Since the adoption in 2007 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, few States have entered into effective dialogue or partnerships with indigenous peoples or have undertaken adequate legal reforms to implement the Declaration. Based on interventions and reports of representatives of indigenous peoples from all regions of the world at its eleventh session, the Permanent Forum is alarmed about the ongoing gross human rights violations being perpetrated against indigenous peoples and therefore calls upon all States to take urgent action to end such violations and to recognize and respect the human rights standards contained in the Declaration.
The Permanent Forum encourages the Government of Paraguay to continue to accept assistance from United Nations agencies and programmes and national cooperation agencies in order to develop policies aimed at the elimination of forced labour and other forms of servitude, especially in matters relating to the most urgent challenges: food, health, housing and education.
The Permanent Forum strongly supports the position expressed in the outcome document of the Durban Review Conference that States should take all necessary measures to implement the rights of indigenous peoples.
In accordance with international law, the Permanent Forum recommends that all States members of the Organization of American States recognize and respect that the United Nations Declaration constitutes the minimum standards for the survival, dignity and well-being of indigenous peoples of the world, and requests them to ensure that the draft American declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples is consistent with or exceeds the standards affirmed in the United Nations Declaration.
The Permanent Forum recommends that the secretariat of the Permanent Forum, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Institute for Training and Research, UNDP and the United Nations Programme on Youth cooperate closely with the Global Indigenous Youth Caucus to conduct and support regional and international human rights training programmes to build the capacity and advocacy skills of indigenous youth.
The Forum recommends that the agencies and bodies of the United Nations, the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the African Development Bank and the International Monetary Fund rethink the concept of development, with the full participation of indigenous peoples in development processes, taking into account the rights of indigenous peoples and the practices of their traditional knowledge.
The Permanent Forum welcomes the work of the Government of Namibia in the development and validation of the white paper on the rights of indigenous peoples, developed with the support of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs. The Forum encourages the Government to take measures to ensure that the white paper is approved and effectively implemented, in cooperation with indigenous peoples in Namibia. Furthermore, the Forum encourages other States, in particular African States, to consider similar measures, consistent with the Declaration.
Combat, within an appropriate legal framework, and link with Millennium Development Goals, violence against women, including forced prostitution and trafficking of women and girls as well as domestic violence
The Permanent Forum invites Governments, United Nations organizations and their regional offices, universities and research bodies to support the convening of regional workshops and other activities in the Arctic, Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Pacific to identify indicators relevant to indigenous peoples’ poverty and well-being, traditional knowledge and biodiversity, with a view to monitoring progress in the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals and the objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity.
The Permanent Forum urges the Human Rights Committee and the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights to require States parties to take into account, in their reports to each body, the first article of both the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which must be understood pursuant to article 3 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which sets out the right of indigenous peoples to self-determination
The Permanent Forum recommends that those responsible for practices of forced labour or other forms of servitude should be prosecuted under Paraguayan law.
The Permanent Forum recommends that the Human Rights Council authorize at least one more session of the United Nations Working Group on Indigenous Populations so that it can review and, as needed, complete its important work.