The Permanent Forum also urges States to fund and deliver training in suicide prevention and mental health awareness to all teaching and non-teaching staff in all schools attended by indigenous children. The development of localized training programmes adapted to each culture consistent with articles 11, 14, 15 and 31 should be encouraged.
The Permanent Forum deems it urgently necessary for UNDP to develop a deeper understanding of indigenous peoples’ world views. This requires, inter alia, that UNDP enhance its own capacity in the area of the human rights of indigenous peoples by having, at least, one full-time adviser on indigenous peoples’ rights. This adviser should be an indigenous professional who has experience working in or with indigenous organizations. The Permanent Forum further recommends that UNDP establish internal mechanisms to monitor and ensure compliance with its own programmes and operations policies and procedures related to indigenous peoples’ rights. The UNDP Liaison Committee on Indigenous Peoples’ Issues, in collaboration with the Permanent Forum, should develop a system to receive concerns from indigenous peoples and ensure the application of the internal policies and procedures of UNDP.
The Permanent Forum encourages national and international financial institutions to target indigenous peoples as beneficiaries of their micro-financing mechanisms and other relevant mechanisms, with the free, prior and informed consent of indigenous peoples.
The Permanent Forum recommends that Member States continue to develop legislation to support genuine indigenous representation and participation in decision-making. Legislative measures that create practical, economic, legal and political difficulties for the establishment and functioning of indigenous organizations and institutions worldwide should be addressed in order to allow for cross-border and international cooperation between indigenous peoples of different countries and with and within international organizations on issues and processes affecting them.
Given the unique role of information and communications technology companies in the design, development and use of contemporary language technologies, the Permanent Forum reiterates its invitation to the private sector to contribute to the International Decade. The Permanent Forum encourages these companies to continue to develop digital platforms, in cooperation with indigenous peoples and academic institutions, in order to compile information archives for the preservation and revitalization of indigenous languages, language corpora, speech recognition, machine translation and synthesis tools, digital dictionaries and online courses.
Sport and physical education are an essential element of quality education, and promote positive values and skills which have a quick but lasting impact on young people. Sports activities and physical education generally make school more attractive and improve attendance.
The high rate of indigenous children who are out of school requires urgent attention, in particular in respect of securing access by girls to high-quality and relevant education that respects the cultures and traditions of the communities and that is responsive to their needs. Given that many indigenous peoples live in regions that have been defined as geographically remote or inaccessible, and many services do not reach such indigenous and/or nomadic communities, there are also serious challenges regarding the long distances required to reach hospitals and health-care centres, which lead to higher maternal and infant mortality rates in indigenous communities. The Permanent Forum urges States to ensure that health and education services reach remote areas and meet the needs of nomadic peoples.
The Permanent Forum welcomes the recent entry into force of the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The Forum encourages Member States to accede to the Optional Protocol and requests the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights to consider the preparation of a general comment on the economic, social and cultural rights of indigenous peoples.
The Forum recommends that a meeting of international financial institutions be convened, with the
participation of the Forum, to consider issues related to their policies, procedures and relationships concerning indigenous peoples, and that a report of the meeting be prepared for consideration at