The Permanent Forum expresses appreciation to all States, United Nations agencies and foundations that contributed to the Trust Fund on Indigenous Issues, including contributions for the small grants programme for the Second International Decade of the World’s Indigenous People and the Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Populations, and invites States, agencies and foundations to continue contributing generously to the Funds. The Forum urges the Voluntary Fund on Indigenous Populations to give particular support to applications from indigenous peoples from the Pacific to participate in its seventh session in 2008. The Permanent Forum encourages representatives of indigenous peoples’ organizations from the Pacific to make applications to the Fund in order to the attend the seventh session of the Permanent Forum.
The Permanent Forum recommends that the Government of Paraguay should give priority, in its emergency plans, to the protection of vulnerable indigenous children from practices of forced labour and other forms of exploitation.
The Forum, recalling its recommendation at its second session (para. 18) regarding an art competition among indigenous children for a logo/visual identifier for the Forum, decides to renew for another year its call for the submission of artwork by indigenous children, and calls for as wide a diseemination of information on the competition as possible so that the artwork can be received in time for the Forum's selection at the fifth session
The Forum recommends that Governments integrate a gender framework that encompasses all areas of their work, including their agricultural and economic policies, and include in their policies actions that directly benefit indigenous women, through the following measures:
(a) Provide access for indigenous women to funding from public budgets;
(b) Create specific measures that enhance women’s participation in their own development processes;
(c) Create national policies that generate employment for indigenous women;
(d) Improve indigenous women’s access to education and the development of their skills, and reform education systems so that they allow women to take advantage of training and employment opportunities;
(e) Strengthen programmes in indigenous communities that ensure benefits for indigenous women.
The Permanent Forum recommends that United Nations agencies convene a high-level meeting with representatives of indigenous women to review the commitments and actions for securing the human rights of indigenous women highlighted in articles 21, 22 and 41 of the Declaration.
The Forum recommends that all relevant United Nations entities and Governments:
(a) Advise Governments to revise their national legal and administrative frameworks to ensure indigenous women’s equal rights and access to social and economic services and resources, including land ownership;
(b) Identify and give recognition to the capacities of indigenous women and their specialized knowledge in the areas of health, natural environment, traditional technologies, crafts and arts, and design appropriate employment and income-generating strategies;
(c) Provide indigenous women with the appropriate education and training resources so that they can effectively access and participate in mainstream national, regional and international economic institutions.
The Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues requests the Coordinator of the Second International Decade of the World’s Indigenous People to submit a report to the Permanent Forum at its annual sessions regarding progress on the implementation of the Programme of Action for the Second International Decade of the World’s Indigenous People (A/60/270, sect. II) and invites States, the United Nations system and other intergovernmental organizations, and indigenous peoples and other non-governmental organizations to provide information to the Coordinator.
The Permanent Forum welcomes with appreciation the decision of the General Assembly, in its resolution 66/141, to request that the Secretary-General submit to the Assembly at its sixty-seventh session a comprehensive report on the rights of the child, including a focus on indigenous children. The Forum wishes to take part in any initiative undertaken by the Secretary-General in preparing the comprehensive report on the rights of the child.
The Permanent Forum recommends that States and the United Nations system, with particular attention to the activities of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO), introduce indigenous youth perspectives into existing youth policies and plans, including the five-year action agenda of the Secretary-General to address health issues. In addition, there should be a distinct focus on indigenous youth by improving participation in decision-making and by introducing and including mental health services for young people, with particular efforts to address suicide among indigenous youth.
The Forum welcomes the adoption by the Commission on the Status of Women at its fifty-sixth session of the resolution entitled “Indigenous women: key actors in poverty and hunger eradication” (see E/2012/27-E/CN.6/2012/16, resolution 56/4) and calls for its implementation.
The Permanent Forum calls upon the Economic and Social Council, including its youth forum, the high-level political forum on sustainable development, the Commission on the Status of Women and the Commission for Social Development, as well as other relevant United Nations forums, to include representatives of indigenous youth-led organizations in their meetings.
The Permanent Forum reiterates the call, made at its fifth and eleventh sessions, upon United Nations agencies and funds to conduct and support regional and international human rights training programmes aimed at building the capacity and advocacy skills of indigenous youth. The Forum further recommends the use of youth forums, social media and other popular cultural forms of communication to disseminate information and training material on the rights of indigenous youth and to facilitate consultation processes at the national and international levels.