum calls for the implementation on the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which gives clear guidance to States on the need for them to minimize childhood exposure to toxic chemicals through water, food, air and other sources of exposure. It is critical that environmental regulators be educated specifically regarding article 24 of the Convention.