Consistent with article 7 of the United Nations Declaration, the Permanent Forum recommends that the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights urgently establish an independent international commission to investigate the assassination of Berta Cáceres and Nelson Garcia of the Lenca people of Honduras.
The Constitution of Nepal has provisions for special, protected and autonomous regions for Indigenous Peoples. The Permanent Forum welcomes further progress towards realizing the provisions of the Constitution, including by considering the recommendations of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women to Nepal in 2018 on respect for Indigenous Peoples’ rights to their traditional lands and resources and to self-determination.
The Forum welcomes the nomination of the High Commissioner, Justice Louise Arbor, and recommends that she convene a meeting with the Forum members.
The Permanent Forum supports an initiative to declare an International Year of Quinoa, recognizing the importance of quinoa to indigenous people and that it is a natural food with a high nutritional content.
The Permanent Forum welcomes the work of the Government of Bangladesh with United Nations country offices to support peace in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. The Permanent Forum further welcomes the ongoing study on the status of implementation of the Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Accord of 1997 and invites the Government of Bangladesh, with the full and effective participation of indigenous peoples, to report on the results of the study at the twenty-second session of the Permanent Forum, setting a timeframe for its full implementation. The Permanent Forum also calls upon the Government of Bangladesh to continue to address all forms of violence, including enforced disappearances, and sexual violence against women in the Chittagong Hill Tracts committed by law enforcement agencies.
The Permanent Forum recommends that Paraguay should propose the negotiation of international agreements for protection of the rights of indigenous peoples with the other States of the Chaco region — the Plurinational State of Bolivia, Argentina and Brazil — and particularly with the Plurinational State of Bolivia with a view to the latter’s development of additional policies aimed at the freeing of individuals, the recovery of land and the rebuilding of peoples.
The Permanent Forum notes that in international law, the right to adequate food and the fundamental right to be free from hunger apply to everyone without discrimination. The Permanent Forum is concerned about the implementation gap between what is legally recognized and the reality. The right to food is frequently denied or violated, often as a result of systematic discrimination or the widespread lack of applicability of indigenous peoples’ rights. The Permanent Forum recommends that States engage in an inclusive and participatory process to ensure food sovereignty and security, in accordance with the principles of free, prior and informed consent, and develop standards and methodologies and cultural indicators to assess and address food sovereignty.
The Permanent Forum recommends that OHCHR pursue its efforts to encourage increased use of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples by national human rights institutions.
The Permanent Forum welcomes the increased cooperation between itself and the Special Rapporteur on the human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people and strongly recommends that the Human Rights Council maintain the mandate of the Special Rapporteur.
The Forum urges the United Nations system and States to give special priority to implementing previous recommendations made by the Forum, and to take into account the cross-cutting nature of human rights issues.
The Permanent Forum urges all Arctic States to endorse and implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
The Forum underlines the importance for country-specific special rapporteurs, thematic special rapporteurs, experts and representatives of the Commission on Human Rights to pay special attention to the situation of indigenous peoples in their respective fields.