In the spirit of the special theme of its third session, "indigenous women", the Forum recognizes that the instruments relating to human rights, including the fundamental rights of indigenous women and girls, have been elaborated. Nevertheless, indigenous women continue to be one of the most marginalized groups in many countries, being victims of serious acts of discrimination and flagrant violations of their fundamental rights. The continuing gap between the proclamation and the implementation of human rights is largely due to the lack of commitment on the part of Governments to fully promote and protect those rights, as well as to the lack of awareness of human rights and fundamental freedoms in society, including at the community level.
The Permanent Forum requests all States to include developments relating to the rights of indigenous peoples in their regular reports to the Human Rights Council under the universal periodic review mechanism.
The Forum welcomes UNDP’s contribution to the Forum and its support of the establishment of a working group on free, prior and informed consent and of the initiative to develop a land rights policy. The Forum also recognizes the key role UNDP can play in data collection and disaggregation through its national human development reports and the Millennium Development Goals reports. The Forum also recognizes that the Goals can provide an overall framework for furthering indigenous peoples’ development.
The Permanent Forum recommends that human rights treaty bodies begin to undertake dialogue and cooperation with indigenous peoples’ organizations with a view to discussing the preparation of general comments relevant to indigenous peoples, and that those bodies be encouraged to formulate recommendations and general comments within their competence on the rights of indigenous peoples.
The Permanent Forum recommends that the full, effective and direct representation and participation of indigenous peoples, including their indigenous governments, councils, parliaments and other political institutions, should be ensured at all United Nations forums and multilateral and bilateral negotiations, and in the drafting processes of the corresponding emerging instruments, for example, those under discussion at the World Bank, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity. Such instruments must be harmonized with the Declaration, which is regarded as a reflection of the minimum human rights standards necessary for the promotion and protection of indigenous peoples, nations and communities. Such instruments should be consistent with or exceed those minimum standards.
The Forum recommends that Member States investigate the alarming rate of incarceration of indigenous women and communicate their findings to the Permanent Forum
The active participation of indigenous peoples and indigenous organizations should be ensured when matters affecting their rights are discussed by the Human Rights Council and any subsidiary bodies or processes that it decides to establish.
The Permanent Forum requests that the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises and the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous peoples identify the actions of transnational corporations that may breach the inherent rights detailed in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and further invites them to present a report to the Forum at its eighth session, in 2009.
The Permanent Forum recommends that OHCHR take a leading role in ensuring that United Nations country teams undertake their policies or programmes affecting indigenous peoples in cooperation with indigenous peoples’ representatives and organizations.
The Permanent Forum regrets the continuous killings, violence and harassment targeted at indigenous human rights defenders, including indigenous women, in the context of resisting mining and infrastructure projects and other such developments. The Permanent Forum therefore invites Member States to honour their human rights obligations. In this regard, the Permanent Forum welcomes General Assembly resolution 76/148 on the rights of indigenous peoples, in which States are urged to take necessary measures to ensure the rights, protection and safety of indigenous peoples, including indigenous leaders and indigenous human rights defenders, and to ensure that perpetrators are held accountable and that access to justice and remedy is guaranteed.
The Permanent Forum recommends that Governments and United Nations agencies assign resources for communication activities, strengthen access to information and draw greater attention to the issues of indigenous peoples in the media, using various forms of media outreach, in order to complement the activities of the Department of Public Information.
The Permanent Forum denounces the extrajudicial killings of indigenous leaders and activists in several Asian States, as reported by the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous peoples and the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, and urges the concerned countries to investigate these reported cases and to provide redress to the relatives of the victims.