The Permanent Forum encourages the General Assembly and UNESCO, in collaboration with the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, to organize highlevel launch events for the International Decade, in cooperation with, and with the full and effective participation of, indigenous peoples.
Given the unique role of information and communications technology companies in the design, development and use of contemporary language technologies, the Permanent Forum reiterates its invitation to the private sector to contribute to the International Decade. The Permanent Forum encourages these companies to continue to develop digital platforms, in cooperation with indigenous peoples and academic institutions, in order to compile information archives for the preservation and revitalization of indigenous languages, language corpora, speech recognition, machine translation and synthesis tools, digital dictionaries and online courses.
The Permanent Forum expresses concern over the misappropriation and misuse of indigenous peoples’ cultural heritage, traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions, and urges States and companies, in cooperation with indigenous peoples, to take effective measures to recognize and protect their rights, in accordance with article 31 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. In this regard, the Permanent Forum calls upon Member States to take measures to safeguard indigenous peoples’ rights to intellectual property by adopting laws and public policies, in which it is recognized that indigenous peoples have the right over their creations, knowledge, discoveries, works, traditional cultural expressions and other elements.
The Permanent Forum invites the World Trade Organization to prepare an analysis of the ways in which indigenous peoples are affected by and included in international trade agreements and treaties, and to present it to the Permanent Forum at its twenty-third session, to be held in 2024.
The Permanent Forum recommends that the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) advance data and research on the challenges that indigenous women and girls face in realizing their right to bodily autonomy and the right to be free from violence, including reproductive coercion and in birthing practices. Furthermore, the Permanent Forum invites UNFPA to prepare a study on indigenous women’s bodily autonomy, with the participation of indigenous women, and to present its findings at the twenty-third session of the Permanent Forum, to be held in 2024.
The Permanent Forum recommends that UNESCO and other United Nations entities facilitate the work of language activists, including through methodological, educational, scientific, psychosocial and financial support, within the framework of the International Decade. The Permanent Forum invites UNESCO and its Forum of National Commissions, the United Nations Children’s Fund and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research to develop, in cooperation with experts and representatives of indigenous peoples, an incubator of international methodologies in multilingual education, including studies of language revitalization best practices, teacher training and cross-cultural learning tools by 2025
The Permanent Forum calls upon UNESCO, in its coordination of the International Decade, to give attention to the role of indigenous languages in the preservation of traditional food and knowledge systems that are important to climate change adaptation strategies.
The Permanent Forum urges States to support the economic activities of indigenous peoples, in particular indigenous women, by enhancing their equal access to productive resources and agricultural inputs, such as land, seeds, financial services, technology, transportation and information.
The Permanent Forum invites the United Nations Global Compact to lead a study on how the human rights of indigenous peoples can be integrated into the model guidance for stock exchanges when reporting on environmental, social and governance information for their market, and report on its progr ess to the Permanent Forum at its twenty-second session, to be held in 2023.
The Permanent Forum encourages Member States, local authorities and UNESCO to assist indigenous peoples in establishing working groups on language planning, development and modernization, with financial support. Furthermore, the Permanent Forum recommends that UNESCO undertake a study on best practices for language curriculum development and publicize its findings by 2024.
The Permanent Forum welcomes the draft general recommendation on the rights of indigenous women and girls of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. The Permanent Forum reiterates its recommendation, contained in the report on its twentieth session (E/2021/43, para. 32), that the general recommendation be adopted at the earliest opportunity. The Permanent Forum invites the Committee to share its plans for implementation of the general recommendation at the twenty-third session of the Permanent Forum, to be held in 2024.
The Permanent Forum reiterates its recommendation made at its eighteenth session for the Pan American Health Organization to prepare a study on the advancements in indigenous maternal health, including with the participation of indigenous midwives (E/2019/43, para. 45). The Permanent Forum also recommends that WHO prepare similar studies in other regions.