The Permanent Forum welcomes the effort of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to establish a regional human rights mechanism and offers its expertise and cooperation in this matter. The Forum recommends that the mechanism be called the “ASEAN Human Rights Commission” and that the commission explicitly recognize indigenous peoples in its terms of reference. We look forward to a strong commission with full investigatory and implementation powers, which uses the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as its framework in dealing with indigenous peoples’ issues. The Forum also recommends that the commission establish a committee on indigenous peoples in addition to its proposed committees on migrant workers and women and children.
The Forum recommends that States pay special attention to the situation of uncontacted indigenous peoples, peoples in voluntary isolation, and peoples in isolated and remote localities and displaced peoples from indigenous communities. The Forum recommends that the Special Rapporteur on the human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people pay special attention in his annual reports to the situation of these peoples. The Forum also considers that the situation of these peoples should be the subject of a special international meeting during the Second International Decade of the World’s Indigenous People.
The Permanent Forum reaffirms and reiterates that self-determination, free, prior and informed consent and accountability form the basis of, and prerequisite for, any relationship that can be called a true partnership for development, and urges all States, indigenous peoples, United Nations bodies, international development agencies, corporations and the private sector, as well as civil society, to uphold these vital principles.
The Permanent Forum supports an initiative to declare an International Year of Quinoa, recognizing the importance of quinoa to indigenous people and that it is a natural food with a high nutritional content.
The Permanent Forum decides to hold an international expert group meeting to discuss in greater detail the way in which the Forum should address its mandate under article 42 of the Declaration.
The Permanent Forum urges States to promote and protect the rights of indigenous women and men working as journalists, communicators and as human rights defenders in accordance with international human rights law, in particular in accordance with article 16 of the Declaration, which calls for the full freedom of expression of indigenous peoples.
The Permanent Forum welcomes the results of the 2018 High-level Expert Seminar on Indigenous Food Systems, in particular the creation of an online global hub on indigenous food systems, and would like to recommend that the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) continue work on: (a) Indigenous young people towards the creation of a forum on indigenous young people in the coming years; (b) Indigenous food systems, in particular in relation to the links with traditional knowledge, climate change and the respect of indigenous peoples’ rights to their lands, territories and resources; (c) Indigenous women (the global campaign on indigenous women and the leadership and food security schools for indigenous women).
The Permanent Forum urges the Nordic States to ratify, as soon as possible, the Nordic Saami Convention, which could set an example for other indigenous peoples whose traditional territories are divided by international borders.
The Permanent Forum urges the international community to support the peace process in Mali and establish an independent monitoring committee that, in accordance with articles 7 and 37 of the United Nations Declaration, would oversee the implementation of the peace agreement of 20 June 2015, with the effective and representative participation of the Tuareg peoples.
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 an expert seminar be held, without financial implications, and invites the participation of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and the Special Committee on Decolonization, to examine the impact of the United Nations decolonization process on indigenous peoples of the Non-Self-Governing Territories that are on the United Nations list of Non-Self-Governing Territories. The Forum requests that independent experts and the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous peoples be invited to participate in the seminar. Furthermore, the Forum requests that indigenous peoples under Non-Self-Governing Territories status also be invited.
The Permanent Forum recommends that States take steps to establish truth commissions in situations of reported gross violations of the human rights of indigenous peoples. The Forum underlines that the full and effective participation of affected indigenous peoples is a precondition for the establishment and work of truth commissions.