The Permanent Forum encourages FAO to continue supporting indigenous peoples’ organizations in the field of communication for development. In particular, the Permanent Forum recommends that FAO continue to provide support for indigenous peoples’ communication platforms and their activities in the field of participatory territorial development and community-based adaptation to climate change. The Permanent Forum recommends that other United Nations agencies and donors join FAO in that important task and strengthen the reporting and monitoring mechanisms about indigenous peoples’ right to communication as a condition towards free and informed prior consent and self-determined development.
The Permanent Forum affirms that the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples will be its legal framework. The Permanent Forum will therefore ensure that the Declaration is integrated in its own recommendations on the seven substantive mandated areas — economic and social development, environment, health, education, culture, human rights and the implementation of the Declaration — as well as in the Forum’s work under the special theme for each session and in its ongoing themes and priorities.
The Permanent Forum strongly urges Member States to uphold the linguistic rights of indigenous peoples.
The Permanent Forum encourages ILO to promote the ratification of the Convention concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries, 1989 (No. 169) (Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention).
The Permanent Forum calls upon all States to ensure that their political institutions and structures are not used as a reason to relieve the State of its responsibility to implement international human rights obligations in relation to the rights of indigenous peoples.
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.