In order to protect the human rights of indigenous peoples, the Forum recommends that States create indigenous ombudsmen offices, especially for indigenous women, ensuring the full and effective participation of indigenous women
Since the adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in 2007, some Governments have taken measures to incorporate into their national or domestic legislation, recognition of and respect for the human rights of indigenous peoples. However, in most regions of the world, implementation of the Declaration remains a big challenge. The Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues welcomes the reports of States and United Nations agencies on respective initiatives to implement the Declaration, but draws attention to the serious implementation gaps.
The Permanent Forum recognizes the need to better consolidate and coordinate activities and capacity-building regarding indigenous issues at the country and regional levels and recommends that UNDP and the United Nations Development Group inform United Nations resident coordinators, regional directors and United Nations country teams, and establish inter-agency coordination mechanisms at those levels.
The Permanent Forum reiterates its call at its twenty-first session for a clear distinction between Indigenous Peoples and local communities. All United Nations entities and States parties to treaties concerning the environment, biodiversity and climate are encouraged to eliminate the use of the term “local communities” in
connection with Indigenous Peoples, so that the term “Indigenous Peoples and localcommunities” would be abolished.
The Permanent Forum welcomes the ruling of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in the case of Saramaka People vs. Suriname (28 November 2007), which aptly applies the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The Permanent Forum urges the Working Group of the Organization of American States, which is elaborating the draft American declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples, to consider the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as the minimum standard.
Recalling the recommendations made by the Special Rapporteur appointed to undertake a study on the status of implementation of the Chittagong Hill Tracts Accord of 1997 (E/C.19/2011/6, sect. VIII), and given that the situation of the indigenous peoples of the Chittagong Hill Tracts remains a matter of concern, the Forum encourages the Government of Bangladesh to allocate sufficient human and financial resources and set a time frame for the full implementation of the Accord.
Following the results of the discussion under the special theme "Indigenous children and youth" and in the light of article 30 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Forum recommends that the Committee on the Rights of the Child request States parties to the Convention to include in their reports information pertaining to the situation of indigenous children under all relevant provisions of the Convention.
Should members of the Forum wish to submit working papers to the Forum under the various areas of its mandate, they are hereby formally recommended to do so.
The Permanent Forum calls on States to consult with indigenous peoples in a manner that fully respects their obligations under the Declaration and fully responds to the goals, needs and rights of indigenous peoples in the development and design of relevant legislation.
Effective access to justice for indigenous peoples implies access to both the State legal system and their own systems of justice. Without accessible State courts or other legal mechanisms through which they can protect their rights, indigenous peoples become vulnerable to actions that threaten their lands, natural resources, cultures, sacred sites and livelihoods. Concurrently, the recognition of indigenous peoples’ own justice systems is pivotal in ensuring their rights to maintain their autonomy, culture and traditions.
The Permanent Forum takes note of the Deatnu (Tana/Teno) river fishing agreement between the Governments of Finland and Norway that was adopted by their respective Parliaments in March 2017. The Sami Parliaments of Finland and Norway have informed the Forum that the agreement was adopted without the free, prior and informed consent of the Sami. The Forum requests the Governments of Finland and Norway to renegotiate the agreement with the full and effective participation of Sami rights holders.
The Permanent Forum reiterates its call to Member States to redouble their efforts to ensure disaggregated data collection on indigenous peoples (in accordance with target 17.10) and to include complementary indicators on indigenous peoples in voluntary national reports submitted by Governments for meetings of the high-level political forum on sustainable development. Data disaggregated by ethnicity will help Governments to make informed decisions in a culturally appropriate way in response to the specific needs of indigenous peoples. The Forum underlines the importance of applying a human rights-based approach to data collection, including on ethnicity.