The Forum recommends that all human rights treaty bodies and other human rights mechanisms of the United Nations and the treaty monitoring mechanisms of ILO pay special attention to the human rights of indigenous peoples, in particular indigenous women, in the discharge of their mandates. The Forum also encourages indigenous women’s organizations and other organizations working in this area to enhance their cooperation and contacts with these mechanisms.
Taking into account the challenges faced by States in the implementation of their international obligation to consult with and obtain the free, prior and informed consent of indigenous peoples, the Permanent Forum commits itself to developing an international guide to facilitate the implementation of these principles in accordance with the standards established in the United Nations Declaration. The Forum invites the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples to collaborate on this initiative.
The Forum recommends that Member States, the intergovernmental system, international financial institutions and the private sector respect and adhere to the principle of free, prior and informed consent in all matters affecting indigenous peoples
In October 2008, a Committee on Corporate Social Responsibility was established by under the Ministry of Employment and the Economy. The Committee is responsible for encouraging Finnish enterprises to follow all national and international regulations and standards. Also, the Committee will act as the National Contact Point for complaints concerning the inappropriate behaviour of the enterprises within the meaning of the OECD guidelines referred to above under Recommendation 15.
The Permanent Forum calls upon States to ensure that racial non discrimination is guaranteed in their constitutions. The term “racial discrimination” means any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, colour, descent or national or ethnic origin that has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural or any other field of public life. The Forum calls upon States to adhere to the peremptory norm and the absolute prohibition against racial discrimination as well as all other forms of discrimination, including gender and age.
The Permanent Forum requests that UNICEF design, in partnership with other relevant United Nations agencies, a protocol for emergency situations resulting from natural disasters to ensure that, in cases of emergency, there are no violations of the human rights of indigenous peoples, especially indigenous youth, children and women, owing to forced relocation.
The Forum recommends that States consider constitutional and other legal reform and educational reform to recognize and respect cultural, religious and linguistic diversity and spiritual practices, within the framework of international human rights standards, and to eliminate all forms of discrimination and segregation that has deepened historic inequalities.
The Permanent Forum recommends that all States with indigenous peoples review their legislation, policies and programmes in accordance with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the Programme of Action for the Second International Decade of the World’s Indigenous People.
The Permanent Forum reminds States that the implementation of the United Nations Declaration provides a common framework for reconciliation, justice, healing and peace. Each State has a prime responsibility and duty to protect, promote and implement all human rights, consistent with the Charter of the United Nations and international human rights law. Furthermore, all forms of discrimination must be avoided.
Businesses, in their human rights due diligence processes, should meaningfully engage with indigenous peoples as rights holders in business decisions and outcomes affecting them. In that regard, free, prior and informed consent should be understood as their right to give or withhold consent.
It is important to recognize that indigenous peoples themselves must claim ownership of their languages and direct the revitalization efforts of the languages, while States should support these efforts and facilitate the transmission of the languages by parents and grandparents to the younger generations.
The Permanent Forum recommends to the Human Rights Council that, in the course of a universal periodic review, the situation of indigenous peoples of a country under consideration also be examined.