The Forum appreciates the information provided by the Council of Europe on the ways in which indigenous issues have been addressed in that organization. The Forum recommends that other appropriate regional intergovernmental organizations provide it with information on the ways in which indigenous issues have been addressed in their respective mechanisms for the protection of human rights and invites them to establish contacts with the Forum and to extend their experience with other regions.
The Permanent Forum encourages Member States, in cooperation with United Nations agencies, to develop social policies that will enhance the production of indigenous peoples’ traditional foods and promote the restoration or recovery of lost drought-resistant indigenous food varieties to ensure food security. In this context, the Forum recommends that Burkina Faso, Mali and the Niger, as well as United Nations agencies such as FAO, IFAD and the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, establish a committee, in full consultation with and with the participation of indigenous peoples, aimed at preventing food crises in the sub Saharan region where indigenous peoples reside. The committee’s objective should be to prevent humanitarian disasters and, in particular, to prevent starvation at the same level as the disaster that struck the region in 1973.
The Permanent Forum recommends that the World Bank engage the Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the Permanent Forum in the development of guidance for the implementation of the new performance standard 7: Indigenous peoples, of the International Finance Corporation performance standards on environmental and social sustainability.
The Permanent Forum calls on States to consult with indigenous peoples in a manner that fully respects their obligations under the Declaration and fully responds to the goals, needs and rights of indigenous peoples in the development and design of relevant legislation.
The Permanent Forum recommends that IFAD develop a stronger focus on issues relating to land and territory and actively promote indigenous peoples’ rights to land.
Many States have established mechanisms to protect human rights. However, the Permanent Forum is concerned that such mechanisms might prioritize individual rights over collective rights. It calls upon States, in cooperation with national human rights institutions, to comply with their commitments made in the outcome document of the 2014 World Conference on Indigenous Peoples, with the aim of achieving the full enforcement of the collective rights of indigenous peoples.
The Permanent Forum calls upon the Government of the United Republic of
Tanzania to immediately cease efforts to evict the Maasai people from the
Ngorongoro Conservation Area.
The Permanent Forum encourages the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), jointly with other United Nations agencies, to support the consolidation of the already established communication platforms in Latin America and Canada and to establish platforms in Asia and Africa and the Pacific. The Forum recommends that FAO and other agencies strengthen the reporting and monitoring mechanisms for the communication platforms, especially with a view to supporting indigenous peoples with a monitoring mechanism for their territories.
The Permanent Forum recommends that adequate and sustained funding and other support be provided to the aforementioned projects of UNDP and ILO and that they be replicated in different regions of the world.
The Permanent Forum highlights the activities of those States that have undertaken or are currently undertaking constitutional revision processes to strengthen constitutional provisions on human rights, pluriculturalism and juridical pluralism, among others, and also welcomes those States that are in the midst of ongoing constitutional revision or reform processes. The Forum calls upon all relevant States to review and revise their constitutions and legal frameworks to comprehensively recognize the human rights of indigenous peoples. The Forum recommends that the process of constitutional revision in Member States should be driven by indigenous peoples.
The Permanent Forum invites the Special Rapporteur on the human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous peoples to examine and report on the situation of the human rights of indigenous peoples in Non-Self-Governing Territories of the Pacific region, and urges relevant States to cooperate with the Special Rapporteur for that purpose.
The Permanent Forum congratulates the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) on the establishment of an indigenous peoples’ forum on 18 February 2011. This is consistent with international standards and, in particular, with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. It is also an example of good practice to be followed by other United Nations entities. The Forum encourages IFAD to: (a) actively promote the participation of indigenous peoples’ organizations in country strategies and programme cycles; (b) improve the design, monitoring and evaluation of IFAD-funded projects by using specific indicators for the well-being of indigenous peoples and by promoting an independent assessment of such projects by indigenous peoples; and (c) improving its advocacy role in disseminating its best practices in terms of development approaches with indigenous peoples at the national, regional and international levels.