The Permanent Forum decides to send a member of the Forum to participate in the Conference to present the outcome of its ninth session on the question of development with culture and identity.
The Permanent Forum urges the Governments of Central and Eastern Europe, the Russian Federation, Central Asia and Transcaucasia regions to implement international standards and norms on the rights of indigenous peoples and ensure their rights to lands, territories and resources, in particular article 20 of the Declaration. This includes recognizing reindeer herders’ use and management of grazing land and use of necessary biological resources by hunters, fishers and foragers.
The Permanent Forum reiterates its previous recommendations that address the alarming number of suicides among indigenous youth. The Forum encourages community organization for safe spaces and low-threshold health services, respecting non-discrimination, in particular where discrimination based on ethnicity, gender and sexual orientation is concerned. The United Nations system, in particular the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), should emphasize the provision of mental health services, with particular efforts to address suicide among indigenous youth.
The Permanent Forum appoints Anne Nuorgam, a member of the Forum, to undertake a study to examine freshwater fishing and hunting rights of indigenous peoples, to be submitted to the Forum at its seventeenth session.
The Permanent Forum recommends that indigenous peoples, as the rightful owners and custodians of their own languages , initiate and develop their own action plans and appropriate measures for the International Year and awareness -raising campaigns to draw attention to the situation of indigenous languages.
The Forum recommends that the Working Group on Indigenous Populations undertake a study on genocidal and ethnocidal practices perpetrated on indigenous peoples, including programmes for sterilization of indigenous women and girls, the use of indigenous communities as subjects for nuclear testing or storage of radioactive waste and the testing of unapproved drugs on indigenous children and peoples.
The Permanent Forum urges States parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity to seriously consider the recommendations of the above-mentioned international expert group meeting.
The Permanent Forum welcomes the World Intellectual Property Organization facilitating a process, in accordance with the Declaration, to engage with indigenous peoples on matters including intellectual property, genetic resources, traditional knowledge and folklore.
The Permanent Forum calls upon the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Inter-Agency Support Group on Indigenous Peoples’ Issues to organize, by 2021, in-country dialogues that will feed into a global expert group meeting on indigenous peoples and HIV/AIDS, with the aim of proposing key principles of action for HIV/AIDS programming, and urges States, in collaboration with indigenous peoples, to contribute to this initiative.
The Permanent Forum decides to appoint Mr. Lars Anders-Baer, a member of the Permanent Forum, as a special rapporteur to undertake a study to determine the impact of climate change adaptation and mitigation measures on reindeer herding.
The Permanent Forum recalls the relevance of article 13 (1) of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and encourages States to step up efforts, in collaboration with Indigenous Peoples, to advance the realization of the linguistic and cultural rights of Indigenous Peoples, including through the right to education in Indigenous Peoples’ languages in the context of the International Decade.
Throughout history, indigenous peoples have moved from place to place to find water, pastureland for their animals, and game; to trade goods from different ecological zones; and even to seek job opportunities in urban areas. Mobility restrictions both within and across State borders have affected indigenous peoples adversely, with the impact on pastoralist groups particularly severe in the context of their ability to access water and food. The Permanent Forum recommends that States implement specific measures to address the mobility needs of indigenous peoples, including through cooperation with neighbouring States, and that such efforts be made with the full free, prior and informed consent of the indigenous peoples affected.