Considering that some indigenous peoples are living in countries that do not have United Nations country offices and lack opportunities to cooperate and coordinate with the United Nations agencies in advancing their rights and well-being, the Permanent Forum invites the United Nations system to cooperate with indigenous peoples in those regions.
The Permanent Forum welcomes the study entitled “Free, prior and informed consent: a human rights-based approach” (A/HRC/39/62), prepared by the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. It encourages Member States, United Nations entities, including the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the World Bank, regional development banks, the private sector, civil society organizations and other stakeholders, to use the study as guidance for understanding the principle of free, prior and informed consent when working on issues of concern to indigenous peoples. The Forum also encourages indigenous peoples to use the study to guide the development of their own community protocols on free, prior and informed consent for engaging with these stakeholders.
The Permanent Forum invites the newly established Facilitative Working Group of the local communities and indigenous peoples platform to collaborate closely with bodies outside the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change on matters relating to climate change and indigenous peoples, in accordance with its mandate (Conference of the Parties decision 2/CP.24, para. 20).
As consistently suggested during the dialogue with Member States, the Permanent Forum invites States to consider ways of addressing disputes between them and indigenous peoples. Suggestions included, among others, setting up independent conflict resolution mechanisms to resolve disputes between States and indigenous peoples (in accordance with article 27 of the Declaration and paragraph 21 of the outcome document of the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples), implementing the Forum’s recommendations for better addressing such disputes and increasing the involvement of indigenous peoples in decision-making processes.
The Permanent Forum acknowledges the project of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), entitled “Linking indigenous peoples with regional development”, which involves indigenous leaders and communities in Australia, Canada and Sweden, and encourages OECD and its member States to expand the project.
The Permanent Forum expresses its thanks to the Governments of Bolivia (Plurinational State of), Canada, China, the Congo, Denmark, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Norway, the Russian Federation, Spain and the United States, as well as the government of Greenland, for having hosted previous pre-sessional and intersessional meetings of the Forum. The Forum stresses the importance of organizing such pre-sessional and intersessional meetings and reiterates its recommendation that States that have not yet done so consider hosting such meetings in the future. It also requests that the secretariat of the Forum organize pre-sessional meetings for future sessions of the Forum.
The Permanent Forum encourages Member States to review recommendations made at past sessions, renew efforts at their implementation and report on progress made by 2021. It invites the United Nations system to support the States’ efforts in this regard.
In accordance with articles 20 and 21 of the Declaration, the Permanent Forum urges States to develop legislation, policies and programmes supporting traditional livelihoods with the full and effective participation of indigenous peoples. In particular, the Forum urges the Government of Finland to renew the Reindeer Herding Act with the full and effective participation of the Sami people
The Permanent Forum also appreciates the work of FAO, in collaboration with the Forum, on including the issues of indigenous peoples in the Committee on World Food Security and recommends that FAO continue to collaborate with the Forum to open up spaces for dialogue and participation in other technical committees, such as those on forestry, fisheries and agriculture.
The Permanent Forum reiterates the recommendation contained in paragraph 40 of its report on its seventeenth session, in which it recommended that the Commission on the Status of Women organize a high-level interactive dialogue on the rights of indigenous women, to coincide with the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women: Action for Equality, Development and Peace, in 2020, to review progress made towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, with a focus on links to the Declaration. The Forum invites States, in cooperation with indigenous peoples’ organizations and with the support of the United Nations system, to conduct preparatory processes, with the full and effective participation of indigenous women of all ages.
The Permanent Forum expresses concern that indigenous peoples are not receiving adequate information regarding the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals at the national level and encourages Governments, United Nations entities, indigenous peoples and civil society organizations to convene workshops and other forums to ensure their effective participation in implementing the 2030 Agenda.
The Permanent Forum recommends United Nations entities that have not done so to incorporate indigenous peoples-driven platforms in order to give advice on and to promote indigenous peoples’ issues, as well as consider the participation of the Permanent Forum together with indigenous peoples in such platforms.