The Permanent Forum invites the General Assembly to request that UNESCO report on activities carried out during the International Year, and subsequent impacts and follow-up activities after 2019, at its seventy-fifth session.
The Permanent Forum highlights that unprincipled positions and actions of States undermine indigenous peoples’ human rights and the United Nations Declaration and that such conduct prejudices indigenous peoples globally and serves to weaken the international human rights system. States must therefore take steps, in conjunction with indigenous peoples, to ensure that their commitments and obligations are not violated in other international forums, especially following the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples. In accordance with both the outcome document of the World Conference and the United Nations Declaration, States, in conjunction with indigenous peoples, should develop legislation and mechanisms at the national level to ensure that laws are consistent with the United Nations Declaration
The Permanent Forum reaffirms that indigenous peoples’ participation is crucial for the work of the Forum, and it therefore urges States to facilitate this participation, especially those indigenous peoples funded by the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Populations.
The Permanent Forum recommends that States recognize the right of indigenous peoples to own, control, use and have access to their forests, and calls on States to reform their laws and policies that deny indigenous peoples that right. The Forum is gravely concerned about the continuing eviction of indigenous peoples from their forests and calls on States and the United Nations system and other intergovernmental organizations to protect and respect the rights of forest-dwelling and forest-dependent indigenous peoples and to provide redress to those whose rights have been violated.