The Forum recommends that concerned State Governments conduct workshops, training courses and other programmes for indigenous peoples, on a regular basis, to enhance their interest in the cultural diversity of the world and thus increase awareness about preserving distinct indigenous peoples’ culture.
The Permanent Forum also recommends that States, United Nations organizations and indigenous peoples’ organizations strengthen the necessary communication, education and information infrastructure and support networks of educators on indigenous issues. Information and communication technologies (ICT) for indigenous peoples must be supported in order to close the technological and information gap.
The Forum recommends that Member States adopt legislation acknowledging that the traditional knowledge of indigenous peoples is their inalienable cultural heritage and embodies their cultural identity and that they make available such legislation and information in local indigenous languages.
The Permanent Forum recommends that the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, the United Nations Children’s Fund and other relevant United Nations entities collaborate with indigenous organizations in all regions to develop comprehensive guidelines, including best practices for culturally safe sex education by and for indigenous peoples. That type of comprehensive education may serve as an effective violence-prevention means.
The Forum welcomes and encourages the active involvement of representatives of indigenous peoples and local communities in the work of the WIPO Committee and in parallel consultations and workshops organized by WIPO, and calls for such involvement to be enhanced through, inter alia, the greater use in the work of WIPO of position papers, case studies and information materials reflecting community experiences and perspectives and the funding of the participation of representatives of indigenous peoples and local communities in sessions of the WIPO Committee.
Aware of the massive exodus of indigenous youth to the alien environments of cities around the world and the discrimination, socio-economic hardships, weakened family networks and drug abuse, inter alia, affecting those youngsters and "street children", the Forum requests the World Bank, the ILO and UNICEF to conduct an in-depth comparative study of legal frameworks and social programmes addressing indigenous urban youth in selected countries. The study should assess key problems and best practices and should provide recommendations for the formulation of policies and strategies for future action.
The Permanent Forum recommends that States implement the principles contained in General Comment No. 21 (2009) of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights on article 15, paragraph 1 (a), of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights regarding the right of everyone to take part in cultural life. In its interpretation of the article, the Committee takes into account the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. It consequently distinguishes the right of indigenous peoples to take part in their own culture from the same right as it applies to minorities. This distinction is made in particular as a result of the extension of the concept of indigenous culture to material aspects such as territories and resources.
The Permanent Forum requests that UNICEF operationalize and implement its strategic framework on indigenous and minority children and report to the Forum in 2012 on measures undertaken to that end.
The Permanent Forum recommends that FAO, in coordination with indigenous peoples, organize training and other capacity-building development, as well as establish mechanisms for engagement such as working groups and appropriate representation of indigenous peoples in relevant instruments and bodies of FAO, and provide a progress report on those activities to the Forum at its fifteenth session.
The Permanent Forum also calls upon Member States to adopt effective measures to create a sustainable language environment by using information technologies and educational systems and by documenting and monitoring indigenous/native languages and using these languages in public spheres.
Recognizing the important partnership of WIPO and the Forum, the Forum makes the following recommendations to further this working relationship:
(a) The Forum strongly encourages representatives of indigenous peoples and local communities to participate actively in the work of WIPO in relation to genetic resources, traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions/ folklore, in particular through the submission of comments, case studies and position papers, including on the new WIPO web page established for this purpose;
(b) The Forum calls upon WIPO and member States, funds, foundations and other donors to provide funding to facilitate the participation of indigenous peoples, local communities and the Forum in sessions of the WIPO Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore and in related consultations, caucuses, briefings and workshops;
(c) The Forum recommends that, under the auspices of the Forum and in partnership with the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, WIPO develop, in close consultation with indigenous peoples and local communities, the Forum and other organizations and stakeholders, as appropriate, guidelines, ethical codes of conduct, best practices and practical guides relating to intellectual property issues and the access to and use of traditional cultural expressions and knowledge by, among others, commercial users, ethnologists, folklorists and anthropologists, and museums and archives;
(d) The Forum confirms its readiness and willingness to provide expert input to the work of WIPO on intellectual property, traditional knowledge and folklore, such as its work on studying how customary and indigenous laws and protocols could be recognized and applied within national, regional and international systems for the protection of traditional knowledge and cultural expressions.