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Addressee: UNESCO; Intergovernmental Committee for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage
Paragraph Number: 92
Session: 22 (2023)
Full Text:
The Permanent Forum calls upon UNESCO, including its Intergovernmental Committee for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, to step up its policies, safeguards and actions on the protection of Indigenous Peoples’ tangible and intangible cultural heritage. UNESCO safeguards that reflect robust free, prior and informed consent protocols, as prescribed by the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, could contribute to the prevention of the destruction and desecration of Indigenous Peoples’ lands and sites by public and private enterprises. Examples include mining activities of the company Rio Tinto on the ancient Aboriginal site Juukan Gorge in Western Australia and the sacred Oak Flat of the San Carlos Apache Tribe in Arizona, United States of America.
Area of Work: Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC), Culture
Addressee: Australia
Paragraph Number: 62
Session: 22 (2023)
Full Text:
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.
Area of Work: Indigenous Children and Youth, Human rights
Addressee: UNESCO, UN entities
Paragraph Number: 93
Session: 21 (2022)
Full Text:
The Permanent Forum recalls the request it made at its fifteenth session (E/2016/43, para. 47) for UNESCO to host a joint seminar with the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and other relevant United Nations mechanisms for the purpose of exploring the development of a new international mechanism on the repatriation of ceremonial objects and human remains. In this regard, the Permanent Forum deeply regrets the absence of UNESCO from the expert group meeting organized by the Expert Mechanism in March 2020 in Vancouver, Canada, to discuss steps for the implementation of such a mechanism. The Permanent Forum recommends the leadership, involvement and cooperation of UNESCO in efforts to implement the recommendations arising from that meeting, as well as the previous recommendation of the Permanent Forum related to the repatriation of ceremonial objects and human remains, including through the creation of an international database and inventory of such items accessible to indigenous peoples as a basis for initiating dialogue. The Permanent Forum wishes to remind UNESCO and other United Nations entities that the repatriation of ceremonial objects and human remains is enshrined in articles 11 and 12 of the Declaration.
Area of Work: Methods of Work, Culture
Addressee: Member States
Paragraph Number: 59
Session: 21 (2022)
Full Text:
The Permanent Forum is deeply concerned about the particular vulnerabilities
of indigenous children. In this regard, it notes the study of the Expert Mechanism on
the Rights of Indigenous Peoples on the rights of the indigenous child under the
United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (A/HRC/48/74) and
the note by the Secretariat entitled “Update on the promotion and application of the
United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: violence against
children” (E/C.19/2022/4), prepared in collaboration with the Special Representative
of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children. The Permanent Forum calls
upon Member States to prioritize the human rights of indigenous children and young
people, in cooperation with indigenous peoples. The Permanent Forum further calls
upon those States that have not yet ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child,
including its three Optional Protocols – on a communications procedure, on the sale
of children, child prostitution and child pornography and on the involvement of
children in armed conflict, to do so as soon as possible.
Area of Work: Indigenous Children and Youth, Human Rights
Addressee: UN Office for West Africa and the Sahel
Paragraph Number: 20
Session: 21 (2022)
Full Text:
The Permanent Forum therefore requests the United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel to support Member States in the Sahel and the Congo basin in this work, in collaboration with indigenous peoples. In general, indigenous peoples should be invited to contribute to the implementation of the mandate of the Office. Other initiatives of importance to indigenous peoples are the Joint Force of the Group of Five for the Sahel and the Great Green Wall for the Sahara and the Sahel Initiative. The Permanent Forum invites the Office to attend its twenty-second session, to be held in 2023, to share information on progress in its work.
Area of Work: Cooperation, Lands and Resources
Addressee: Member States of the Sahel and Congo basin
Paragraph Number: 19
Session: 21 (2022)
Full Text:
The Permanent Forum is concerned by issues related to land tenure, the collective rights of indigenous peoples, customary rights, land-grabbing and the closure of transhumance corridors. The Permanent Forum therefore recommends that States of the Sahel and the Congo basin establish a legal framework to consolidate their national and local land tenure regimes with a view to resolving conflicts peacefully. In addition, those States should enhance access to justice for the aff ected indigenous pastoralists and provide training for judicial officials on those issues.
Area of Work: Cooperation, Lands and Resources
Addressee: Member States
Paragraph Number: 45
Session: 11 (2012)
Full Text:
The Permanent Forum commends WIPO for the establishment of the Voluntary Fund for Accredited and Indigenous Local Communities, and urges Member States and public and private entities to contribute to the Fund to ensure its operation beyond the twenty-second session of the Intergovernmental Committee in accordance with States’ commitment to article 41 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Area of Work: Traditional Knowledge, Cooperation
Addressee: WIPO
Paragraph Number: 28
Session: 10 (2011)
Full Text:
The Permanent Forum welcomes the World Intellectual Property Organization facilitating a process, in accordance with the Declaration, to engage with indigenous peoples on matters including intellectual property, genetic resources, traditional knowledge and folklore.
Area of Work: Traditional Knowledge, Cooperation
Paragraph Number: 28
Session: 14 (2015)
Full Text:
The Permanent Forum encourages Member States, in cooperation with United Nations agencies, to develop social policies that will enhance the production of indigenous peoples’ traditional foods and promote the restoration or recovery of lost drought-resistant indigenous food varieties to ensure food security. In this context, the Forum recommends that Burkina Faso, Mali and the Niger, as well as United Nations agencies such as FAO, IFAD and the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, establish a committee, in full consultation with and with the participation of indigenous peoples, aimed at preventing food crises in the sub Saharan region where indigenous peoples reside. The committee’s objective should be to prevent humanitarian disasters and, in particular, to prevent starvation at the same level as the disaster that struck the region in 1973.
Area of Work: Economic and Social Development, Culture, Environment
Addressee: Member states
Paragraph Number: 35
Session: 20 (2021)
Full Text:
Since the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development by Member States in 2015, the Permanent Forum has repeatedly highlighted the importance of ensuring the meaningful and full participation of indigenous peoples in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. Unfortunately, the world is not on track to meet globally agreed targets. This has been particularly evident during the period of the COVID-19 pandemic, in which existing inequities have been exacerbated, placing the survival of indigenous peoples at greater risk. During the pandemic, indigenous peoples, in particular indigenous women and girls, have not only been left behind, but have been left even further behind.
Area of Work: Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Indigenous Women and Girls, Indigenous Children and Youth
Addressee: Indigenous Peoples
Paragraph Number: 139
Session: 4 (2005)
Full Text:
The Forum encourages organizers of pre-sessional regional meetings of indigenous peoples to develop suggestions and recommendations for the Forum to consider and encourages its members to participate in such meetings
Area of Work: Methods of Work, Cooperation
Addressee: UNPFII
Paragraph Number: 136
Session: 4 (2005)
Full Text:
With a view to strengthening collaboration during the intersessional period, and further developing expert recommendations to member organizations of the Inter-Agency Support Group on Indigenous Issues, the Forum decides to increase visits by its members to these entities to carry out an in-depth analysis of the programs, activities and operations at the international, regional and national levels
Area of Work: Methods of Work, Cooperation
