In regard to the rights of indigenous peoples, the Permanent Forum reiterates its long-standing position of encouraging the United Nations, its organs and specialized agencies, as well as all States, to adopt a human rights-based approach. At the international, regional and national level, the human rights of indigenous peoples are always relevant if such rights are at risk of being undermined. Human rights are indivisible, interdependent, and interrelated. They must be respected in any context specifically concerning indigenous peoples, from environment to development, to peace and security, and many other issues.
The Permanent Forum commends the establishment and achievements of the Regional Indigenous Peoples’ Programme of UNDP in Asia, and calls on UNDP to ensure that the funding of that programme will be increased and that similar programmes will be set up in other regions.
The Permanent Forum recommends that the Executive Office of the Secretary-General urgently set up a meeting between the Permanent Forum and the High-level Panel on United Nations System-wide Coherence in the Areas of Development, Humanitarian Assistance, and the Environment to secure the integration of indigenous peoples’ perspectives into the ongoing process of furthering system-wide coherence.
The Forum takes note with satisfaction of the enhanced contributions of the United Nations system in its work, and recommends that the United Nations system, Governments, indigenous and other organizations further assist in the implementation and monitoring of the Forum’s recommendations and report to the Forum at its annual sessions. The Forum notes with appreciation the database of recommendations and their implementation status, as well as indicative time frames prepared by its secretariat, and recommends that the secretariat further develop this as a useful tool.
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 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 is concerned that, in their efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, Member States are not complying with the Declaration. In one case, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination requested that Norway temporarily suspend the ongoing construction of the Fosen Vind onshore wind power project, which negatively affects the reindeer herding of the South Sami people. The Government of Norway, having concluded that its administrative and legal processes were sufficient, did not implement the interim measures. The Forum urges Member States to respect and comply with decisions made by the United Nations treaty bodies.
The Permanent Forum instructs its secretariat transmit recommendations on lands, territories and natural resources as a contribution to:(a)The report of the Secretary-General to the sixteenth session of the Commission on Sustainable Development;(b)An informational document to the sixteenth session of the Commission on Sustainable Development on the thematic issue of land and sustainable agricultural rural development;(c)Transmit specific recommendations on water to the study of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the right to water.
The Permanent Forum urges Colombia to promote and guarantee the rights of indigenous peoples in the development of the regulatory framework of the Colombian peace agreement and to ensure that a process of free, prior and informed consent is established for the implementation of the “ethnic chapter” of the agreement with their full and effective participation.
The Permanent Forum appoints Irma Pineda Santiago and Símon Freddy Condo Riveros, members of the Forum, to conduct a study on collective intellectual property and the appropriation of the ideas and creations of indigenous peoples, and to present that study to the Forum at its twenty-first session.
The Permanent Forum encourages Member States to review recommendations made at past sessions, renew efforts at their implementation and report on progress made by 2021. It invites the United Nations system to support the States’ efforts in this regard.
The Permanent Forum recommends that the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights recognize the human rights of indigenous peoples in the ASEAN declaration on human rights and establish a working group on indigenous peoples. In addition, the Forum urges the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation to establish a human rights commission and a working group on indigenous peoples.