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 welcomes the initiative taken by indigenous peoples’ organizations, States non-governmental organizations and OHCHR to improve the visibility of the situations faced by indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation and initial contact and recent efforts to respect and protect the rights of these peoples, particularly in the Amazon and Chaco regions of South America and the Andaman and Nicobar islands in India, including the Penan peoples of the forests of Sarawak in Malaysia. The Permanent Forum highlights, in particular, the Santa Cruz de la Sierra Appeal (“Llamamiento de Santa Cruz de la Sierra”), which was the outcome of the regional seminar on indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation and in initial contact of the Amazon Basin and El Chaco held from 20 to 22 November 2006 in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, with the sponsorship of OHCHR, the Indigenous Work Group for Indigenous Affairs and the Confederacion Indigena del Oriente de Boliva, and with the support of the Government of Bolivia, and the partnership of Denmark, Norway and Spain. The Permanent Forum recommends that OHCHR, other international agencies and States, in partnership with indigenous peoples’ organizations and non-governmental organizations, further replicate and follow up similar initiatives in order to achieve and consolidate sustained long-term policies, mechanisms and procedures that can assure the security and self-determined livelihoods of these peoples, including the guarantee of the inviolability of their territories and natural resources.
The Permanent Forum reiterates that the Enbridge Line 5 oil pipeline jeopardizes the Great Lakes and poses a real and credible threat to the human rights of Indigenous Peoples in Canada and the United States. The Forum reiterates its call for Canada and the United States to decommission Line 5.
Furthermore, the Permanent Forum urges those States that have abstained to reverse their positions and endorse the Declaration so as to achieve full consensus.
The Forum recommends that UN-Habitat jointly, with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, through the United Nations Housing Rights Programme, organize an expert group meeting in 2006 to review the status of the realization process of indigenous peoples’ housing rights globally, and identify and document best practices and report on the outcome and recommendations of the expert group meeting at the sixth session of the Forum.
The Permanent Forum requests that the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises and the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people identify the actions of transnational corporations that may breach the inherent rights detailed in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and invites them to present a joint report to the Permanent Forum at its eighth session in 2009.
The Permanent Forum recommends that the Arctic Council adopt, at its ministerial meeting in 2015, a comprehensive long-term strategy for resource extraction in the Arctic region in order to end present uncontrolled, unmanaged and unsustainable industrial practices, including an ethical code of conduct committing private entities operating in the Arctic to not engage in practices harmful to the environment and to respect human rights, particularly those of Arctic indigenous peoples.
The Permanent Forum calls upon States that have not already done so to engage in constructive partnerships with indigenous peoples to achieve the ends of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and to adopt specific action plans, strategies or other measures that will deliver required financial and technical assistance to indigenous peoples in order for them to achieve and exercise self-determination.
The Permanent Forum urges States to include indigenous peoples in decision-making processes in all areas of water management, including commercial use, irrigation and environmental management, and to ensure that such decision-making processes are consistent with the principles of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, in particular its article 32, under which the free and informed consent of indigenous peoples is required prior to the approval of any project affecting their lands or territories and other resources.
The Forum invites the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to present an evaluation of the implementation of the Durban Plan of Action at the sixth session of the Forum (2007) pertaining to indigenous peoples, especially indigenous women
The Permanent Forum recommends that donors, including the European Union, the European Commission, the Department of State of the United States of America, human rights support organizations and others provide long-term funding, legal aid and other resources to assist indigenous human rights defenders, their families, networks and communities.
The Permanent Forum recommends that the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women) conduct a study on violence against indigenous women and access to justice, especially in cross-border situations, in cooperation with indigenous women.