The Forum decides to form a working group, including experts on statistics, to set directions for future statistical work, including that of the United Nations Statistics Division, and also decides that representatives from the Forum shall participate in scientific meetings to improve statistics in this area of work, such as the upcoming meeting sponsored by the International Association of Official Statisticians meeting, to be held in New Zealand on 14 and 15 April 2005, on the theme "Measuring small and indigenous populations".
The Permanent Forum decides to appoint Carlos Mamani Condori, Elisa Canqui Mollo and Pavel Sulyandziga, members of the Forum, as special rapporteurs to conduct a study, without financial implications, on indigenous peoples and corporations. The study will examine the existing mechanisms and practices, review policies on indigenous peoples, examine good practices and submit a report to the Forum at its eighth session in 2009. The Forum calls upon indigenous peoples’ representatives, States, corporations, international financial institutions and the United Nations system, in particular the United Nations Development Programme and the Global Compact, to engage in active cooperation with the special rapporteurs.
The Permanent Forum fully supports plans by indigenous peoples’ organizations and networks in Asia to undertake assessments of how peace agreements that affect them are being implemented in specific countries, and calls on donor agencies to support those initiatives.
The Permanent Forum recommends that the co-chairs of the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals invite members of the Forum and representatives of indigenous peoples, including indigenous women, youth and persons with disabilities, to participate in the dedicated meeting that the co-chairs intend to convene later in 2013 in order to have a comprehensive dialogue and interaction with indigenous peoples.
The Permanent Forum recommends that FAO develop an action plan to identify priorities with indigenous peoples to support their participation in the 2022 International Year of Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture.
The Forum recognizes the importance of the Millennium Development Goals in the realization of social and economic development for indigenous peoples, and therefore calls upon United Nations agencies, funds and programmes to work in collaboration with indigenous peoples to achieve such objectives.
The Permanent Forum recalls its invitation to the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights to initiate a general comment on the collective rights of indigenous peoples to lands, territories and natural resources. The Forum welcomes the decision of the Committee to draft a general comment on land and economic, social and cultural rights. However, the Forum expresses its concern about the limited participation of indigenous peoples in the drafting of the general comment and invites the Committee to consider facilitating the participation of indigenous peoples. The Forum also invites the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Peoples to provide support in this regard.
Indigenous culture and tourism is often seen as a driver of growth and development for the economies and businesses of indigenous peoples, with indigenous peoples often trivialized and viewed solely as cultural icons and objects by others. The Permanent Forum therefore recommends that United Nations agencies, in collaboration with the indigenous peoples concerned, affirm and make operational the right of indigenous peoples to determine their own priorities for development and opportunities concerning indigenous culture and tourism.
The Forum also notes with concern that the World Bank’s operational policies, including its policy on indigenous peoples, have limited application, covering only investment lending and not other Bank operations. The Forum recommends that the outcome target of the Bank’s process to review and update its safeguards be a set of safeguards and follow-up mechanisms covering all finance instruments and all other Bank operations.
The Permanent Forum urges the World Food Programme to respect the habitual diet of indigenous peoples and to avoid the introduction of foreign foods of low nutritional quality in indigenous peoples’ communities. Furthermore, the Permanent Forum urges the World Food Programme to ensure that its methods of intervention are sensitive to indigenous peoples’ social fabric and respectful of their perceptions of the humanitarian-development nexus.
As highlighted in article 31 of the Declaration, the Permanent Forum requests that both WIPO and States take effective measures and establish mechanisms to recognize the right of indigenous peoples to protect their intellectual property, including their cultural heritage, traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions, as well as the manifestations of their sciences, technologies and cultures, including human and genetic resources, seeds, medicines, knowledge of the properties of fauna and flora, oral traditions, literatures, designs, sports and traditional games, and visual and performing arts.
The Permanent Forum welcomes the establishment and development of indigenous-led funds as a self-governance practice, which promote funding access to indigenous communities and shift power relations in donor and philanthropy processes. The Forum invites the broad donor and philanthropic community to support these initiatives.