The Forum recognizes the importance of the Millennium Development Goals in the realization of social and economic development for indigenous peoples, and therefore calls upon United Nations agencies, funds and programmes to work in collaboration with indigenous peoples to achieve such objectives.
The Permanent Forum recommends that the summary and outcome of the discussion on the post-2015 process held during the twelfth session of the Forum and the outcome of the consultations held with indigenous peoples in preparation for the post-2015 development agenda be transmitted as background documents to the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals
The Forum also notes with concern that the World Bank’s operational policies, including its policy on indigenous peoples, have limited application, covering only investment lending and not other Bank operations. The Forum recommends that the outcome target of the Bank’s process to review and update its safeguards be a set of safeguards and follow-up mechanisms covering all finance instruments and all other Bank operations.
The Permanent Forum calls upon States that have not already done so to engage in constructive partnerships with indigenous peoples to achieve the ends of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and to adopt specific action plans, strategies or other measures that will deliver required financial and technical assistance to indigenous peoples in order for them to achieve and exercise self-determination.
The Permanent Forum welcomes the establishment and development of indigenous-led funds as a self-governance practice, which promote funding access to indigenous communities and shift power relations in donor and philanthropy processes. The Forum invites the broad donor and philanthropic community to support these initiatives.
In accordance with article 16 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, indigenous peoples have the right to full freedom of expression, including the right to establish their own media in their own languages. The Permanent Forum is concerned that indigenous peoples of Latin America have been criminalized for the establishment of community radio stations and urges Member States to protect the rights of indigenous communicators
The Permanent Forum decides to appoint Carlos Mamani Condori, Elisa Canqui Mollo and Pavel Sulyandziga, members of the Forum, as special rapporteurs to conduct a study, without financial implications, on indigenous peoples and corporations. The study will examine the existing mechanisms and practices, review policies on indigenous peoples, examine good practices and submit a report to the Forum at its eighth session in 2009. The Forum calls upon indigenous peoples’ representatives, States, corporations, international financial institutions and the United Nations system, in particular the United Nations Development Programme and the Global Compact, to engage in active cooperation with the special rapporteurs.
The Permanent Forum appoints Ms. Victoria Tauli-Corpuz and Mr. Pavel Sulyandziga as special rapporteurs to elaborate papers on indigenous peoples and relevant thematic issues relating to sustainable development (for example, sustainable agriculture, land, rural development, drought and desertification), for consideration by the Commission on Sustainable Development and for the submission of its reports to the Secretary-General and to represent the Permanent Forum in the Commission’s interactive dialogues with United Nations agencies. The Commission is urged to invite a member of the Permanent Forum to attend its annual sessions.
The Forum urges international donor agencies, regional organizations and States to incorporate indigenous people’s issues in the formulation of sector policies for development cooperation and to address indigenous peoples’ issues in their joint development programmes and projects to ensure that indigenous peoples and their issues are effectively mainstreamed into their work.
The Forum encourages the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to recognize the importance of and emphasize support for indigenous agricultural systems, including forestry, shifting cultivation, fisheries, livestock, pastoralism and hunting-gathering systems, and their associated biodiversity, foods, knowledge systems and cultures. It encourages FAO to promote the responsible use of culturally appropriate agricultural inputs and technology so as to protect the traditional livelihoods of indigenous peoples
The Permanent Forum recommends that the Inter-American Development Bank reconsider its policy and strategies so as to ensure the inclusion of representatives of indigenous peoples in an advisory body and incorporate the right of indigenous peoples to free, prior and informed consent, without any qualifications, into safeguard policies and project-related instruments.
Positive developments have been achieved in setting international human rights standards for the rights of indigenous peoples to lands, territories and resources, including by regional human rights mechanisms in Africa and the Americas. The Permanent Forum welcomes those developments, including the recent decision of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights in the case of the Ogiek community in Kenya. The Forum encourages indigenous peoples and States to engage further with regional mechanisms and to implement their decisions effectively.