The Permanent Forum takes note of the sixth call for proposals of the Indigenous Peoples Assistance Facility of IFAD, which is focused on advancing indigenous peoples’ biodiversity conservation and sustainable management for adaptation and resilience to climate change. The Permanent Forum urges IFAD to facilitate direct access to climate financing to indigenous peoples’ communities and organizations through the Facility and the Adaptation for Smallholder Agriculture Programme, and encourages Governments and donors to support those initiatives.
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.
On the basis of the constructive dialogue between the Permanent Forum and the Inter-Agency Support Group on Indigenous Peoples’ Issues, the Forum recommends that the members of the Support Group demonstrate strong commitment from the highest level, including by: (a) Institutionalizing dialogue between the expert members of the Forum and the principals of the funds, programmes and specialized agencies of the United Nations system; (b) Allocating sufficient resources to implement the system-wide action plan for ensuring a coherent approach to achieving the ends of the United Nations Declaration; (c) Establishing institutional consultation mechanisms to ensure active collaboration and partnership with indigenous peoples at the national, regional and global levels, in both developing and developed countries; (d) Incorporating specific targets and indicators with disaggregated data to address the key issues and priorities of indigenous peoples at the national level; (e) Ensuring active cooperation between the Support Group and Forum members holding relevant agency portfolios.
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.
The Permanent Forum decides to authorize a three-day international expert group workshop on indigenous peoples’ rights, corporate accountability and the extractive industries, and requests that the results of the meeting be reported to the Forum at its eighth session, in 2009. The report of that workshop can feed into the eighteenth and nineteenth sessions of the Commission on Sustainable Development, which will address the themes of mining, chemicals, waste management and sustainable consumption and production patterns, and contribute to the review by the eighteenth session of the Commission.
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.
The Forum recommends that the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), in collaboration with multilateral and regional agencies and indigenous organizations, lead the mainstreaming of indigenous issues and concerns in poverty reduction strategies at the country level. In view of the decreasing support to pastoral and semi-nomadic groups in Africa, the Forum recommends that IFAD initiate programmes in support of these groups and submit its planned work programme to the Forum at its fourth session.
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.