The Forum is deeply concerned that particular problems and discrimination are faced by indigenous children and youth, including in the areas of education, health, culture, extreme poverty, mortality, incarceration, labour and other relevant areas. The Forum notes the need for new indicators to be developed by the United Nations that will specifically target those problems, and in that regard invites UNICEF to develop such new indicators and share them with other entities of the United Nations system, especially UNESCO.
United Nations agencies should provide incentives and funding opportunities for indigenous youth organizations to initiate non-formal education activities targeting girls and women. Where initiatives already exist, they should develop replication strategies and scale up existing initiatives
The Permanent Forum recommends that indigenous peoples’ organizations, as well as the United Nations entities in the Inter-Agency Network on Youth Development and the Inter-Agency Support Group on Indigenous Peoples’ Issues, consult indigenous youth-led organizations in order to include issues pertaining to indigenous youth in their work at the local, national, regional and global levels.
The Permanent Forum is concerned about the reduction in indigenous-specific funding for programmes and projects by United Nations agencies, funds and programmes, for example the depletion of resources of the voluntary fund of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) for accredited indigenous peoples and local community observers. The Forum recommends that such United Nations entities ensure substantial funding to support targeted programmes and projects for indigenous peoples consistent with article 41 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
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.
The Permanent Forum recognizes the right to participate in decision-making and the importance of mechanisms and procedures for the full and effective participation of indigenous peoples in relation to article 18 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The Forum reiterates that the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, the Convention on Biological Diversity, the World Intellectual Property Organization and the International Maritime Organization should facilitate indigenous peoples’ participation in their processes.
The Permanent Forum recommends that UNICEF continue to gather data on the issue of children and migration and information on the effects of migration on children, recognizing in particular the situation of indigenous children, the risks of serious exploitation, such as trafficking in human beings for various purposes, and the restoration of rights to victims and vulnerable children, such as street children, through all country-level programmes.
Youth employment poverty-reduction strategies of States and the intergovernmental system should especially focus on indigenous youth, women and men, who are among the most marginalized within the current economic system. Addressing the needs of indigenous youth will also help to achieve Millennium Development Goal 3 and address pressures and problems arising from mass rural-to-urban migration
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 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 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
Since the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development by Member States in 2015, the Permanent Forum has repeatedly highlighted the importance of ensuring the meaningful and full participation of indigenous peoples in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. Unfortunately, the world is not on track to meet globally agreed targets. This has been particularly evident during the period of the COVID-19 pandemic, in which existing inequities have been exacerbated, placing the survival of indigenous peoples at greater risk. During the pandemic, indigenous peoples, in particular indigenous women and girls, have not only been left behind, but have been left even further behind.