Given increased violence against indigenous peoples in the Amazon region, the Permanent Forum urges the Member States of the region to take urgent, extraordinary and coordinated measures to protect the individual and collective rights of indigenous peoples, with the aim of maintaining their ownership and use of their territories. The Forum also calls upon the United Nations system and specialized agencies, including OHCHR, the United Nations Environment Programme, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and ILO, to support Member States in the protection of indigenous peoples’ habitats and cultures in the Amazon region in cooperation with indigenous peoples.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on the livelihoods of indigenous peoples, including nomadic peoples. Furthermore, the pandemic has exacerbated the plight of young women with regard to forced early marriage, female genital mutilation and lack of access to health care. The Permanent Forum calls on Member States to implement effective measures to address these challenges in their post-pandemic recovery efforts
The Permanent Forum welcomes efforts by Member States to organize specific vaccine programmes for indigenous peoples and encourages the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, Gavi Alliance, WHO and the United Nations Children’s Fund, in their administration of the COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access (COVAX) Facility, to ensure that indigenous peoples are uniquely included in vaccine dissemination efforts. Given the disproportionate effect of the COVID-19 virus on the mortality of indigenous peoples in many countries, the Forum underlines the urgency of ensuring that all indigenous peoples are uniquely considered in vaccine planning and distribution. Due attention should also be given to indigenous peoples affected by conflict and post-conflict situations and complex humanitarian emergencies.
The Permanent Forum, bearing in mind the contributions of indigenous peoples’ traditional medicines to the recovery from the pandemic, invites the World Health Assembly to declare an international year of indigenous peoples’ traditional medicines by 2025.
The Permanent Forum is concerned by the killings, violence and harassment targeted at indigenous human rights defenders, which are also frequently committed with impunity. The Permanent Forum is concerned that, despite international condemnation, these criminal acts of violence persist, especially in a small number of countries in South and Central America, Africa and Asia.
The Permanent Forum requests United Nations entities, in particular those working on land tenure and changes in land use, to advance the research on securing the land and territorial rights of indigenous peoples, taking into account the negative impacts of, inter alia, the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) global pandemic and regional conflicts.
The Permanent Forum urgently recommends that the Pan American Health Organization and the World Health Organization (WHO), in cooperation with the Permanent Forum and other relevant entities, create a permanent working group to evaluate the ongoing situation of indigenous peoples living in voluntary isolation and initial contact, and to design, promote and discuss with Governments and other institutions the implementation of urgent measures for the protection of indigenous peoples living in voluntary isolation and initial contact.
The Permanent Forum welcomes the importance that the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees attaches to the use of indigenous languages when working with indigenous peoples in emergency situations. The Permanent Forum encourages other United Nations agencies, funds and programmes to follow that positive practice. For instance, the Permanent Forum recommends that the World Health Organization (WHO) prioritize indigenous languages as a determinant of health.
The Permanent Forum recognizes that, owing to historical and ongoing discriminatory practices in the delivery of healthcare, including in the administration of vaccines, there is distrust that needs to be acknowledged and addressed by governments. Therefore, the Forum recommends that governments collaborate with indigenous peoples’ representatives and leaders, provide culturally appropriate information in indigenous peoples’ languages, engage with indigenous healthcare practitioners and support indigenous peoples’ organizations that are already providing pandemic-related support in their communities.
The Permanent Forum appreciates the participation, at its twenty-first session, of the Special Rapporteur on the implications for human rights of the environmentally sound management and disposal of hazardous substances and wastes and recommends that the Special Rapporteur urge Member States to guarantee indigenous peoples’ rights to clean water. The Permanent Forum invites the Special Rapporteur to participate at its twenty-second session, in 2023.
The Permanent Forum notes with concern that the COVID-19 pandemic has increased sexual and reproductive health challenges worldwide and stresses that there is a need for Governments to implement the commitments they made during the summit held in Nairobi in 2019 to mark the twenty-fifth anniversary of on the International Conference on Population and Development.
The Permanent Forum also recommends that WHO and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) engage in an intersessional round table on the pandemic with Forum members to ensure that ongoing mitigation planning and efforts are uniquely adapted to the needs of indigenous peoples, including by applying intercultural approaches to health, such as those applied by PAHO in the Americas.