The Permanent Forum welcomes and endorses general recommendation No. 39 (2022) on the rights of Indigenous women and girls of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. Recommendation No. 39 provides critical guidance to States parties on legislative, policy and other relevant measures to ensure the implementation of their obligations under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, while taking into account the rights of Indigenous women and girls derived from specific instruments for the protection of Indigenous Peoples, such as the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and ILO Convention No. 169. The Permanent Forum calls upon Member States that have not yet done so to ratify without delay the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and ILO Convention No. 169.
The Permanent Forum recommends to ILO and its Governing Body that a technical expert meeting be organized to consider the drafting of a recommendation to supplement the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention.
Furthermore, the Permanent Forum urges those States that have abstained to reverse their positions and endorse the Declaration so as to achieve full consensus.
The Permanent Forum has learned from indigenous peoples’ communications, which have been corroborated by the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people, that in the Chaco region there are Guaraní communities in a practical state of slavery. According to the Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade, and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery, as well as the articles 17, 26 and 28 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the Forum strongly supports the efforts of the current Government of Bolivia and the commitment of the incoming Government of Paraguay to discontinue this enslaving practice and return indigenous lands to their lawful owners, the Guaraní themselves.