The Permanent Forum welcomes indigenous peoples’ contributions to the implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the development of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework. The Forum underlines the need to develop a new programme of work and institutional arrangements on article 8 (j) and other provisions of the Convention with the full and effective participation of indigenous peoples. It recommends that the secretariat of the Convention facilitate a capacity-building process for indigenous peoples to enable them to prepare themselves for the development of new programmes of work and institutional arrangements.
The Permanent Forum welcomes and endorses the recommendations of the above-mentioned workshop on indigenous traditional knowledge by emphasizing paragraphs 61-74 of the report of the Workshop (see E/C.19/2006/2).
The Forum, taking note with appreciation of the conclusions and
recommendations of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UNHabitat) and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights joint publication entitled “Indigenous peoples’ right to adequate housing: a global overview”, recommends that UN-Habitat, jointly with the Office of the High Commissioner, organize an expert group meeting in 2006 to review the status of progress on indigenous peoples’ housing rights globally and identify and document best practices, and report on the outcome and recommendations of the meeting to the Forum at its sixth session.
In regard to the rights of indigenous peoples, the Permanent Forum reiterates its long-standing position of encouraging the United Nations, its organs and specialized agencies, as well as all States, to adopt a human rights-based approach. At the international, regional and national level, the human rights of indigenous peoples are always relevant if such rights are at risk of being undermined. Human rights are indivisible, interdependent, and interrelated. They must be respected in any context specifically concerning indigenous peoples, from environment to development, to peace and security, and many other issues.
The Permanent Forum recommends that the Arctic Council formally engage with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to jointly follow up the International Experts Meeting on Climate Change and Arctic Sustainable Development: scientific, social, cultural and educational challenges (3-6 March 2009 in Monaco).
The Permanent Forum urges the Government of Kenya to implement the recommendations of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the rights of Endorois to the ownership of their ancestral lands, to the restitution thereof and to compensation in that connection.
The Permanent Forum recommends that the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants pay special attention to the vulnerability of urban and migrant indigenous persons.
The Permanent Forum recommends that United Nations organizations provide technical assistance and convene, in cooperation with indigenous peoples’ organizations, regional workshops on the special theme of the sixth session of the Permanent Forum, namely, “Territories, lands and natural resources”, with the participation of Permanent Forum members, and other experts, indigenous peoples’ representatives, indigenous parliamentarians, State representatives, and representatives of the United Nations system, in order to formulate recommendations for consideration, as part of its preparatory work for the sixth session. The Permanent Forum further recommends that States, organizations and donors provide resources for these regional workshops.
The Forum recommends that all States install gender-sensitive action plans and independent self-reporting mechanisms that give particular attention to indigenous peoples, with the aim of protecting victims, prosecuting perpetrators and preventing human trafficking and related serious exploitation in all its forms, in accordance with the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime; the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children and the Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air, both supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime; and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples should serve as a key and binding framework in the formulation of plans for development and should be considered fundamental in all processes related to climate change at the local, national, regional and global levels. The safeguard policies of the multilateral banks and the existing and future policies on indigenous peoples of United Nations bodies and other multilateral bodies should be implemented in all climate change-related projects and programmes.
The Permanent Forum calls upon Canada to re-examine its support for the Enbridge Line 5 oil pipeline, which jeopardizes the Great Lakes in the United States. The pipeline presents a real and credible threat to the treaty-protected fishing rights of Indigenous Peoples in the United States and Canada. The Permanent Forum recommends that Canada and the United States decommission Line 5.
The Permanent Forum recommends that the relevant treaty bodies take into account the Declaration and urges States to include information regarding its implementation in their reports to the universal periodic review of the Human Rights Council.