The Forum recommends that UNICEF consider the appointment of a goodwill ambassador of indigenous children and youth to raise public awareness and that it urge all UNICEF ambassadors to pay attention to the specific problems of indigenous children and youth.
The Permanent Forum notes the initiative of the United Nations country team in Nicaragua to establish a consultative committee comprising members of indigenous peoples, Afrodescendants and country team staff, in order to promote and strengthen the realization of the rights and principles set out in international human rights instruments. The Permanent Forum urges other United Nations country teams to follow this example and establish similar consultative mechanisms.
The Permanent Forum notes the initiative of the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) to develop a new health plan for indigenous youth in Latin America and invites PAHO/WHO to report on progress achieved in implementing the plan to the Forum at its seventeenth session.
The Permanent Forum calls on Member States, UNDP and other relevant organizations to effectively involve indigenous peoples in the review processes of the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals at the national and local levels and to ensure that disaggregated data on how the Goals are achieved in indigenous peoples territories be included.
The Forum encourages organizers of pre-sessional regional meetings of indigenous peoples to develop suggestions and recommendations for the Forum to consider and encourages its members to participate in such meetings
Bearing in mind the principle of free, prior and informed consent as enshrined in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the Permanent Forum recommends that relevant UNICEF materials be translated into the languages of and made accessible to the indigenous peoples with whom the Fund is working so that they can participate fully in the planning and implementation of projects that directly or indirectly affect them.
The Permanent Forum reaffirms its support for the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Populations, which supports indigenous participation to attend its sessions. The Permanent Forum welcomes the contributions made by donors. It notes that contributions to the fund have fallen drastically in recent years and therefore encourages all Governments and others to contribute generously to the Fund.
Recognizing and appreciating the progress made, but at the same time acknowledging that further work needs to be done, it is urged that recommendations by the Forum at its past sessions that are of particular relevance to children and youth be implemented immediately
The Permanent Forum welcomes the report of the technical expert group meeting on indicators, mechanisms and data for assessing the implementation of indigenous peoples’ rights, held in Geneva in September 2010 by the International Labour Organization (ILO), the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the secretariat of the Permanent Forum. The report sets out important principles and guidance for further work. The Permanent Forum recommends that the Inter-Agency Support Group on Indigenous Peoples’ Issues and, in particular, ILO, OHCHR and the secretariat of the Permanent Forum continue their work to develop a common framework for monitoring the situation and well-being of indigenous peoples and the implementation of the Declaration, including the identification of indigenous-appropriate indicators, possible data sources and linkages to relevant mechanisms. The process should be taken forward in a collaborative manner with other interested institutions, ensuring full consultation and participation of indigenous peoples.
The Permanent Forum recommends that UNDP utilize the expertise of Permanent Forum members by keeping them informed of programmes and projects involving indigenous peoples within their areas of responsibility and obtaining their input and involvement on proposed projects and subsequent implementation.
The Forum on Indigenous Issues 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, sexual exploitation, militarization, displacement, incarceration, labour and others
The Forum, deeply concerned about the harmful and widespread impact of armed conflict on indigenous children, recommends that the Committee on the Rights of the Child make recommendations on the situation of the human rights of indigenous children involved in armed conflict, taking into account the principles and norms contained in the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict.