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.
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.
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.
Reiterating the recommendation made at its seventh session, the Permanent Forum recommends that the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Organization for Migration focus on the vulnerability of indigenous peoples in the Pacific region, in particular in view of the effects of climate change (see E/2008/43-E/C.19/2008/13, chap. 1, sect. B, para. 59).
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 recommends that UNESCO, with the participation of indigenous peoples, urgently declare as the organization’s priority the preservation, revitalization and promotion of indigenous languages. UNESCO is also urged to initiate international processes for the establishment of international standards on the preservation of indigenous languages. In particular, the Forum recommends that UNESCO collaborate with efforts led by indigenous peoples and others to map indigenous languages, such as the Endangered Languages Project.
The Permanent Forum thanks the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) for its efforts as the lead United Nations agency for the 2019 International Year of Indigenous Languages. The Forum recommends that UNESCO prepare a strategic outcome document of the 2019 International Year. The Forum invites Member States to consider discussing the outcome document at the General Assembly.
The Permanent Forum welcomes the initiative of the World Bank in compiling and analysing disaggregated data on indigenous peoples, poverty and human development in South-East Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, and urges the World Bank to present the results of those studies to the seventh session of the Permanent Forum in 2008.
The Permanent Forum requests ILO, IFAD and the United Nations Development Programme to prepare a study, in collaboration with indigenous peoples, summarizing the experience of implementing programmes for indigenous peoples on socioeconomic development, focussing on best practices in entrepreneurship and creative industries, and to present it to the Permanent Forum at its twenty -third session, to be held in 2024.
The Permanent Forum urges States with indigenous peoples whose livelihoods and cultures are based upon sea, river and lake fisheries to recognize fishing rights that will build solid foundations for securing and developing local indigenous communities and their cultures.
The Permanent Forum welcomes the invitation from the Government of the Russian Federation, the Governor of Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Region, the public chamber of the Russian Federation and the Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East (RAIPON) to hold an international meeting in the city of Salekhard, from 1 to 4 July 2007, dedicated to the study of experiences of interaction between indigenous peoples and the private sector, and expresses its appreciation for this invitation. The Permanent Forum also calls upon other States to follow the example of the Russian Federation.