On the basis of the constructive dialogue between the Permanent Forum and the Inter-Agency Support Group on Indigenous Peoples’ Issues, the Forum recommends that the members of the Support Group demonstrate strong commitment from the highest level, including by: (a) Institutionalizing dialogue between the expert members of the Forum and the principals of the funds, programmes and specialized agencies of the United Nations system; (b) Allocating sufficient resources to implement the system-wide action plan for ensuring a coherent approach to achieving the ends of the United Nations Declaration; (c) Establishing institutional consultation mechanisms to ensure active collaboration and partnership with indigenous peoples at the national, regional and global levels, in both developing and developed countries; (d) Incorporating specific targets and indicators with disaggregated data to address the key issues and priorities of indigenous peoples at the national level; (e) Ensuring active cooperation between the Support Group and Forum members holding relevant agency portfolios.
The Permanent Forum recommends that when planning, preparing and implementing its programmes and projects, IFAD conduct the necessary investigations so as to ensure that the particularities and cultural sensitivities of indigenous peoples involved in and affected by the programmes and projects are taken into account. The Permanent Forum underlines the fact that indigenous peoples are to be engaged as an active and equal partner in all processes and phases of programmes and projects.
The Permanent Forum welcomes General Assembly resolution 65/198, by which it expanded the mandate of the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Populations to facilitate the participation of indigenous representatives in meetings of the Human Rights Council and the human rights treaty bodies. With the large number of human rights violations that indigenous representatives bring to the Permanent Forum, it encourages indigenous representatives to take advantage of this opportunity.
The Permanent Forum encourages international financial institutions to establish policy mechanisms and programme frameworks requiring corporations to comply with the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, which were unanimously endorsed by the Human Rights Council in 2011, in addition to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, International Labour Organization Convention No. 169, the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.
With regard to paragraph 139 of the report of the Permanent Forum on its sixth session, the Forum calls upon Governments, indigenous peoples organizations, regional administrations and local self-governance organs of the countries of the Arctic region to take an active part in the discussion on the Arctic region at the eighth session of the Forum. The Forum urges the Board of Trustees of the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Populations to give special consideration to applications from indigenous participants from the Arctic region.
The Permanent Forum reiterates its concern that reports developed and presented by many States on the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals and poverty reduction strategy papers still do not adequately include and address indigenous peoples nor do they include their participation, and therefore calls on States to rectify this weakness and on United Nations agencies to support their efforts. While the Millennium Development Goals provide an important international framework for addressing extreme poverty and health and social outcomes, the Permanent Forum recommends that it is vital that further work be undertaken to ensure that the related programmes reflect full appreciation and respect for the rights and aspirations of indigenous peoples. This work should utilize the results of the workshops on indicators.
The Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues has analysed and discussed indigenous fishing rights in the seas on the basis of a report submitted by the Special Rapporteurs. As a result of those discussions, the Forum considers the protection of the material basis of the culture of indigenous peoples to be a part of international law that should be applied also to fishing rights in the seas, and recommends that States in which indigenous peoples live in coastal areas recognize indigenous peoples’ right to fish in the seas on the basis of historical use and international law. In that context, the Forum notes the ongoing consultations between the Government of Norway and the Sami Parliament and recommends that the Government recognize the right of the coastal Sami to fish in the seas on the basis of historical use and international law.
The Permanent Forum considers continued analysis of national reports on the Millennium Development Goals vital in order to ensure that they take into account the realization of the rights of indigenous peoples and indigenous perspectives.
The Permanent Forum notes that representatives of extractive industries, although invited, were unable to attend the International Expert Workshop on Indigenous Peoples’ Rights, Corporate Accountability and the Extractive Industries, held in Manila from 27 to 29 March 2009. The Forum also notes that the International Council on Mining and Metals is in the process of developing a set of voluntary guidelines for the industry for engagement with indigenous peoples. The Forum invites the Council at the conclusion of the development of the guidelines to forward a copy to the secretariat of the Permanent Forum. The Forum decides to forward a copy of the report of the International Expert Workshop to the International Council on Mining and Metals.
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.
The Permanent Forum urges the Government of Canada to work with the Friendship Centre Movement and other relevant organizations to determine how it can strengthen its roles and responsibilities with regard to urban indigenous peoples.
The Permanent Forum expresses concern over the misappropriation and misuse of indigenous peoples’ cultural heritage, traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions, and urges States and companies, in cooperation with indigenous peoples, to take effective measures to recognize and protect their rights, in accordance with article 31 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. In this regard, the Permanent Forum calls upon Member States to take measures to safeguard indigenous peoples’ rights to intellectual property by adopting laws and public policies, in which it is recognized that indigenous peoples have the right over their creations, knowledge, discoveries, works, traditional cultural expressions and other elements.