The Permanent Forum recommends that the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals and the United Nations system ensure the inclusion and meaningful participation of indigenous peoples in all processes relating to the elaboration of the sustainable development goals. In this regard, the Forum recommends that indigenous peoples and their organizations and representatives participate in the dialogues between Member States and civil society during meetings of the Group.
The Permanent Forum recommends that the Statistics Commission advocate for the promotion of indigenous peoples’ issues in the 2010 round of population and housing censuses and the Demographic and Health Survey, and other surveys and censuses, taking into account the global synthesis report on indicators of well-being, poverty and sustainability submitted at the seventh session of the Forum. The Forum calls on all relevant United Nations agencies to support this initiative.
The Permanent Forum recommends that the World Bank brings its policy on indigenous peoples (OP 4.10) into full compliance with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The Forum attaches particular importance to the need for the Bank to adopt the standard of free, prior and informed consent and, in general, to institutionalize and operationalize an approach based on human rights. The Forum reiterates its recommendation, made at its twelfth session that the emerging instruments of the Bank and other agencies must be harmonized with the Declaration, which is regarded as a reflection of the minimum human rights standards necessary for the promotion and protection of indigenous peoples, nations and communities. Such instruments should be consistent with or exceed those minimum standards. The Forum underlines the need for the Bank’s operational policies to use language that is consistent with the Declaration.
The practice of preparing overview reports, the Message Stick (the quarterly newsletter) and the database on the implementation of recommendations should be maintained. The secretariat should review oral interventions delivered during sessions of the Permanent Forum and take note of references made to the implementation of recommendations, which should be added to information provided in written submissions.
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 recalls its recommendation at the twentieth session, in which it emphasized that existing mechanisms to support the participation of indigenous peoples in processes that affect them must adapt to the new environment caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and support the online participation of indigenous peoples. Such support includes purchasing data packages and facilitating access to electricity and necessary hardware and in-country travel to gain access to stable Internet connections. The Permanent Forum recommends that the existing mandate of the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Peoples, as reflected in General Assembly resolution 70/232, be expanded to that effect and calls on Member States to ensure that the proposal for the expansion of their mandate is introduced at the seventy-seventh session of the General Assembly in the annual resolution on the rights of indigenous peoples.
The Permanent Forum is concerned that the regional presence, representation and services of United Nations agencies in the Asia-Pacific region are limited mostly to the Asian subregion, and recommends that all United Nations agencies review their operations to provide equal services to the Pacific subregion and identify their operations separately according to the two subregions.
The Permanent Forum calls upon Member States, the bodies and organizations of the United Nations system, the United Nations funds and programmes, the Inter-Agency Support Group and, in particular, the United Nations country teams, indigenous peoples’ organizations and non-governmental organizations in consultative status with the Economic and Social Council, to report on the implementation of the Forum’s recommendations, especially by responding to the questionnaire prepared by the Forum secretariat.
The Permanent Forum encourages the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) to continue its efforts in operationalizing the principle of free, prior and informed consent in its investments, including through the engagement of indigenous experts in project delivery teams.
The Permanent Forum welcomes the policy guides that are being developed by UN-Habitat, including on housing for indigenous peoples in the urban setting, which will be presented at the upcoming session of the World Urban Forum, to be held from 3 to 7 November 2008, in Nanjing, China. States are encouraged to support the production of the guidelines.
The Permanent Forum also commits to facilitating a process among indigenous peoples and Member States with the aim of rethinking and supporting international efforts to ensure peace, security and peacebuilding and ensuring the effective participation of indigenous peoples in these processes.
The Permanent Forum recommends that the “Study on the impacts of the Doctrine of Discovery on indigenous peoples, including mechanisms, processes and instruments of redress” (E/C.19/2014/3), with references to the Declaration and particularly to articles 26 to 28, 32 and 40, be submitted to the President of the General Assembly and to Member States as a reference guide in the discussions relating to the high-level plenary meeting/World Conference on Indigenous Peoples.