The Permanent Forum recommends that an expert seminar be held, without financial implications, and invites the participation of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and the Special Committee on Decolonization, to examine the impact of the United Nations decolonization process on indigenous peoples of the Non-Self-Governing Territories that are on the United Nations list of Non-Self-Governing Territories. The Forum requests that independent experts and the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous peoples be invited to participate in the seminar. Furthermore, the Forum requests that indigenous peoples under Non-Self-Governing Territories status also be invited.
The Permanent Forum expresses its grave concern about the lack of observance and implementation of indigenous peoples’ rights, as enshrined in the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989 (No. 169), the American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. This underscores the need for more awareness-raising and capacity-building regarding indigenous peoples’ rights, not only for indigenous peoples themselves, but also for government and justice officials, as well as for private sector actors and civil society at large. In this regard, the Forum welcomes the e-learning course on indigenous peoples’ rights developed by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), with the support of the Expert Mechanism and United Nations Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Peoples. The course, which is available on the OHCHR website, is a small but important contribution towards building capacities for the promotion and protection of indigenous peoples’ rights.
The Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues has analysed and discussed indigenous fishing rights in the seas on the basis of a report submitted by the Special Rapporteurs. As a result of those discussions, the Forum considers the protection of the material basis of the culture of indigenous peoples to be a part of international law that should be applied also to fishing rights in the seas, and recommends that States in which indigenous peoples live in coastal areas recognize indigenous peoples’ right to fish in the seas on the basis of historical use and international law. In that context, the Forum notes the ongoing consultations between the Government of Norway and the Sami Parliament and recommends that the Government recognize the right of the coastal Sami to fish in the seas on the basis of historical use and international law.
The Permanent Forum recommends that UNDP, OHCHR and ILO facilitate dialogue and provide support to indigenous peoples in the areas of crisis prevention and democratic governance as they relate to extractive industries operating in indigenous territories in order to achieve more effective implementation and protection of indigenous peoples’ rights.
The Permanent Forum recommends that the Human Rights Council include, where appropriate, the question of treaties, agreements and other constructive arrangements pertaining to indigenous peoples when undertaking its universal periodic review of States members.
The Permanent Forum calls upon United Nations agencies, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, other multilateral financial institutions and bilateral donors to establish clear policy commitments to protect the ancestral lands of indigenous peoples.
The Permanent Forum urges Member States, in their regular reporting to the United Nations human rights treaty bodies and, in particular, to the Human Rights Council through the universal periodic review, to include the actions taken to implement the recommendations made by the Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.
The Permanent Forum recommends that the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and relevant United Nations agencies and organs establish specific units for indigenous peoples’ issues to contribute to the implementation of the Declaration in accordance with its articles 41 and 42.
The Permanent Forum recommends that the International Labour Organization (ILO), the World Bank, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and other relevant United Nations system agencies, in cooperation with the Permanent Forum, study and summarize practices regarding the implementation of free, prior and informed consent globally, that they widely disseminate successful experiences and that they present their findings to the Permanent Forum at its twenty - fourth session, to be held in 2025.
The Forum appreciates the preparation by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights of the information note on the ways in which indigenous issues have been addressed in Charter-based mechanisms and treaty bodies. The Forum recommends that the Secretary-General prepare, in several stages, an analytical study on the subject. In the initial stage, the Forum recommends the Secretary-General prepare a study on the ways in which indigenous issues have been addressed in the consideration of reports of States parties submitted under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
The Permanent Forum notes that forced labour and all forms of servitude constitute serious human rights violations that it is urgent to address; it therefore urges the Government of Paraguay to combat these practices as a matter of urgency.
The Forum recommends that Member States review their constitutions with respect to the recognition of the existence and rights of indigenous peoples, with the effective participation of indigenous peoples