The Permanent Forum has paid particular attention to the significant increase in the infrastructure budget of the World Bank, from $15 billion to $45 billion in 2009, for the primary economies of developing States. The implications of this development in relation to the respect and protection of indigenous peoples’ rights have to be clearly understood, and the imperative of getting the free, prior and informed consent of indigenous peoples affected by infrastructure projects has to be guaranteed. The Forum also urges the World Bank to provide additional operational budget to manage this large increase in infrastructure spending. The Permanent Forum reiterates its previous recommendations that the World Bank revise its operational safeguard policies to be consistent with the provisions of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
In accordance with article 16 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, indigenous peoples have the right to full freedom of expression, including the right to establish their own media in their own languages. The Permanent Forum is concerned that indigenous peoples of Latin America have been criminalized for the establishment of community radio stations and urges Member States to protect the rights of indigenous communicators
The Permanent Forum calls upon States that have not already done so to engage in constructive partnerships with indigenous peoples to achieve the ends of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and to adopt specific action plans, strategies or other measures that will deliver required financial and technical assistance to indigenous peoples in order for them to achieve and exercise self-determination.
The Permanent Forum recommends that Member States actively engage with their indigenous peoples in both developed countries and developing countries, including indigenous women, indigenous youth and indigenous persons with disabilities, in developing key indicators on indigenous peoples, including for data disaggregation, to be included in the overall indicators for the post-2015 development agenda to be adopted in March 2016.
The Permanent Forum encourages the Government of Paraguay to continue to accept assistance from United Nations agencies and programmes and national cooperation agencies in order to develop policies aimed at the elimination of forced labour and other forms of servitude, especially in matters relating to the most urgent challenges: food, health, housing and education.
The Forum recommends that a world conference on indigenous peoples in the information society be organized on the occasion of the World Summit on the Information Society (10-12 December 2003), in close cooperation with interested Governments and NGOs. It is recommended that the assistance of the secretariat of the Summit be provided for the organization of such an event. The Forum recommends that a written report on indigenous peoples in the information society be addressed by the focal point of the Forum, Mr. Matias, to the preparatory committee for the Summit before 31 August 2003.
6. The Permanent Forum congratulates the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) on the adoption of its policy on indigenous and tribal peoples and requests that FAO take measures towards the implementation of the policy at all levels, especially at the country level. Such measures include improving the capacity of FAO staff to work effectively with indigenous peoples and their organizations and establishing a mechanism for partnership. Further, the Permanent Forum requests that FAO involve it in the development of voluntary guidelines on the responsible governance of tenure of land, fisheries and forests. In addition, the Forum requests participation in the Committee on World Food Security and membership in the Committee’s advisory group.