The Permanent Forum recommends that UNESCO, in active collaboration with other relevant United Nations entities, organize as a major event of the International Year a world conference or high-level event on indigenous languages, which would be preceded by regional conferences, and encourages Member States to support its organization. The Forum emphasizes that all events organized to mark the International Year must include the full and effective participation of indigenous peoples.
The Permanent Forum calls upon African States and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization to safeguard Indigenous Peoples’ languages and to develop culturally appropriate education systems for Indigenous children and youth. The Forum also encourages the development of initiatives to prioritize Indigenous Peoples’ knowledge systems, especially for women and girls.
The Permanent Forum supports the efforts of UNESCO to mobilize resources for the creation of a financial mechanism for the International Decade. The Permanent Forum encourages Member States and the private sector to contribute to this mechanism. Indigenous peoples’ representatives should advise on the granting of funds to initiatives
The Permanent Forum invites UNESCO to call jointly for a world conference on linguistic diversity, indigenous languages, identity and education. The United Nations Member States are encouraged to provide political and financial support for such a conference.
In accordance with article 16 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, indigenous peoples have the right to full freedom of expression, including the right to establish their own media in their own languages. The Permanent Forum is concerned that indigenous peoples of Latin America have been criminalized for the establishment of community radio stations and urges Member States to protect the rights of indigenous communicators
The Permanent Forum urges UNESCO to develop an indigenous peoples’ platform within the agency to ensure that UNESCO language programmes provide tangible benefits to indigenous communities and ensure that indigenous peoples are active in all aspects of the work of UNESCO.
The accessibility of general recommendation No. 39 to Indigenous Peoples is crucial to ensure its effective implementation and impact on the ground. The Permanent Forum recommends its translation into Indigenous languages spoken by Indigenous Peoples in their States before the end of 2032.
Recalling paragraph 40 of its report on its sixteenth session (E/2017/43-E/C.19/2017/11), the Permanent Forum calls on Governments in the Arctic, Eastern Europe, the Russian Federation, Central Asia and Transcaucasia, along with academics, to take appropriate measures to introduce the endangered languages of their regions into educational practices and include the learning of those languages in curricula at all levels of educational system, when requested by indigenous people.
The Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues welcomes the report of the international expert group meeting on the theme “Truth, transitional justice and reconciliation processes” (E/C.19/2023/3). The Permanent Forum endorses the recommendations in the report urging Member States to include Indigenous representatives and leaders in all transitional justice institutions and conflict prevention initiatives and to develop training programmes on human rights and Indigenous Peoples’ rights for concerned government agencies. It recommends that the Human Rights Council request that OHCHR, in cooperation with relevant United Nations entities, prepare a companion report by 2025 related to the guidance note of the Secretary-General on the United Nations approach to transitional justice.
The Permanent Forum recommends that the General Assembly, by 2020, proclaim an international year of indigenous languages and draw attention to the critical loss of indigenous languages and the urgent need to preserve, revitalize and promote indigenous languages and to take further urgent steps at the national and international levels.
The Permanent Forum encourages Member States and relevant subnational governmental bodies and agencies to ensure the allocation of funding for the establishment of appropriate institutions, including by establishing permanent linguist positions, to promote the conservation, revitalization, use and development of indigenous languages. Particular attention should be given to languages at risk of extinction.
The Permanent Forum expresses concern for the state of the world’s indigenous languages. It is estimated that there are between 6,000 and 7,000 oral languages in the world today, most of them spoken by very few individuals. The Forum recommends the adoption of a rights-based approach towards indigenous language issues that considers the full spectrum of human rights and fundamental freedoms in accordance with the Declaration. The Forum also recommends that Member States, the United Nations system, indigenous peoples’ organizations and other stakeholders share initiatives and strategies undertaken for, with and by indigenous peoples in order to recover, use and revitalize indigenous languages, including through the use of information and communication technologies.