The Permanent Forum expresses its appreciation to the Member States that have already submitted information to it over the years, and encourages all States to submit substantive information on measures taken to implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Building upon the study prepared by members of the Permanent Forum on the situation of indigenous persons with disabilities, with a particular focus on challenges faced with respect to the full enjoyment of human rights and inclusion in development (see E/C.19/2013/6), and in the light of the call in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to “leave no one behind”, the Forum is concerned that the experiences and rights of indigenous persons with disabilities require further study and examination. In that regard, the Forum calls upon the secretariat of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, as the focal point within the United Nations system on matters relating to disability, to conduct a qualitative study with regard to indigenous persons with disabilities, in all seven regions of the world.
The Permanent Forum urges States that have not yet done so to ratify the Convention of the Rights of Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families.
The Permanent Forum recommends that United Nations human rights mechanisms examine the plight of indigenous peoples from French Polynesia, Guam and the Marshall Islands who have been victims of the effects of nuclear testing in the Pacific.
The Permanent Forum urges the international community to pay particular attention to the situation of the Batwa peoples, in particular Batwa women, and to support the inclusion of the San people and other indigenous groups in the national census. The Permanent Forum urges African States and their international development partners to review the poverty reduction strategy papers and other frameworks for integrating the specificities of such indigenous peoples as the Batwa, Pygmies, Touaregue, Amazigh, Khoisan and other hunter-gatherers or nomadic peoples in their countries, both in Central and in Southern Africa.
The Forum recommends that the Department of Peacekeeping Operations of the United Nations Secretariat establish a policy on indigenous peoples, in consultation with indigenous peoples
The Permanent Forum calls upon the parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity to adopt the terminology “indigenous peoples and local communities” as an accurate reflection of the distinct identities developed by those entities since the adoption of the Convention almost 20 years ago.
The Permanent Forum recommends that the Pacific Islands Forum create a mechanism for contributions by and participation of indigenous peoples’ representatives in its meetings and related structures and activities.