The Permanent Forum notes the increasing operational activity of extractive industries and other large-scale development projects, including land grabbing, which is taking place on or near the territories of indigenous peoples in many African States, often without the involvement of indigenous peoples and without their free, prior and informed consent. The Forum recommends that African States must respect the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, in particular the right of indigenous peoples to free, prior and informed consent.
The Permanent Forum urges UNDP to further strengthen the right to self-determination of indigenous peoples by choosing indigenous peoples’ organizations as their implementing partners and responsible parties in their projects involving indigenous peoples, especially those with established track records in project implementation. As a corollary to the foregoing, government agencies created to promote and protect the rights and interests of indigenous peoples should be preferred as implementing partners in UNDP programming on indigenous peoples’ issues so that they can effectively perform their mandate
The Forum recommends to the United Nations Development Group that the indicators of the Millennium Development Goals be assessed and that additional indicators be identified to give fuller assessment of environmental sustainability.
The Forum recommends that the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)/Development Assistance Committee (DAC) invite the Forum to its fourth session to make a presentation on the work of the Forum and explore future collaboration.
The Permanent Forum invites the World Trade Organization to prepare an analysis of the ways in which indigenous peoples are affected by and included in international trade agreements and treaties, and to present it to the Permanent Forum at its twenty-third session, to be held in 2024.
The Permanent Forum appreciates the steps taken by the African Development Bank to include safeguards for indigenous peoples in its integrated safeguards system. The Forum is concerned, however, that the Bank remains the only multilateral bank not to have a stand-alone safeguard policy for indigenous peoples. The Forum recommends that the Bank fast-track, in coordination with the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights and other regional bodies, a regional policy framework for indigenous peoples in line with the provisions of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and report on progress to the Forum at its thirteenth session, in 2014. The Forum further recommends that the Bank develop a mechanism specifically to support the entrepreneurship activities of indigenous peoples.
The common country assessment/United Nations Development Assistance Framework, poverty reduction strategy papers and other development processes, national or international, should ensure the full and effective participation of indigenous peoples, including indigenous women
The Permanent Forum encourages States and United Nations agencies and funds to implement, in cooperation with indigenous peoples, proactive and substantive measures to realize the full and effective implementation of the rights affirmed in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. These measures must include greater accessibility for indigenous learners who live in remote areas or in nomadic communities. The Forum calls upon States to respect and implement article 19 of the Declaration by ensuring the free, prior and informed consent of indigenous peoples before adopting and implementing legislative or administrative measures that affect them.
The Permanent Forum appoints Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim and Vital Bambanze, members of the Forum, to conduct a study on indigenous peoples and resource conflicts in the Sahel and in the Congo Basin, and to present that study to the Forum at its twenty-first session.
The Permanent Forum requests that UNICEF coordinate its activities and operations with the United Nations Programme on Youth, the secretariat of the Forum and the Global Indigenous Youth Caucus to ensure the participation of indigenous youth in the upcoming high-level meeting on youth.
UNESCO and UNICEF should continue to promote bilingual and cross-cultural education programs for indigenous peoples and schools for girls and women's literacy progrmas in Latin America, and should encourage and expand these experiences in other regions.
The Permanent Forum welcomes such initiatives as the indigenous and local community, business and biodiversity consultation, held at United Nations Headquarters in New York on 12 and 13 May 2009, as a useful dialogue between the private sector and indigenous peoples, and encourages further discussions with a view to ensuring the effective implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples while stimulating community-level businesses based on the sustainable use of biodiversity through such creative partnerships.