The Permanent Forum recommends that the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women) conduct a study on violence against indigenous women and access to justice, especially in cross-border situations, in cooperation with indigenous women.
The Forum appreciates the preparation by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights of the information note on the ways in which indigenous issues have been addressed in Charter-based mechanisms and treaty bodies. The Forum recommends that the Secretary-General prepare, in several stages, an analytical study on the subject. In the initial stage, the Forum recommends the Secretary-General prepare a study on the ways in which indigenous issues have been addressed in the consideration of reports of States parties submitted under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
The Permanent Forum recommends that all States with indigenous peoples review their legislation, policies and programmes in accordance with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the Programme of Action for the Second International Decade of the World’s Indigenous People.
In accordance with the outcome document of the high-level plenary meeting of the General Assembly known as the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples and the system-wide action plan, all funds, programmes and specialized agencies are urged to adopt policies to inform their work with indigenous peoples that include indigenous peoples’ right to self-determination and free, prior and informed consent. Progress achieved will be discussed at future sessions of the Permanent Forum.
The Permanent Forum welcomes the work of the Government of Bangladesh with United Nations country offices to support peace in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. The Permanent Forum further welcomes the ongoing study on the status of implementation of the Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Accord of 1997 and invites the Government of Bangladesh, with the full and effective participation of indigenous peoples, to report on the results of the study at the twenty-second session of the Permanent Forum, setting a timeframe for its full implementation. The Permanent Forum also calls upon the Government of Bangladesh to continue to address all forms of violence, including enforced disappearances, and sexual violence against women in the Chittagong Hill Tracts committed by law enforcement agencies.
The Permanent Forum recalls paragraph 41 in its report on its twelfth session (E/2013/43-E/C.19/2013/25) and reaffirms that States should establish a monitoring mechanism to address violence against indigenous peoples, including assassinations, assassination attempts, rapes and other intimidation and persecution against indigenous human rights defenders. Furthermore, with regard to article 22 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the Forum recommends that such monitoring mechanisms address the issue of missing and murdered indigenous women, and that measures be taken to ensure the full protection of indigenous women against all forms of violence.
The Permanent Forum recommends to the Human Rights Council that, in the course of a universal periodic review, the situation of indigenous peoples of a country under consideration also be examined.
The Permanent Forum also notes the International Expert Group Meeting on Urban Indigenous Peoples and Migration, held in Chile in March 2007, and expresses its appreciation to the Government of Canada for providing funding to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean for hosting the event. It also recommends that States, United Nations and civil society organizations and other stakeholders contribute to the implementation of the recommendations contained in the above-mentioned publication.
The Permanent Forum invites the Chairman of the Special Committee to report on the decolonization process within the Pacific region to the Forum at its eighth session in 2009.
The active participation of indigenous peoples and indigenous organizations should be ensured when matters affecting their rights are discussed by the Human Rights Council and any subsidiary bodies or processes that it decides to establish.
The Permanent Forum welcomes the lively and analytical dialogue that emerged from the half-day discussion on the African region and encourages the United Nations Development Group to facilitate further dialogue between States and indigenous peoples at the African continental level to foster better understanding of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the commitments to indigenous peoples that Member States have made. Within this framework, capacity-building at the national level should be enhanced.
The Permanent Forum recommends that OHCHR take a leading role in ensuring that United Nations country teams undertake their policies or programmes affecting indigenous peoples in cooperation with indigenous peoples’ representatives and organizations.