A majority of States have yet to grant official recognition to indigenous peoples, let alone their collective rights to lands, territories and resources. The Permanent Forum expresses its grave concern about the non-recognition of indigenous peoples, in particular in Africa and Asia, and recommends that States incorporate the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples into national legislation, policies and programmes.
6. The Permanent Forum welcomes recent proposals made by the Sami to address cross-border collaboration and urges the States involved to work constructively with the affected indigenous peoples in these matters. The Permanent Forum also welcomes the Inuit Nunangat Policy of Canada, by which Inuit Nunangat is recognized as a distinct geographic, cultural and political region that encompasses the Inuvialuit Settlement Region, Nunavut, Nunavik, and Nunatsiavut. The Permanent Forum invites other Member States to develop, in close cooperation with indigenous peoples, similar arrangements that recognize indigenous peoples’ ancestral territories
The Forum notes that there is a need for capacity-building in national and local government as well indigenous communities in the areas within the Forum’s mandate, and recommends that various parts of the United Nations system, including the International Labour Organization and the secretariat of the Forum, cooperate to provide technical assistance in that regard at the request of Governments and indigenous communities.