The Permanent Forum notes the intention of the members of the North American indigenous caucus to hold a conference on indigenous children and youth in detention, custody, adoption and foster care, and urges members of the caucus to invite members of the Forum, Government representatives and youth representatives to discuss model programmes and effective measures to address the disproportional representation of indigenous children and youth in detention, custody, adoption and foster care.
A request of the UNPFII and the UN Youth Unit in DESA to continue facilitating the involvement of the Youth Caucus in its sessions.
The Permanent Forum recommends that the Government of Paraguay should give priority, in its emergency plans, to the protection of vulnerable indigenous children from practices of forced labour and other forms of exploitation.
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 the United Nations system continue to build the capacities of indigenous peoples’ organizations and to develop their knowledge and skills to have their rights respected, protected and fulfilled.
The Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues has analysed and discussed indigenous fishing rights in the seas on the basis of a report submitted by the Special Rapporteurs. As a result of those discussions, the Forum considers the protection of the material basis of the culture of indigenous peoples to be a part of international law that should be applied also to fishing rights in the seas, and recommends that States in which indigenous peoples live in coastal areas recognize indigenous peoples’ right to fish in the seas on the basis of historical use and international law. In that context, the Forum notes the ongoing consultations between the Government of Norway and the Sami Parliament and recommends that the Government recognize the right of the coastal Sami to fish in the seas on the basis of historical use and international law.
The Permanent Forum encourages the Government of Paraguay to continue to accept assistance from United Nations agencies and programmes and national cooperation agencies in order to develop policies aimed at the elimination of forced labour and other forms of servitude, especially in matters relating to the most urgent challenges: food, health, housing and education.
The Permanent Forum recommends that the Government of Paraguay should remain firm in its commitment to cooperating with indigenous peoples’ organizations in order to find emergency solutions to the extremely serious situation of the indigenous communities that have been wholly dispossessed of their land, and to implement policies to ensure the reconstitution of their territory.
The Permanent Forum recommends that the Plurinational State of Bolivia should speed up implementation of the constitutional provisions regarding the freeing of individuals, families and communities in the light of the fact that forced labour and servitude are serious human rights violations that must be addressed with great urgency.
The Permanent Forum welcomes the recognition by UNICEF of the valuable contributions indigenous children and youth can make in their local communities to ensure the sustainability of climate change adaptation and mitigation plans. The Forum urges the Fund to continue to raise awareness of the impact of climate change on indigenous children and youth, and requests that it ensure the effective participation of indigenous children and youth in the discussions on and solutions to environmental issues in accordance with article 12 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples should serve as a key and binding framework in the formulation of plans for development and should be considered fundamental in all processes related to climate change at the local, national, regional and global levels. The safeguard policies of the multilateral banks and the existing and future policies on indigenous peoples of United Nations bodies and other multilateral bodies should be implemented in all climate change-related projects and programmes.
The Permanent Forum calls on States to ensure that indigenous peoples that are undertaking their own mitigation measures are provided with policy support, technical assistance, funding and capacity-building in order to deepen their knowledge on climate change and to allow them to implement more effective mitigation and adaptation strategies. They should gain benefits from the environmental services derived from their territories and resources. Processes and mechanisms for the valuation of these environmental services, and methods that allow them to get adequate benefits, should be developed jointly with them. Efforts to create better documentation of good practices in mitigation and adaptation and to replicate and upscale these practices should likewise be supported.