The Permanent Forum encourages national human rights institutions to promote the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples at the national and international levels, in collaboration with Indigenous Peoples.
The Permanent Forum fully supports plans by indigenous peoples’ organizations and networks in Asia to undertake assessments of how peace agreements that affect them are being implemented in specific countries, and calls on donor agencies to support those initiatives.
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 welcomes the decision of the Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples to prepare a study on intimidation, criminalization and violence of any form directed against indigenous peoples, communities or individuals, in particular those who defend their rights under the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The Forum invites the Special Rapporteur to share her preliminary findings and recommendations with the Forum at its seventeenth session.
The Permanent Forum recommends that the Executive Office of the Secretary-General urgently set up a meeting between the Permanent Forum and the High-level Panel on United Nations System-wide Coherence in the Areas of Development, Humanitarian Assistance, and the Environment to secure the integration of indigenous peoples’ perspectives into the ongoing process of furthering system-wide coherence.
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.
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 recommends that relevant States with indigenous peoples invite the Special Rapporteur on the situation of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous peoples to undertake country visits. The Special Rapporteur should give priority to invitations from those countries where indigenous peoples have expressed concerns about their capacity to fully enjoy and freely exercise their human rights.
The Permanent Forum recommends that the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on business and human rights and the United Nations Global Compact unite their efforts in cooperation with the Forum, engaging with the private sector on issues related to indigenous peoples, including the promotion of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and its implementation.
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.
The Permanent Forum recommends that the organizations and bodies of the United Nations system and Member States organize a regional consultation with indigenous organizations and interested donors to develop a more coordinated, sustainable and longer-term programme in the region which has as its principal objective the strengthening of indigenous organizations so as to ensure that they have the technical capacity to engage with Governments and the international community on human rights.
The Permanent Forum recommends that the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) establish an institutional partnership with indigenous peoples so that they can fully participate in the monitoring and other mechanisms of UNESCO conventions and IFAD projects and programmes that are relevant to indigenous peoples. The Permanent Forum further recommends that UNESCO establish an advisory group of indigenous experts to provide advice.