The Forum recalls its mandate to "prepare and disseminate information on indigenous issues", and invites indigenous peoples’ organizations to consider creative ways of educating and disseminating information on the Forum to indigenous peoples’ organizations and communities, including through art, workshops, radio programmes, posters, indigenous journalism and other culturally appropriate media. To that end, the Forum recommends that the programmes, funds and agencies of the United Nations system allocate appropriate resources for this purpose, assist in the production of such materials, include indigenous professionals in the production of such materials and report to the Forum at its third session on the extent to which they have been able to incorporate these actions into their programmes of work. The Forum also recommends that the United Nations Development Fund for Women allocate funding for capacity-building in connection with the Forum and for special outreach to indigenous women. The Forum furthermore recommends that the United Nations Children’s Fund allocate funding for capacity-building in connection with the Forum and for special outreach to indigenous children and youth.
The Permanent Forum recommends that States recognize the language rights of indigenous peoples and develop language policies to promote and protect indigenous languages, with a focus on high-quality education in indigenous languages, including by supporting full immersion methods such as language nests and innovative methods such as nomadic schools. It is essential that States develop evidence-based legislation and policies to promote and protect indigenous languages and, in that regard, they should collect and disseminate baseline information on the status of indigenous languages. These activities should be conducted in close cooperation with the indigenous peoples concerned.
Recalling article 14 of the Declaration and the recommendation made by the Permanent Forum at its third session, the Forum urges Member States to adopt and fully implement comprehensive national indigenous education policies and bring into practice the education of indigenous languages teachers in accordance with indigenous peoples’ initiatives.
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.
The Forum welcomes the establishment of indigenous education caucuses and looks forward to working with them to promote mutual indigenous education goals, and urges indigenous educators to become actively involved in these useful structures.
The Permanent Forum recognizes that the role of boarding schools for indigenous children has attracted considerable international attention. In some countries, boarding schools have had a very negative, even tragic, impact on the families, cultures and identities of indigenous peoples. At the same time, in some regions of the world, boarding schools are considered an important step for the successful social integration and education of indigenous children into mainstream society. The situation is complex. The Permanent Forum therefore recommends that an expert member conduct an in-depth comprehensive and comparative case study on this subject, with a focus on best practices. Furthermore, where negative impacts have occurred, the Permanent Forum supports the call of indigenous peoples for formal apologies from the States concerned.
The Forum invites indigenous peoples, States and relevant organizations of the United Nations system to share experiences on education that represent best practices at the primary or community levels, based on indigenous cultures and traditions. The outcome of such discussions should be published and disseminated widely
The Permanent Forum encourages States and United Nations agencies and funds to implement, in cooperation with indigenous peoples, proactive and substantive measures to realize the full and effective implementation of the rights affirmed in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. These measures must include greater accessibility for indigenous learners who live in remote areas or in nomadic communities. The Forum calls upon States to respect and implement article 19 of the Declaration by ensuring the free, prior and informed consent of indigenous peoples before adopting and implementing legislative or administrative measures that affect them.
The Permanent Forum urges indigenous peoples’ organizations and academic institutions, in particular indigenous peoples’ universities, to prepare thematic studies, within the mandate areas of the Forum, as a contribution to the preparatory processes leading up to the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples in 2014.
The Permanent Forum acknowledges the efforts and initiatives of States and United Nations agencies to promote mother-tongue based multilingual education, develop health programmes and provide skills to indigenous children and youth. In this regard, the Forum encourages States and United Nations agencies to increase their efforts in a targeted and wide-scale manner to respond to the needs and priorities of indigenous children and youth, especially in the areas of education and health, in a manner that is culturally sensitive and ensures their overall well-being consistent with articles 11, 14, 41 and 42 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
The Permanent Forum remains concerned about the state of formal education for indigenous young people and calls upon States to fully fund bilingual and culturally appropriate primary, secondary and tertiary education programmes led by indigenous peoples, including mobile education initiatives for nomadic and semi-nomadic communities. Supporting informal and formal indigenous education systems is crucial in order to maintain and transmit traditional indigenous knowledge systems.
The Permanent Forum urges States to implement articles 11 and 13 of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, in particular in relation to the practice and revitalization of indigenous peoples’ languages, cultural traditions and customs as a way of building resilience and preventing self-harm, violence and suicide.