The Permanent Forum welcomes the establishment and development of indigenous-led funds as a self-governance practice, which promote funding access to indigenous communities and shift power relations in donor and philanthropy processes. The Forum invites the broad donor and philanthropic community to support these initiatives.
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.
The Forum recommends to the United Nations Development Group that the indicators of the Millennium Development Goals be assessed and that additional indicators be identified to give fuller assessment of environmental sustainability.
The Permanent Forum recommends that Member States continue to develop legislation to support genuine indigenous representation and participation in decision-making. Legislative measures that create practical, economic, legal and political difficulties for the establishment and functioning of indigenous organizations and institutions worldwide should be addressed in order to allow for cross-border and international cooperation between indigenous peoples of different countries and with and within international organizations on issues and processes affecting them.
The Permanent Forum further urges resident coordinators to prepare their United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Frameworks to support the full and effective participation of indigenous peoples in strategic plans for their economic recovery. Resident coordinators are invited to provide an update to future sessions of the Permanent Forum through the Development Coordination Office on how the strategic recovery plans were developed and implemented.
The Permanent Forum welcomes the recent entry into force of the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The Forum encourages Member States to accede to the Optional Protocol and requests the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights to consider the preparation of a general comment on the economic, social and cultural rights of indigenous peoples.
The Permanent Forum encourages FAO and other relevant agencies to favour and promote in member countries the acknowledgement and improvement of land tenure legal frameworks to recognize indigenous peoples’ land rights. The Forum recommends that FAO and other relevant United Nations agencies support activities for participatory delimitation and titling where the legal framework recognizes indigenous land rights. FAO should pay special attention to indigenous peoples’ customary laws regarding land.
The Permanent Forum encourages national and international financial institutions to target indigenous peoples as beneficiaries of their micro-financing mechanisms and other relevant mechanisms, with the free, prior and informed consent of indigenous peoples.