The Forum recommends that the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, United Nations agencies and other relevant bodies provide more funds, through appropriate means, to help indigenous peoples for education, in particular, emphasizing the importance of bilingual and inter-cultural training for indigenous persons. Such funds should be used to facilitate the educational exchanges between indigenous peoples and others in order to make contributions to the cultural diversity of the world, as well as to preserve indigenous peoples’ cultural heritage.
The Permanent Forum expresses appreciation to Mr. Parshuram Tamang and Mr. Yuri Boichenko for their draft questionnaire for United Nations agencies and requests the secretariat of the Permanent Forum to use the questionnaire in seeking information from agencies for its future sessions. The Permanent Forum also supports requests from States that they receive a similar questionnaire and requests the secretariat to carry through this request, in consultation with members of the Permanent Forum.
Throughout history, indigenous peoples have moved from place to place to find water, pastureland for their animals, and game; to trade goods from different ecological zones; and even to seek job opportunities in urban areas. Mobility restrictions both within and across State borders have affected indigenous peoples adversely, with the impact on pastoralist groups particularly severe in the context of their ability to access water and food. The Permanent Forum recommends that States implement specific measures to address the mobility needs of indigenous peoples, including through cooperation with neighbouring States, and that such efforts be made with the full free, prior and informed consent of the indigenous peoples affected.
The Permanent Forum requests that UNICEF and UNESCO support intercultural and bilingual education programmes in conjunction with the indigenous peoples concerned, paying special attention to the right of girls to primary and secondary education.
The Forum recommends that United Nations agencies, funds and programmes strengthen their work on migration and its effects on indigenous peoples, and develop policies and outreach programmes for indigenous migrant and urban peoples.
In this regard, the Permanent Forum recommends that Member States and the United Nations system take due account of the outcome document and the conclusions of the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples, to be held in September 2014, given that this process is deeply interrelated with the post-2015 process and will set the context for future work on indigenous peoples’ issues.
The Permanent Forum recommends: (a) using the model of engaging directly with indigenous peoples that is used by the small grants programme delivery mechanism, developed by UNDP since 1992 for implementation of projects at the local level; and (b) strengthen engagement with indigenous peoples in developing innovative tools and methodologies that are suited to and respectful of their cultures and knowledge.
The Permanent Forum calls upon the World Bank to strengthen its accountability mechanisms so that they focus on situations in which its funded projects adversely affect indigenous peoples and also to proactively implement specific measures to meaningfully contribute to the progressive realization of the right of indigenous peoples to self-determination.
The Permanent Forum calls upon States that have not already done so to engage in constructive partnerships with indigenous peoples to achieve the ends of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and to adopt specific action plans, strategies or other measures that will deliver required financial and technical assistance to indigenous peoples in order for them to achieve and exercise self-determination.
The Permanent Forum urges all Member States and United Nations agencies and country teams to initiate indigenous human rights training and education programmes in their institutions and activities, in particular the existing and emerging international jurisprudence on the human rights and standards contained in the Declaration and their application and relevance at the national and local levels.
The Permanent Forum recognizes that as the global economy promises to “build back better” from the economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, it is imperative that international financial institutions, including the World Bank, work in close consultation with indigenous peoples and invest in their communities. Indigenous peoples are partners in restarting the global economy while also maintaining their position given to them by birth as stewards of Mother Earth.
The Permanent Forum urges States to support the economic activities of indigenous peoples, in particular indigenous women, by enhancing their equal access to productive resources and agricultural inputs, such as land, seeds, financial services, technology, transportation and information.