The Permanent Forum welcomes the study entitled “Free, prior and informed consent: a human rights-based approach” (A/HRC/39/62), prepared by the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. It encourages Member States, United Nations entities, including the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the World Bank, regional development banks, the private sector, civil society organizations and other stakeholders, to use the study as guidance for understanding the principle of free, prior and informed consent when working on issues of concern to indigenous peoples. The Forum also encourages indigenous peoples to use the study to guide the development of their own community protocols on free, prior and informed consent for engaging with these stakeholders.
The Permanent Forum recommends that United Nations organizations, funds and programmes, in particular the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), prepare a special report for the Conference on the realization of the rights of indigenous peoples, the objectives of the Second International Decade of the World’s Indigenous People, the Millennium Development Goals and the United Nations development agenda beyond 2015. It also recommends that the report contain disaggregated statistics in relation to indigenous women, youth and children and address associated thematic issues such as economic sustainability and youth employment.
The Permanent Forum is concerned that the regional presence, representation and services of United Nations agencies in the Asia-Pacific region are limited mostly to the Asian subregion, and recommends that all United Nations agencies review their operations to provide equal services to the Pacific subregion and identify their operations separately according to the two subregions.
Should members of the Forum wish to submit working papers to the Forum under the various areas of its mandate, they are hereby formally recommended to do so.
The Forum welcomes the new initiative of the Bank entitled "Grants facility for indigenous peoples", and urges the Bank to organize consultations with indigenous peoples’ organizations to further the process.
The Permanent Forum is very concerned that indigenous peoples continue to report difficulties in participating in UNDP projects and engaging with UNDP offices. The Forum recommends that UNDP improve access to information on the Programme for indigenous peoples and ensure easier access to its staff members in country offices. UNDP should promote mechanisms that ensure a constructive and institutionalized dialogue between indigenous peoples and United Nations country teams at the country level, for example, by establishing advisory boards composed of indigenous representatives who can bring their perspectives to United Nations programming processes and policies.
The Permanent Forum recommends that all indigenous peoples make use, whenever appropriate, of the early warning measures and urgent procedures established by the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. These early warning measures and procedures are aimed at preventing existing situations from escalating into conflicts and respond to problems requiring immediate attention to prevent or limit the scale or number of serious violations of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. The Forum also recommends that the Committee’s Working Group on Early Warning and Urgent Action Procedures urgently address the serious human rights violations and the criminalization of indigenous peoples in the Amazon in order for the Committee to take effective measures.
The Permanent Forum calls upon the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs to publish a comprehensive report on the state of indigenous peoples, similar to the Human Development Report, to mark the Decade.
As part of the active engagement of IFAD with indigenous peoples’ issues, the Permanent Forum recommends that the Indigenous Peoples Assistance Facility be incorporated into the organization’s general budget so as to guarantee sustainability and the transfer of good practices and lessons learned within IFAD programmes and projects. The Permanent Forum also recommends that the facility extend its funding directly to indigenous peoples’ organizations. Support for indigenous peoples’ organizations should have as its point of departure the co-administration and co implementation of the projects.
Taking into account paragraphs 11, 14, 15, 17 and 26 of the outcome document of the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples and article 23 of the United Nations Declaration, the Permanent Forum reminds Member States of the need to implement their commitments through national action plans, strategies or other measures, developed jointly and effectively with indigenous representatives on the basis of the right of free, prior and informed consent, in particular to ensure the adequate training and availability of health professionals in indigenous communities as a matter of urgency.
The Forum recommends that UNDP continue its work on supporting local-level initiatives, such as the equator initiative, the community water initiative, the community-based initiative and the assisting communities together project.
The Permanent Forum urges the World Bank to work on a sustained basis with the Government of Cambodia to effectively implement the management action plan resulting from the inspection panel case for the “Forest concession management and control pilot project”, which includes the termination of all existing logging concessions and the promotion of equitable and sustainable alternatives for forest management.