United Nations agencies should provide incentives and funding opportunities for indigenous youth organizations to initiate non-formal education activities targeting girls and women. Where initiatives already exist, they should develop replication strategies and scale up existing initiatives
In support of their country-level programming, and with a view to a deeper appreciation of indigenous peoples’ perceptions of such interventions, UNICEF and UNFPA should undertake a study on the social, cultural, legal and spiritual institutions of indigenous peoples and how these affect the rights of women and children as laid out in local, regional and global frameworks.
Calling attention to the high rates of suicide among indigenous youth in some countries, the Permanent Forum reiterates its call for States and relevant national aboriginal health bodies to convene a meeting to assess the root causes of indigenous youth suicide and to formulate preventive strategies. The Forum reiterates its call on UNICEF and WHO to convene a meeting on youth suicide.
The Permanent Forum acknowledges the equity policy of UNICEF and pays particular attention to vulnerable indigenous children and youth in terms of food security, shelter, health and education. UNICEF, in developing its indigenous peoples policy, should consider the standards set out in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in relation to indigenous children and youth.
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.