The Permanent Forum urges the funds, programmes and specialized agencies to have a special focus on the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the system-wide action plan in a few designated countries in 2017 and 2018 and led by the United Nations resident coordinators. In selecting those countries for joint action, special attention should be given to countries that already are under focus, such as those that are carrying out voluntary national reviews for the high-level political forum on sustainable development, those that are under review by the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review, those that are in the preparatory phases for a new United Nations Development Assistance Framework, or those in which a dialogue process between the State and the indigenous peoples is taking place.
The Permanent Forum requests all States to include developments relating to the rights of indigenous peoples in their regular reports to the Human Rights Council under the universal periodic review mechanism.
The Permanent Forum urges the member organizations of the Conservation Initiative on Human Rights to commission independent evaluations of the impact of their organizations’ work on indigenous peoples.
Member States must urgently address violence against indigenous peoples, including State violence, gender-based violence, forced assimilation and forced child removals, discrimination in the justice system and other forms of discrimination, including discrimination based on gender, religion, disability, age and LGBTIQ identity. The Forum encourages the Expert Mechanism, at its earliest convenience, to engage with the Governments of Australia and New Zealand, and with the participation of indigenous peoples, regarding the removal of indigenous children.
The active participation of indigenous peoples and indigenous organizations should be ensured when matters affecting their rights are discussed by the Human Rights Council and any subsidiary bodies or processes that it decides to establish.
The Permanent Forum recommends that OHCHR take a leading role in ensuring that United Nations country teams undertake their policies or programmes affecting indigenous peoples in cooperation with indigenous peoples’ representatives and organizations.
The Permanent Forum appoints Mr. Michael Dodson, a member of the Forum, as a special rapporteur to prepare a draft guide, based on the relevant principles contained in the Declaration on the Rights of INdigenous Peoples, taking into account the provisions of ILO Convention 169 that relate to indigenous land tenure and management arrangements, to assist indigenous peoples, States and United Nations agencies in negotiating indigenous land tenure and management arrangements.
The Permanent Forum calls upon the member States of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) to recognize the collective rights of indigenous peoples, and calls on ASEAN to ensure that the rights of indigenous peoples are integrated into the development process of the ASEAN charter.
The Permanent Forum notes the progress made by the UNDP Regional Initiative on Indigenous Peoples’ Rights and Development and the ILO Programme to Promote ILO Convention No. 169 (PRO-169) projects in the promotion and protection of the rights of indigenous peoples. The Forum welcomes the decision by UNDP to establish a similar programme in Latin America and calls on UNDP to expand its activities in this manner in Africa.
The Permanent Forum welcomes the recommendation to establish a voluntary international mechanism to receive and consider communications from indigenous peoples specifically concerning their claims to, or violations of, their rights to the lands, territories and resources which they have traditionally owned, occupied or otherwise used or acquired. This recommendation deserves further elaboration by indigenous peoples and others concerned. The Forum takes note of the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples in this regard.
Urgent transformational actions by States and other development actors for Indigenous Peoples must be based on a human rights framework enabling the identification of the root causes of inequality and providing mechanisms to tackle systemic discrimination and racism and must contribute to reforming discriminatory laws and policies and strengthening the accountability of States, including ensuring democratic space for all.
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.