The Forum recommends that UNICEF prepare a report on indigenous children who have limited or no access to direct health-care services, including recommendations to improve health-care access.
The Permanent Forum notes the general capacity-building efforts on access and benefit-sharing in the African region carried out under Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) of Germany and encourages further efforts to bolster indigenous participation in those workshops and also in developing workshops specifically for indigenous peoples and local communities.
For the post-2015 dialogue and outcomes to accomplish a sea change and paradigm shift away from a North-South dialogue to one of universally addressing the post-2015 objectives in order to improve the lives of all, including indigenous peoples in developed countries, the Forum recommends that efforts must be made to guarantee the direct participation of indigenous peoples from the world’s most developed and affluent countries in all thematic consultations, conclusions and recommendations so that their voices and concerns can be heard.
The Forum reiterates the recommendations contained in its report on its second session and strongly advises positive consideration to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and UNAIDS joining the Inter-Agency Support Group
The Forum recommends that the International Labour Organization inform the Forum at its third session of the impact of the major ILO technical cooperation programmes, in particular the International Programme for the Elimination of Child Labour, and programmes under the Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights.
Consistent with articles 7 and 30 of the United Nations Declaration, States should take measures for settlement, protection and security in the post-conflict period, and for the construction of durable and lasting peace, promoting the full and effective inclusion of indigenous peoples, including indigenous women, in any initiative for peace and reconciliation.
The Permanent Forum recommends that WHO create and convene regional round tables to address the issue of indigenous peoples and the pandemic in order to ensure that the indigenous peoples of the globe are uniquely considered in mitigation efforts. Such round tables would also offer a timely opportunity to coordinate actions for responding to the impact of the pandemic on indigenous peoples.
Recalling its recommendations made at its first, sixth and ninth sessions that called for publication of the report entitled “State of the world’s indigenous peoples”, the Permanent Forum requests the Department of Economic and Social Affairs to continue its publication of the document on a quadrennial basis.
The Permanent Forum expresses concern over the misappropriation and misuse of indigenous peoples’ cultural heritage, traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions, and urges States and companies, in cooperation with indigenous peoples, to take effective measures to recognize and protect their rights, in accordance with article 31 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. In this regard, the Permanent Forum calls upon Member States to take measures to safeguard indigenous peoples’ rights to intellectual property by adopting laws and public policies, in which it is recognized that indigenous peoples have the right over their creations, knowledge, discoveries, works, traditional cultural expressions and other elements.
Considering that indigenous peoples are empowered to assume leadership in governments at various levels, particularly at the local level, the Permanent Forum urges the United Nations system, including the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, UNDP and all other relevant agencies, with the support of Member States and donor agencies, to implement, before the convening of its next session, a platform for indigenous local-local cooperation and the establishment of a network of indigenous local governments for information exchange and capacity-building on public administration, local socio-economic governance and participatory approaches to facilitate the implementation of the goals of the United Nations Millennium Declaration and the United Nations development agenda at the local level among indigenous peoples in all regions.
The Permanent Forum commends the inclusion by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development of free, prior and informed consent in its policy on indigenous peoples, and strongly urges other multilateral and bilateral financial institutions to follow this example. In particular, the Forum calls upon the Asian Development Bank to ensure that free, prior and informed consent and the provisions of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples are integrated into its revised policy on indigenous peoples. It also calls upon the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation to review their policies and adopt free, prior and informed consent as the central principle in their dealings with indigenous peoples instead of the present free, prior, informed consultation. The international financial institutions should develop a strategy to raise staff awareness at the national and headquarters levels on indigenous peoples’ rights and development perspectives and thereby improve their relationships with indigenous peoples at the country level.
The Forum reiterates the recommendations made in its report on its first session and:
(a) Urges the World Health Organization (WHO), the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and all United Nations bodies and agencies involved in programmes relating to health to incorporate indigenous healers and cultural perspectives on health and illness into their policies, guidelines and programmes, and to undertake regional consultations with indigenous peoples on these issues, in order to mainstream indigenous health issues into the United Nations system;
(b) Urges the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to undertake a study on the relationship between food security, subsistence agricultural practices and indigenous health and illness.