The Permanent Forum urges the Governments of Central and Eastern Europe, the Russian Federation, Central Asia and Transcaucasia regions to implement international standards and norms on the rights of indigenous peoples and ensure their rights to lands, territories and resources, in particular article 20 of the Declaration. This includes recognizing reindeer herders’ use and management of grazing land and use of necessary biological resources by hunters, fishers and foragers.
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 takes note of the sixth call for proposals of the Indigenous Peoples Assistance Facility of IFAD, which is focused on advancing indigenous peoples’ biodiversity conservation and sustainable management for adaptation and resilience to climate change. The Permanent Forum urges IFAD to facilitate direct access to climate financing to indigenous peoples’ communities and organizations through the Facility and the Adaptation for Smallholder Agriculture Programme, and encourages Governments and donors to support those initiatives.