The Permanent Forum recommends that States and the United Nations system, with particular attention to the activities of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO), introduce indigenous youth perspectives into existing youth policies and plans, including the five-year action agenda of the Secretary-General to address health issues. In addition, there should be a distinct focus on indigenous youth by improving participation in decision-making and by introducing and including mental health services for young people, with particular efforts to address suicide among indigenous youth.
The Permanent Forum recommends that States implement emission reductions to limit the increase in average global temperature to no more than 1.5oC to avoid the increased impact of climate change.
The Permanent Forum recommends that States immediately begin the process of demarcation of indigenous peoples’ lands and territories in accordance with customary laws and the norms reflected in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, with a view to further protecting indigenous peoples’ lands and resources from expropriation, exploitation and designation as conservation areas or national parks without the free, prior and informed consent of indigenous peoples, as set out in articles 19, 26 and 27 of the Declaration.
Affirmation of the status of indigenous peoples as “peoples” is important in fully respecting and protecting their human rights. Consistent with its 2010 report (E/2010/43-E/C.19/2010/15), the Permanent Forum calls upon the parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, and especially including the Nagoya Protocol, to adopt the terminology “indigenous peoples and local communities” as an accurate reflection of the distinct identities developed by those entities since the adoption of the Convention almost 20 years ago
With regard to the environmental issue of water, the Forum, recognizing the indigenous peoples’ Kyoto water declaration made at the World Water Forum, held in Kyoto, Japan, in March 2003, requests that the Commission on Sustainable Development and other relevant United Nations bodies (i.e., UNEP, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNDP) consider the declaration in their discussions on this theme in 2004.
A majority of States have yet to grant official recognition to indigenous peoples, let alone their collective rights to lands, territories and resources. The Permanent Forum expresses its grave concern about the non-recognition of indigenous peoples, in particular in Africa and Asia, and recommends that States incorporate the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples into national legislation, policies and programmes.
The Permanent Forum calls on all States that have not yet done so to implement the 2005 Kyoto Protocol, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and other international initiatives that address climate change and biocultural diversity in conjunction with indigenous peoples, including indigenous women, in a full and effective way. The Annex I countries should implement their commitments to the Kyoto Protocol by doing all they can to shift their economic systems towards low-carbon systems, instead of relying mainly on the purchase of emission credits to offset their emissions. The fast-industrializing developing countries should also undertake serious efforts to cut their emissions and develop low-carbon energy systems.
The Permanent Forum recommends that the Government of Paraguay should give priority, in its emergency plans, to the protection of vulnerable indigenous children from practices of forced labour and other forms of exploitation.
A request for the secretariats of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Forum to consult and collaborate with indigenous organizations to promote the role of indigenous peoples as stewards of biological and cultural diversity for the International Year of Biodiversity.
The Permanent Forum urges States to cooperate with indigenous peoples to prevent and eliminate all forms of violence and discrimination against indigenous women, children, youth, older persons and persons with disabilities and to provide support for measures aimed at ensuring their full and effective participation in decision-making processes at all levels and at eliminating structural and legal barriers to their full, equal and effective participation in political, economic, social and cultural life.
The Permanent Forum recommends that interested parties organize an international expert group meeting on the theme “Indigenous peoples: sacred plants and sites, articles 11, 24 and 31 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples”, and requests that the conclusions of such a meeting be submitted to the Forum at its tenth session.
The Permanent Forum welcomes the announcement during this session of the Conservation Initiative on Human Rights by eight global conservation organizations — the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, the World Wide Fund for Nature/World Wildlife Fund, Fauna and Flora International, Wetlands International, BirdLife International, the Nature Conservancy, the Wildlife Conservation Society and Conservation International — which aims to promote the integration of human rights in conservation policy and practice, based on their common interest in promoting positive links between conservation and rights of people to secure their livelihoods, enjoy healthy and productive environments and live with dignity. The Forum recommends that these conservation organizations ensure the full participation of indigenous peoples in the implementation of the Initiative. The Forum further recommends that conservation organizations that have projects that have led to the eviction of indigenous peoples from their forests provide redress and restitution to such victims.