The Permanent Forum recommends that States implement the principles contained in General Comment No. 21 (2009) of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights on article 15, paragraph 1 (a), of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights regarding the right of everyone to take part in cultural life. In its interpretation of the article, the Committee takes into account the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. It consequently distinguishes the right of indigenous peoples to take part in their own culture from the same right as it applies to minorities. This distinction is made in particular as a result of the extension of the concept of indigenous culture to material aspects such as territories and resources.
The Permanent Forum recommends that donors, including the European Union, the European Commission, the Department of State of the United States of America, human rights support organizations and others provide long-term funding, legal aid and other resources to assist indigenous human rights defenders, their families, networks and communities.
The Permanent Forum reiterates the recommendation it made to the United States at its twenty-second session to grant clemency to Leonard Peltier.
The Permanent Forum welcomes the decision taken by the General Assembly in its resolution 61/193 to declare 2011 the International Year of Forests. The Forum calls on the United Nations Forum on Forests to work closely with the secretariat of the Permanent Forum to ensure the full participation of indigenous peoples in the design and implementation of the activities planned for the International Year of Forests, including the implementation of the recommendations referred to in paragraph 23 above
The Permanent Forum is concerned that legal obligations and commitments and indigenous peoples’ treaties, agreements and other constructive arrangements with States are routinely denied and violated by States. With regard to interventions by indigenous peoples on unresolved land rights, including the Six Nations of the Grand River and others on which the Forum has made specific recommendations in the past, the Forum calls upon States to fairly and equitably redress the long-standing unresolved land rights issues through good-faith negotiations, consistent with the United Nations Declaration and without extinguishing indigenous peoples’ land rights.
Climate change and environmental issues are a major threat to indigenous peoples. The Permanent Forum recommends that Member States recognize indigenous peoples’ rights to use, maintain and control their lands, territories and resources, and develop mechanisms for their inclusion in relevant decision-making processes. The Forum calls upon States to cooperate with indigenous peoples and consider their traditional knowledge in environmental impact assessment procedures and in local, regional and national development plans. The Forum also recommends that States implement inclusive environmental and land management policies, in line with the Declaration.
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 calls upon those States which have granted leases, concessions and licences on indigenous peoples’ territories for projects related to logging, minerals, oil, gas and water without proper consultation and without respecting the free, prior and informed consent of the indigenous peoples concerned to review those arrangements and to address the complaints raised by indigenous peoples in those territories.
The Permanent Forum recommends that OHCHR produce a periodic electronic bulletin on relevant activities regarding the rights of indigenous peoples, including decisions and observations by United Nations human rights mechanisms regarding States under review, and its activities at the regional or local levels and other events.
The human rights-based approach to development should be operationalized by States, the United Nations system and other intergovernmental organizations, inlcuding the international financial institutions, and should be the framework underpinning the Millennium Development Goals and poverty reduction strategies, programmes and activities. The recognition of indigenous peoples as distinct peoples and the respect for their individual and collective human rights, rights to lands and territories and sustainable use of natural resources are crucial for achieving a just and sustainable solution to the widespread poverty in their midst. Relevant international treaties, such as International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention No. 169, common article 1 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which declares that "no people shall be deprived of its own means of subsistence", as well as bilateral State-indigenous treaties or accords, should be implemented to ensure compliance and implementation
The Permanent Forum urges States that have not yet done so to ratify the Convention of the Rights of Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families.
The Permanent Forum recommends that the Plurinational State of Bolivia should continue to link its policies for the freeing of individuals and the recovery of lands in the Chaco region with a view to the territorial reconstitution of the Guaraní people, which both the Government and APG consider the ultimate objective.