The Permanent Forum welcomes the work of the Government of Bangladesh with United Nations country offices to support peace in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. The Permanent Forum further welcomes the ongoing study on the status of implementation of the Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Accord of 1997 and invites the Government of Bangladesh, with the full and effective participation of indigenous peoples, to report on the results of the study at the twenty-second session of the Permanent Forum, setting a timeframe for its full implementation. The Permanent Forum also calls upon the Government of Bangladesh to continue to address all forms of violence, including enforced disappearances, and sexual violence against women in the Chittagong Hill Tracts committed by law enforcement agencies.
The Permanent Forum urges United Nations bodies and specialized agencies to implement the Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States.
The Permanent Forum commends existing small-grant schemes and programmes, since they often enable indigenous peoples’ organizations to play an active role in implementing the recommendations of the Forum. The Forum encourages the United Nations system to develop small-grant schemes and to increase the level of funding aimed directly at indigenous peoples and also to continue establishing mechanisms to ensure that they effectively reach and benefit indigenous peoples at the local level and provide funds directly to indigenous organizations for socioculturally appropriate project implementation.
The Permanent Forum recommends that OHCHR pursue its efforts to encourage increased use of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples by national human rights institutions.
In this regard, the Forum invites the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to pay special attention to the situation of indigenous peoples and address these issues in accordance with their mandates. The Forum recommends that IOM and UNHCR develop specific guidelines on indigenous migrants and to actively participate in the Inter-Agency Support Group on Indigenous Peoples’ Issues.
The Permanent Forum encourages international financial institutions to establish policy mechanisms and programme frameworks requiring corporations to comply with the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, which were unanimously endorsed by the Human Rights Council in 2011, in addition to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, International Labour Organization Convention No. 169, the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.
The Permanent Forum urges all Arctic States to endorse and implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
The Forum recommends that all Member States, with the assistance of United Nations agencies, as necessary develop capacity-building programs, including curricula that have a strong human rights focus, including collective rights of indigenous peoples, across the spectrum of national educational institutions
The Forum invites the Economic and Social Council and the regional commissions to present reports on the economic situation, scenarios and impacts of free-trade policies, especially the North American Free Trade Agreement and the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas, with emphasis on indigenous peoples.
The Permanent Forum recommends that Member States take measures to advance indigenous women’s right to intercultural health through its inclusion in legal frameworks and public policies, as well as programmes to guarantee culturally, geographically and financially appropriate health and social services.
Considering the continued threats facing indigenous peoples living in voluntary isolation and initial contact, and given their unique vulnerability in the time of the pandemic, the Permanent Forum recommends that local populations in the territories and adjacent areas of indigenous peoples living in voluntary isolation and initial contact be prioritized in COVID-19 vaccination plans. The Forum reminds States that, by virtue of their international obligations, and specifically those contained in the American Convention on Human Rights, they must adopt measures to safeguard the life and integrity of their citizens, especially when it comes to highly vulnerable population groups, as in the case of indigenous peoples living in voluntary isolation and initial contact.
The Permanent Forum recommends that States discontinue all sedentarization and other programmes that coerce indigenous peoples to forsake shifting cultivation for other modes of cultivation without their free, prior and informed consent. Alternative modes of cultivation ensure food sovereignty, livelihood security, health security, educational security and forest conservation and other safeguards.