The Permanent Forum commends the establishment and achievements of the Regional Indigenous Peoples’ Programme of UNDP in Asia, and calls on UNDP to ensure that the funding of that programme will be increased and that similar programmes will be set up in other regions.
The Permanent Forum appoints Mr. Michael Dodson, a member of the Forum, as a special rapporteur to prepare a draft guide, based on the relevant principles contained in the Declaration on the Rights of INdigenous Peoples, taking into account the provisions of ILO Convention 169 that relate to indigenous land tenure and management arrangements, to assist indigenous peoples, States and United Nations agencies in negotiating indigenous land tenure and management arrangements.
The Permanent Forum urges the World Bank to work on a sustained basis with the Government of Cambodia to effectively implement the management action plan resulting from the inspection panel case for the “Forest concession management and control pilot project”, which includes the termination of all existing logging concessions and the promotion of equitable and sustainable alternatives for forest management.
The Permanent Forum recommends that United Nations country teams in Asian countries with indigenous populations, in cooperation with indigenous peoples, formulate a matrix of indicators, benchmarks and milestones to assess the outcomes and results of their policies and programmes relevant to indigenous peoples. Furthermore, the Permanent Forum recommends that United Nations agencies and donor agencies expand their funding and technical assistance to support capacity-building of Asian indigenous peoples’ organizations.
The Permanent Forum expresses appreciation to Mr. Parshuram Tamang and Mr. Yuri Boichenko for their draft questionnaire for United Nations agencies and requests the secretariat of the Permanent Forum to use the questionnaire in seeking information from agencies for its future sessions. The Permanent Forum also supports requests from States that they receive a similar questionnaire and requests the secretariat to carry through this request, in consultation with members of the Permanent Forum.
The Permanent Forum recognizes the role of indigenous parliamentarians in the promotion and protection of indigenous peoples’ rights, and thus recommends increasing their participation in the sessions of the Permanent Forum, adopting regional and national mechanisms to monitor the recommendations and working towards the establishment of particular mechanisms of participation.
The Permanent Forum welcomes the participation at its sixth session of indigenous parliamentarians from, inter alia, Bolivia, Ecuador, Greenland, Mexico, Nepal, Nicaragua, Norway, Peru, the Russian Federation, Sweden, and encourages indigenous parliamentarians to continue participating at future sessions in their own capacity, with designated seating arrangements.
The Permanent Forum recognizes that the United Nations has declared 2010 the International Year of Biodiversity and that indigenous peoples, as custodians of the Earth’s biodiversity, should be major players in actions planned for 2010. In that spirit, the Permanent Forum calls for close cooperation between the secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Forum in promoting the International Year and in highlighting the role of indigenous peoples as custodians of biodiversity.
The Permanent Forum recommends that information be coordinated within State ministries and United Nations agencies that have responsibilities and mandates relating to indigenous peoples’ access to lands, territories and natural resources.
The Forum decides to hold a meeting of four of its members with the Inter-Agency Support Group (IASG) at its annual session of IASG, in 2004.
The Forum, further recognizing the long-term benefits for indigenous peoples of training and education opportunities within the United Nations system, such as the establishment of an indigenous fellowship network by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, requests the Office to invite Permanent Forum Members and the secretariat of the Forum to the meeting of the indigenous fellowship network, scheduled to be held August 2004 in Barcelona.
The Forum anticipates that the host country will do its utmost to assure the issuance in a timely manner of entry visas to members of the Forum and observers from non-governmental organizations, pursuant to article IV, section 11, of the Headquarters Agreement, in order to attend its sessions. The Forum also anticipates that other member States hosting United Nations meetings to which indigenous organizations are invited will also do their utmost to ensure the timely issuance of entry visas. The Forum further requests that consideration be given to the waivering of visa fees by host countries for applicants wishing to participate in the work of the Forum and related meetings and activities.