The Permanent Forum also welcomes the interest of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children in joining the Inter-Agency Support Group and calls upon the Special Representative to work closely with the members of the Forum in preparing a section on the situation of indigenous children in the Special Representative’s annual reports to the General Assembly and the Human Rights Council.
The Forum urges the members of the advisory council for the Voluntary Fund for the Second International Decade of the World's Indigenous People to allocate funds to indigenous youth-initiated projects and activities
The Permanent Forum commends States for recognizing the collective rights of indigenous peoples to lands, territories and resources and at the same time urges them to take immediate steps for the implementation of those rights through programmes for mapping, titling or other actions and legislative reforms. The Forum urges States to report to it by its twentieth session on steps taken in that regard.
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 in staffing the secretariat of the Forum, due consideration be given to qualified indigenous youth applicants.
The Forum recommends that the Inter-Agency Support Group on Indigenous Issues organize a workshop on policies and best practices of engaging indigenous youth and children on prevention of suicide among them and report to the Forum at its next session (2006)
The Permanent Forum is deeply concerned about the particular vulnerabilities
of indigenous children. In this regard, it notes the study of the Expert Mechanism on
the Rights of Indigenous Peoples on the rights of the indigenous child under the
United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (A/HRC/48/74) and
the note by the Secretariat entitled “Update on the promotion and application of the
United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: violence against
children” (E/C.19/2022/4), prepared in collaboration with the Special Representative
of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children. The Permanent Forum calls
upon Member States to prioritize the human rights of indigenous children and young
people, in cooperation with indigenous peoples. The Permanent Forum further calls
upon those States that have not yet ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child,
including its three Optional Protocols – on a communications procedure, on the sale
of children, child prostitution and child pornography and on the involvement of
children in armed conflict, to do so as soon as possible.
The Permanent Forum urges Governments in the Arctic, Eastern Europe, the Russian Federation, Central Asia and Transcaucasia to fully implement the relevant international obligations related to environmental and social safeguards to assure the conservation of nature and access to natural resources for indigenous peoples within their territories in accordance with Sustainable Development Goals 12, 14 and 15.
Consistent with the commitments in the outcome document of the high-level meeting of the General Assembly known as the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples (General Assembly resolution 69/2) and the standards for indigenous peoples’ survival, dignity and well-being contained in the United Nations Declaration, the Permanent Forum recommends that States fully engage indigenous peoples in good-faith negotiations of treaties, agreements and other constructive arrangements on the basis of the unequivocal recognition of indigenous peoples’ rights to lands, territories and resources and to fully reject the extinguishment of indigenous rights in form or result. Furthermore, the Forum recommends that States address the call for full and effective redress for the loss of lands, territories and resources and State breaches of treaties, agreements and other constructive arrangements. The Forum reiterates the urgent need for States to institute, in conjunction with indigenous peoples, high-level oversight bodies to guide and oversee the conduct of negotiations and implementation of treaties, agreements and other constructive arrangements in the light of ongoing negotiation and implementation issues. Building on the recommendations advanced at the eleventh session of the Forum, States are encouraged to support the resolution of disputes between indigenous peoples by providing financial and other methods of support to achieve peaceful resolution.
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 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.
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.