The Permanent Forum also calls on the United Nations to ensure the active participation of indigenous peoples at the High-level Plenary Meeting of the sixty-fifth session of the General Assembly, to be held in September 2010.
The Permanent Forum welcomes the decision by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights to promote and protect the rights of non-dominant minorities in Africa, who are distinct from indigenous populations and/or communities. While recognizing the importance of the rights of persons belonging to minorities, the Permanent Forum is concerned that the expanded mandate could compromise the current Commission standards for promoting the rights of indigenous peoples. The Permanent Forum therefore urges the Commission to establish a separate working group on minority rights. The Permanent Forum calls on the Commission to work closely with it, indigenous peoples representatives from Africa, and United Nations entities to highlight and advance the recognition, rights and participation of indigenous peoples at the regional and national levels. Furthermore, the Permanent Forum recommends that the Commission designate a focal point on indigenous people
The Permanent Forum continues to be concerned that the World Bank’s new environmental and social safeguard 7 allows the conversion of the collective territories of indigenous peoples into individual ownership rights, even though it recognizes the importance of protecting the collective attachment of indigenous peoples to their lands. Providing funding for States to divide the lands of indigenous peoples generates conflict, irreparably harms livelihoods and traditional resource management strategies and erodes the governance structures of indigenous peoples. Paragraph 29 of environmental and social safeguard 7 should urgently be revised to ensure that indigenous peoples maintain their collective rights to lands, territories and resources in all projects funded by the Bank.
The Permanent Forum recommends that the relevant United Nations agencies and Member States with reindeer herding peoples support training and education programmes for indigenous reindeer herding youth and communities in order to secure the future sustainability and resilience of the Arctic and sub-Arctic indigenous pastoral reindeer herding societies and cultures in the face of climate change, land-use change and globalization.