The Permanent Forum reaffirms that indigenous peoples’ participation is crucial for the work of the Forum, and it therefore urges States to facilitate this participation, especially those indigenous peoples funded by the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Populations.
The Permanent Forum recommends that States recognize the right of indigenous peoples to own, control, use and have access to their forests, and calls on States to reform their laws and policies that deny indigenous peoples that right. The Forum is gravely concerned about the continuing eviction of indigenous peoples from their forests and calls on States and the United Nations system and other intergovernmental organizations to protect and respect the rights of forest-dwelling and forest-dependent indigenous peoples and to provide redress to those whose rights have been violated.
The Permanent Forum recommends that relevant States with indigenous peoples invite the Special Rapporteur on the situation of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous peoples to undertake country visits. The Special Rapporteur should give priority to invitations from those countries where indigenous peoples have expressed concerns about their capacity to fully enjoy and freely exercise their human rights.
The Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues welcomes the proposal made by the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in the report on its third session, which encourages OHCHR to hold an international expert seminar on truth and reconciliation processes. This proposal of the Expert Mechanism recognizes the importance of national truth and reconciliation processes for improving relations between States and indigenous peoples and for facilitating strengthened recognition and implementation of the rights of indigenous peoples.
The Permanent Forum welcomes the organization of the informal interactive hearing by the President of the General Assembly to reflect on possible further measures necessary to enhance the participation of the representatives and institutions of indigenous peoples in all meetings of relevant United Nations bodies on issues affecting them. The Forum urges Member States to convene, in cooperation with indigenous peoples, regional meetings in each of the seven sociocultural regions to discuss modalities in this regard.