The Permanent Forum urges the Asian Development Bank, in projects that it funds, to ensure that it avoids adverse impacts on indigenous peoples and their watersheds and other fragile ecosystems and to promote the rights of indigenous peoples to land and resources.
The Permanent Forum is concerned about legislative and regulatory processes that criminalize the establishment and management of community radio stations. The Forum encourages States to expressly recognize community media in their domestic law and to adopt effective actions to enforce the right of indigenous peoples and communities to have their own media.
The Permanent Forum recommends that social and environmental impact assessments, including human rights impact assessments and poverty impact assessments, of financial investments and trade agreements directly affecting indigenous peoples be undertaken, and that the resources for those assessments be provided by the sources of the investments and the parties to trade agreements.
The Forum recommends that UNICEF, in cooperation with the ILO, UNESCO and UNHCR, report to the Forum at its fourth session on ways that the United Nations system can assist in capacity-building in that area.
The Permanent Forum further urges the General Assembly to proclaim an international year of the world’s indigenous children and youth.
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.
The Forum recommends that the Coordinator of the Second International Decade of the World's Indigenous People fully consult with the Forum regarding the preparation of the draft plan of action for the Second Decade
The Permanent Forum recommends that relevant countries among the 44 countries undergoing voluntary national reviews at the high-level political forum in 2017 include indigenous peoples in their reviews, reports and delegations. The Forum invites those Member States to report on good practices of including indigenous peoples’ indicators in the voluntary national reviews to the Forum at its seventeenth session.
Throughout history, indigenous peoples have moved from place to place to find water, pastureland for their animals, and game; to trade goods from different ecological zones; and even to seek job opportunities in urban areas. Mobility restrictions both within and across State borders have affected indigenous peoples adversely, with the impact on pastoralist groups particularly severe in the context of their ability to access water and food. The Permanent Forum recommends that States implement specific measures to address the mobility needs of indigenous peoples, including through cooperation with neighbouring States, and that such efforts be made with the full free, prior and informed consent of the indigenous peoples affected.
The Forum reaffirms the UNDP focus on implementing its policy of working with indigenous peoples at the country level, and urges UNDP to continue its work to develop a policy on land tenure rights with the participation of indigenous peoples.
The Permanent Forum notes that the Constitutional Court of Guatemala issued ruling No. 2112-2016 of 24 October 2017 on indigenous peoples’ intellectual collective property. The Permanent Forum urges Guatemala to comply with the ruling and to adopt laws and policies, respecting the free, prior and informed consent of indigenous peoples.
The Permanent Forum recommends that the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and other relevant United Nations agencies further develop and enhance natural disaster preparedness and mitigation strategies involving indigenous peoples in the development and implementation of those strategies.