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
Recalling article 14 of the Declaration and the recommendation made by the Permanent Forum at its third session, the Forum urges Member States to adopt and fully implement comprehensive national indigenous education policies and bring into practice the education of indigenous languages teachers in accordance with indigenous peoples’ initiatives.
The Permanent Forum reiterates its recommendations on the establishment of the indigenous fellowship programme within its secretariat and requests Governments, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), other donors and foundations to contribute to the fellowship programme so that it can be launched and administered in 2007.
The Permanent Forum recognizes that education systems must be culturally safe and support Indigenous Peoples’ languages. The Forum reiterates the urgent need for Member States to protect Indigenous Peoples’ languages, both spoken and written, during the International Decade of Indigenous Languages, by adopting appropriate laws and policies.