States, United Nations agencies, funds and programs should mobilize support for indigenous peoples who are extremely vulnerable to natural disasters.
States should recognize indigenous peoples’ rights to forests and should review and amend laws that are not consistent with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and other international standards on indigenous peoples’ land and natural resource rights, including over forests. This includes indigenous peoples’ customary law on land and resource rights and the right to be fully involved in decision-making processes.
The Permanent Forum urges all States to substantially increase the human and financial resources made available to all indigenous communities and schools to prevent self-harm and suicide among young people, and for holistic treatment based on cultural, spiritual and linguistic revitalization, providing healthy and positive lifestyle choices and access to traditional methods of counselling based on accurate and reliable data.
The Forum recommends that the Committee on the Rights of the Child, at its special discussion day on the indigenous child, to be held on 19 September 2003, in addition to considering reports from States parties, pay special attention to issues related to safeguarding the integrity of indigenous families.
In order to promote further knowledge of the Forum and the role of the United Nations among indigenous children and youth, the Forum decides to organize an indigenous youth art competition for the design of a logo for the Forum and to present the results to the Forum at its fourth session, in 2005, with the highest participation of indigenous children, including illiterate children.
The Permanent Forum welcomes the adoption by the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity of two additional indicators for traditional knowledge: (a) status and trends in land use change and land tenure in the traditional territories of indigenous and local communities, and (b) status and trends in the practice of traditional occupations, to complement the adopted indicator on status and trends in traditional languages. The Forum urges the secretariat of the Convention and agencies working on these issues, including the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), ILO, FAO, IFAD and the International Land Coalition, to collaborate with a view to fully operationalizing those indicators.
The Permanent Forum recommends that the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, the United Nations Children’s Fund and other relevant United Nations entities collaborate with indigenous organizations in all regions to develop comprehensive guidelines, including best practices for culturally safe sex education by and for indigenous peoples. That type of comprehensive education may serve as an effective violence-prevention means.
The Permanent Forum urges States responsible for major sources of pollution and emissions of greenhouse gases to be accountable by enforcing and upholding stricter global pollution regulations that will apply to polluting parties.
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.