The Permanent Forum urges all Arctic States to endorse and implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
The Permanent Forum continues to be deeply disturbed by the threats that the extractive industries, infrastructure megaprojects, such as roads and dams, legal and illegal logging, and the expansion of large-scale agriculture pose to the indigenous peoples living in voluntary isolation and initial contact. While recognizing the guidelines for the protection of indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation and initial contact in the Americas prepared by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the corresponding guidelines elaborated by OHCHR, the Permanent Forum recommends that OHCHR, in cooperation with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and with the participation of indigenous peoples’ organizations, evaluate the progress made, identify implementation gaps and make recommendations to advance the protection of indigenous peoples living in voluntary isolation and initial contact and to guarantee their rights.
The Permanent Forum welcomes the adoption of the American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples by the Organization of American States on 15 June 2016. The Forum calls upon States to implement the American Declaration in order to advance the rights of indigenous peoples in accordance with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the ILO Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989 (No. 169) and other human rights instruments.
The Permanent Forum takes note of the UNDP Global Programme for Electoral Cycle Support initiative, with its focus on indigenous women and youth in Latin America, and appreciates the contributions provided by donors to ensure the success of the initiative. The Forum recommends that Member States, UN-Women and UNICEF provide financial support for this important initiative for indigenous women and youth.
The Permanent Forum welcomes the dialogues to support indigenous peoples’ preparations for the United Nations Food Systems Summit. The Forum requests Member States and the secretariat of the Summit to guarantee the participation of indigenous peoples at the Summit with a view to ensuring due reflection of indigenous peoples’ rights and issues in the relevant outcome documents.
The Permanent Forum invites the Working Group on the use of mercenaries as a means of violating human rights and impeding the exercise of the right of peoples to self-determination to conduct a study on the human rights abuses against Indigenous Peoples of the Sahel region by mercenaries and other non-State armed actors.
The Permanent Forum decides to extend the mandate of the Special Rapporteurs on indigenous peoples and corporations, Carlos Mamani Condori, Elisa Canqui Mollo and Pavel Sulyandziga, for one year, and requests them to submit a written report to the Forum at its ninth session, in 2010.
The Permanent Forum expresses its grave concern about the lack of observance and implementation of indigenous peoples’ rights, as enshrined in the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989 (No. 169), the American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. This underscores the need for more awareness-raising and capacity-building regarding indigenous peoples’ rights, not only for indigenous peoples themselves, but also for government and justice officials, as well as for private sector actors and civil society at large. In this regard, the Forum welcomes the e-learning course on indigenous peoples’ rights developed by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), with the support of the Expert Mechanism and United Nations Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Peoples. The course, which is available on the OHCHR website, is a small but important contribution towards building capacities for the promotion and protection of indigenous peoples’ rights.
The Permanent Forum urges UNESCO to develop an indigenous peoples’ platform within the agency to ensure that UNESCO language programmes provide tangible benefits to indigenous communities and ensure that indigenous peoples are active in all aspects of the work of UNESCO.
The Permanent Forum urges the Human Rights Committee and the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights to require States parties to take into account, in their reports to each body, the first article of both the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which must be understood pursuant to article 3 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which sets out the right of indigenous peoples to self-determination
The Permanent Forum recommends that OHCHR continue to contribute to strengthening the working relations between the treaty bodies and the three United Nations mechanisms which have specific mandates to address indigenous peoples’ issues in order to enhance compliance with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. In this regard, OHCHR could facilitate the participation of the Chairperson of the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people and the Chairperson of the Permanent Forum at the next annual meeting of the chairpersons of the treaty bodies.
The Permanent Forum recommends that the Special Rapporteur of the Human Rights Council on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism undertake a study on the implications of national security and anti-terrorist laws, policies and programmes for indigenous peoples and make recommendations on the human rights of indigenous peoples.