The Forum reiterates its recommendations made at its second session, in particular those contained in chapter I, section B, paragraphs 83 to 94 of the report.2
The Permanent Forum appoints Edward John and Dalee Sambo Dorough to conduct a study on how States exploit weak procedural rules in international organizations to devalue the United Nations Declaration and other international human rights law.
The special rapporteurs, as well as other mechanisms relevant to the Commission on Human Rights, are encouraged to study the effects of armed conflict on the fundamental rights of indigenous peoples, especially on women and children.
The Forum calls upon all those Members States which have not yet done so to consider without delay ratifying the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and International Labour Organization Convention No. 169
The Forum expresses its great concern about the effects of armed conflict on indigenous women and children, and recommends that a workshop be convened with the framework of the 10-year review of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action in order to formulate strategies to protect vulnerable groups, such as indigenous peoples, especially taking into account the vulnerabilities of indigenous women and children. These strategies should incorporate capacity-building of indigenous women living in areas of armed conflict or in precarious circumstances.
Businesses, in their human rights due diligence processes, should meaningfully engage with indigenous peoples as rights holders in business decisions and outcomes affecting them. In that regard, free, prior and informed consent should be understood as their right to give or withhold consent.
The Permanent Forum recognizes that it is important that the Human Rights Council continues to effectively address indigenous peoples’ issues as human rights issues. The Permanent Forum decides to appoint Ms. Ida Nicolaisen and Mr. Wilton Littlechild to undertake a study on the structures, procedures and mechanisms that presently exist and that might be established to effectively address the human rights situation of indigenous peoples, to arrange for indigenous representation and inclusion in such structures, procedures and mechanisms and to submit a report on the subject to the Permanent Forum by 31 December 2007.
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.
Since the adoption in 2007 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, few States have entered into effective dialogue or partnerships with indigenous peoples or have undertaken adequate legal reforms to implement the Declaration. Based on interventions and reports of representatives of indigenous peoples from all regions of the world at its eleventh session, the Permanent Forum is alarmed about the ongoing gross human rights violations being perpetrated against indigenous peoples and therefore calls upon all States to take urgent action to end such violations and to recognize and respect the human rights standards contained in the Declaration.
The Permanent Forum calls upon States and corporations to fully recognize the presence and effective participation of indigenous peoples in all negotiation processes relating to the entry of extractive industries, infrastructure projects and other development projects into their communities, consistent with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, inter alia, articles 19, 23 and 32. Furthermore, the Forum calls upon all relevant actors to ensure the application of culturally relevant, gender-balanced and gender-based analysis and gender budgeting as critical elements of economic and social development, consistent with articles 21 and 44 of the Declaration.
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.
In accordance with international law, the Permanent Forum recommends that all States members of the Organization of American States recognize and respect that the United Nations Declaration constitutes the minimum standards for the survival, dignity and well-being of indigenous peoples of the world, and requests them to ensure that the draft American declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples is consistent with or exceeds the standards affirmed in the United Nations Declaration.