The Permanent Forum recommends that indigenous peoples’ organizations, as well as the United Nations entities in the Inter-Agency Network on Youth Development and the Inter-Agency Support Group on Indigenous Peoples’ Issues, consult indigenous youth-led organizations in order to include issues pertaining to indigenous youth in their work at the local, national, regional and global levels.
The Forum encourages organizers of pre-sessional regional meetings of indigenous peoples to develop suggestions and recommendations for the Forum to consider and encourages its members to participate in such meetings
The Forum welcomes the preparation of daily press releases in English, French and Spanish on the discussions of the Forum during its session. The Forum requests the Department of Public Information, in collaboration with the secretariat of the Forum, to:
a) Ensure the widest distribution of the press releases;
b) Develop an overall strategy to fulfil the mandate of the Forum to disseminate information on indigenous peoples and their issues.
The Forum intends to pursue the agenda of mainstreaming indigenous issues into the process of the Millennium Development Goals and applying the thematic approach to build up a three-year programme of work. The Forum intends moreover to focus on implementation and urges United Nations bodies, States and indigenous peoples to engage actively in the dialogue on these issues, sharing good practices and barriers to implementation.
In September 2024, 10 years will have passed since the adoption by the General Assembly of the outcome document of the high-level plenary meeting of the Assembly known as the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples, and of its annex, the Alta outcome document. The Permanent Forum calls upon the Secretary-General and the President of the General Assembly to hold a “World Conference on Indigenous Peoples Plus 10” in August 2024 to allow Member States, United Nations entities and indigenous peoples to report on implementation of the outcome document, with the full participation of indigenous peoples.
The Permanent Forum welcomes the growing interest in participation in the Forum’s sessions among Africa’s indigenous peoples’ representatives, States, the Working Group on Indigenous Populations/Communities in Africa of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, United Nations agencies, funds and programmes, and academic institutions working in Africa. The Forum requests that the United Nations system and other donors scale up their support for the participation of indigenous peoples of Africa in the Forum’s annual sessions.
The Permanent Forum calls on the Inter-American Development Bank to establish an advisory council of indigenous peoples to implement its strategy on indigenous peoples.
Bearing in mind the principle of free, prior and informed consent as enshrined in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the Permanent Forum recommends that relevant UNICEF materials be translated into the languages of and made accessible to the indigenous peoples with whom the Fund is working so that they can participate fully in the planning and implementation of projects that directly or indirectly affect them.
The Permanent Forum welcomes the interest of the Governments of Botswana and the Congo in supporting the rights of indigenous peoples in the region, including the World Conference process, and encourages other African Governments to follow this good practice. The Forum welcomes the willingness of Simon William M’Viboudoulou to assist in the preparation and successful hosting of these meetings.
The Forum recommends that UNICEF consider the appointment of a goodwill ambassador of indigenous children and youth to raise public awareness and that it urge all UNICEF ambassadors to pay attention to the specific problems of indigenous children and youth.
Indigenous peoples should be free to continue and enhance the participation of their institutions in various processes locally, nationally, regionally and globally in forms and ways that are culturally appropriate for them and that ensure equality and non-discriminatory access. In that regard, the Permanent Forum recommends that Member States and indigenous peoples involved in international regional cooperation forums exercise an inclusive and non-discriminatory approach towards indigenous peoples living in the countries and territories covered by such forums.
The Permanent Forum welcomes the establishment of the Network of the Centers of Distinction on Indigenous and Local Knowledge under the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. The Network, which comprises indigenous leaders, experts, professionals and advocates of indigenous and local knowledge, serves to promote the integrity and value of the knowledge of indigenous peoples and local communities in science and policy. In addition, the Forum notes the aspects relevant to indigenous peoples that the Platform has rolled out until 2030 in its work programme and, in that regard, seeks to further its collaboration with the Platform in its own future work. The Forum invites the Platform and the Network to continue to inform the Forum about the progress of their work, including at the Forum’s twenty-first session.