The Permanent Forum recommends that United Nations entities, including the Inter-Agency Support Group on Indigenous Peoples’ Issues, take effective measures to support the promotion of indigenous languages and the successful implementation of the goals and objectives of the International Year, including in activities related to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the systemwide action plan on the rights of indigenous peoples, the celebration of international days and other processes.
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 emphasizes the essential role of Indigenous Peoples’ languages and cultural practices in self-determination and urges Member States to adopt stronger measures to protect them from erosion and loss. The Forum decries the ongoing destruction of cultural heritage sites and the loss of Indigenous Peoples’ languages, urging immediate protective measures through robust legal and policy frameworks aligned with the Declaration.
The Permanent Forum acknowledges the commitments and support of the Member States that have established action plans, in parallel with the Global Action Plan, that include support for transformative initiatives that strengthen and protect Indigenous languages, such as the establishment of universities of Indigenous Peoples’ languages in Mexico and Morocco and the efforts of Nordic and other countries in committing to engaging in digital communication and information technologies for Indigenous Peoples’ languages. For those Member States that have yet to develop an action plan, the Permanent Forum reiterates the call for Member States to initiate such plans, in full cooperation with Indigenous Peoples.
The Permanent Forum recommends that the Inter-Agency and Expert Group on Sustainable Development Goal Indicators engage with indigenous peoples in developing key indicators relating to indigenous peoples’ rights to their lands, territories and resources, traditional knowledge, free, prior and informed consent, empowerment of indigenous women, access to justice and special measures addressing the particular circumstances of indigenous peoples regarding relevant poverty, health, education and socioeconomic development targets of the 17 goals.
Given the unique role of information and communications technology companies in the design, development and use of contemporary language technologies, the Permanent Forum reiterates its invitation to the private sector to contribute to the International Decade. The Permanent Forum encourages these companies to continue to develop digital platforms, in cooperation with indigenous peoples and academic institutions, in order to compile information archives for the preservation and revitalization of indigenous languages, language corpora, speech recognition, machine translation and synthesis tools, digital dictionaries and online courses.
The Permanent Forum emphasizes that achieving the Sustainable Development Goals is not possible without fulfilling the rights of indigenous peoples to lands, territories and resources. The Forum thus calls upon States to include the recognition of customary rights or tenure of indigenous peoples to their lands and resources under target 3 of Sustainable Development Goal 2, which calls for secure and equal access to land.