The Permanent Forum urges States, United Nations agencies and indigenous peoples’ organizations to collaborate with UN-Habitat and other United Nations agencies in their development of policy guidelines for local authorities on urban indigenous issues.
The Permanent Forum encourages resident coordinators and United Nations country teams to ensure the full and effective participation of indigenous peoples, including indigenous women and youth, in the preparation of the United Nations Development Assistance Frameworks and country programme action plans.
The Permanent Forum thus welcomes FAO efforts to develop a policy on indigenous peoples’ issues which will help organization staff to work with indigenous peoples in a more systematic way. With a view to strengthening FAO work with indigenous peoples, the Permanent Forum encourages the organization to finalize the draft policy as soon as possible and to submit it to senior management for approval.
The Permanent Forum invites Member States to organize intersessional meetings to discuss cooperation on pertinent topics with the Permanent Forum.
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 Forum expresses its appreciation to all those who contributed to the Trust Fund for the support of the Forum and calls upon Governments, intergovernmental organizations, foundations and non-governmental organizations to give generously to the Fund
In order to improve the implementation of its recommendations, the Permanent Forum calls upon United Nations agencies to ensure that there are systems in place to share information with and distribute information to indigenous peoples at the local level so that they have the opportunity to engage with the work of the United Nations at the country level and express their views and concerns and implement their policies. The Forum also encourages indigenous peoples’ organizations to engage actively with the United Nations system at the country level and urges United Nations resident coordinators’ offices to engage with indigenous peoples’ organizations and representatives and ensure their active participation and consultation in policy dialogues at the national level.
The round tables, workshops, hearings and preparatory conferences should focus on action-oriented outcomes based on inclusive and participatory processes, to be accorded official status. A drafting committee could be appointed by the President of the General Assembly for that purpose, in consultation with Member States and indigenous peoples.
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
Indigenous peoples have been a distinct constituency at the United Nations since 1977 and, with the adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples by the General Assembly in 2007, their inherent rights were affirmed as the international minimum standard. The Permanent Forum reiterates the position of the Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, namely that it is unacceptable to undermine the status and standing of indigenous peoples by combining or equating them with non-indigenous entities such as minorities, vulnerable groups or local communities. Such attempts, whether by States or United Nations entities, are not acceptable and will be challenged by indigenous peoples and those mandated to defend their rights. The Permanent Forum urges all United Nations entities and States parties to treaties concerning the environment, biodiversity and the climate to eliminate the use of the term “local communities” in conjunction with indigenous peoples, so that the term “indigenous peoples and local communities” would be abolished.
The Permanent Forum welcomes the document of the Commission of the European Communities (COM (2008)), Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council: The European Union and the Arctic Region delivered in Brussels on 20 November 2008 and urges the European Union to begin implementing the recommendations relevant to indigenous peoples from this document.