The Permanent Forum urges its secretariat, in cooperation with the secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, to organize a side-event on the occasion of the fifth meeting of the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group on Access and Benefit-sharing of the Convention on Biological Diversity, as an occasion for the co-chairs of the Working Group, States parties and other interested groups to consider the conclusions and recommendations contained in the report of the international expert group meeting, held from 17 to 19 January 2007, on the Convention on Biological Diversity’s international regime on access and benefit-sharing and indigenous peoples’ human rights.
The Permanent Forum applauds the historic decision of the United Nations Human Rights Council in recognizing the right to water as a human right, as well as its decision to initiate a study on the scope and content of the relevant human rights obligations related to equitable access to safe drinking water and sanitation under international human rights instruments, to be submitted prior to the sixth session of the Council. The Permanent Forum also calls upon the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to present to the seventh session of the Permanent Forum the results of her study on the impact on the rights of indigenous peoples in terms of contamination, diversion, appropriation and privatization of water, which is sacred to indigenous peoples and is central to all life.
The Forum recommends that the United Nations system urge all States to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, the Bio-Safety Protocol, the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (the Conference of Parties to the Stockholm Convention should establish mechanisms for indigenous peoples to maintain an active presence at its meeting), the Rotterdam Convention on Hazardous Chemicals, the Basel Convention on the Control of the Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal and its 1995 prohibition on the export of hazardous waste from the countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development to non-member countries, and 1996 Protocol to the London Convention on marine waste deposits etc.
The Forum recommends that United Nations bodies, in particular the Convention on Biological Diversity, in coordination with the World Bank, UNDP, FAO and IFAD, and UNEP, organize a workshop on protecting sacred places and ceremonial sites of indigenous peoples with a view to identifying protective mechanisms and instituting a legal framework that make cultural, environmental and social impact assessments studies mandatory and ensure the environmental accountability of economic, social and environmental projects that are proposed to be conducted on sacred sites and on lands, territories and waters traditionally occupied or used by indigenous peoples.
The Permanent Forum urges Member States to contribute support to make possible the annual UNITAR training programme to enhance the conflict prevention and peacemaking capacities of indigenous peoples’ representatives so as to strengthen indigenous capacity to engage in negotiation, dialogue and peace processes to contribute to sustainable peace.
The Forum notes that the Fifth World Indigenous Education Conference will be held in New Zealand in November and December 2005, and urges UNESCO to seek to be actively involved in this conference, in particular in dissemination of information on UNESCO projects, programs and activities relating to indigenous education and relevant to UNESCO responsibilities in pursuing Millennium Development Goal 2