The Permanent Forum welcomes the global Stop TB Partnership, which is housed within the World Health Organization (WHO). It urges the Partnership to ensure that indigenous peoples’ concerns are fully included and that they participate in the decision-making body in implementing programmes and projects.
Reinforce the investments in population and reproductive health which is crucial for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals - to reduce poverty, achieve universal primary education, improve maternal and child health, curb the spread of HIV/AIDS, promote gender equality, ensure sustainable development, and establish a strong partnership for development
The Permanent Forum requests that States incorporate commitments made in the outcome document of the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples into the development of the post-2015 development agenda, especially the action points on data disaggregation, land rights, traditional knowledge, the implementation of free, prior and informed consent and access to justice presented by indigenous speakers in the thematic panels during the high-level stocktaking event, and reaffirm their commitments to indigenous peoples in the political declaration of the United Nations summit for the adoption of the post-2015 development agenda, with the following paragraph: We affirm that indigenous peoples have the right to determine and develop priorities and strategies for exercising their right to development, based on their security, of their lands, territories and resources. We commit ourselves to ensuring equal access to high-quality education that recognizes the diversity of the cultures of indigenous peoples, and to health, housing, water, sanitation and other economic and social programmes to improve their well-being, including through initiatives, policies and the provision of resources. We intend to empower indigenous peoples, including women, to deliver such programmes and commit ourselves to working with indigenous peoples to disaggregate data on indigenous peoples’ development and well-being.
The Forum urges WHO to attend its sessions, and encourages WHO to submit a report to it at its fourth session, responding to recommendations made by the Forum at its first to third sessions. The Forum regrets that WHO was unable to respond to its recommendations made at its second session, in particular those contained in chapter I, section B, paragraphs 16, 63-64, 68, 74, 79 and 82.
The Forum recommends that the Inter-Agency Support Group convene a technical workshop on indigenous traditional knowledge, in collaboration with United Nations agencies dealing with this issue, with the participation of indigenous experts, with a view to promoting a collaborative, complementary and holistic approach to traditional knowledge in order to enhance better understanding of indigenous concerns and their possible solution and requests the workshop to submit its report to the Forum at its fifth session
The Permanent Forum appreciates the steps taken by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, UNFPA and the Inter-Agency Support Group on Indigenous Peoples’ Issues for the organization of an international workshop on indigenous peoples and HIV/AIDS, and calls on Member States and United Nations entities to contribute to the workshop.
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 recognizes the importance of data disaggregation, as noted in target 17.18 of the 2030 Agenda, and in this regard, it is aware of the good practices promoted by the Economic and Social Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). The Forum recommends that ECLAC, in cooperation with UNFPA and others, redouble efforts to ensure data disaggregation for indigenous peoples and promote the inclusion of complementary indicators on indigenous peoples’ rights in Governments’ national reports for the Sustainable Development Goals and the Montevideo Consensus on Population and Development, adopted at the Regional Conference on Population and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean. The Forum further recommends that ECLAC provide a guidance note and organize a mutual learning event, jointly with other regional commissions, in order to share best practices of data disaggregation on the basis of indigenous identifiers and self-identification, as used in the 2010 round of census in several countries in Latin America.
The Permanent Forum recognizes the importance of indigenous peoples knowledge systems as the basis of their development with culture and identity and therefore recommends that ongoing international processes, such as negotiations on the international regime on access and benefit-sharing of the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, and the Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore of the World Intellectual Property Organization, should recognize and integrate the crucial role and relevance of indigenous knowledge systems in accordance with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
The Permanent Forum also calls upon WHO to work in close cooperation with the Forum in establishing a programme on non-communicable diseases, with special attention to indigenous peoples and diabetes. The Forum recognizes the findings of the Expert Meeting on Indigenous Peoples, Diabetes and Development, held in Copenhagen on 1 and 2 March 2012, and its outcome document entitled “The Copenhagen call to action” and recommends that those outcomes be considered when establishing the programme.
The Permanent Forum calls for increased investments in educational programmes and capacity-building initiatives that empower Indigenous Peoples to navigate legal and bureaucratic processes in managing their resources in keeping with their cultural and spiritual values and self-determined development. These initiatives should support the transmission of Indigenous knowledge and skills across generations, enhancing resilience and sustainability.