The Permanent Forum notes the challenges of accreditation of indigenous peoples’ representative institutions. The Forum recommends that selection criteria for accreditation be developed by indigenous peoples to be applied by a committee that comprises representatives of States and indigenous peoples.
The Permanent Forum welcomes the approval of the approach to recognizing and working with indigenous and local knowledge adopted at the fifth plenary of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, in 2017, and the establishment of a participatory mechanism for indigenous peoples and local communities in the work of the Platform. The Forum urges the identification of procedures and methodologies for effective implementation of the approach and the participatory mechanism, in partnership with indigenous peoples.
In the light of the emerging international legal framework for local communities, the Permanent Forum recommends that the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) prepare, in consultation with other relevant United Nations entities, including the secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, and before 2022, a comparative legal study that analyses the rights of indigenous peoples and the emerging rights of local communities.
The Permanent Forum appreciates the efforts made by El Salvador, Guatemala and Paraguay to develop national action plans in consultation with indigenous peoples and encourages them to share best practices. It further encourages Member States to continue to effectively engage with indigenous peoples at the national, local and community levels to develop and implement national action plans, strategies or other measures to achieve the ends of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
The Permanent Forum also recommends that the Economic and Social Council and the Human Rights Council note the proposal to accredit indigenous peoples’ representative institutions as observers in the General Assembly and to consider accreditation for indigenous peoples’ representative institutions to participate in their meetings and meetings of their subsidiary bodies on issues affecting them.
The Permanent Forum recommends that the Commission on the Status of Women consider the empowerment of indigenous women as a priority theme of its sixty-first session, in 2017, on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the adoption of the United Nations Declaration.
The Permanent Forum, recognizing that indigenous peoples can contribute greatly a range of issues on the international agenda, encourages the President of the General Assembly to consider inviting representatives of indigenous peoples to other hearings and events.
The Permanent Forum calls on Canada and the United States of America to develop national action plans to realize the aims of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and appoint an ambassador or special envoy on global indigenous affairs to promote the rights of indigenous peoples globally, including on participation.
The Permanent Forum also requests that States and United Nations agencies engaging in those events [see rec.31] ensure strong linkages with the outcome document of the World Conference, with particular consideration of paragraph 33, and indigenous participation.
Recalling articles 3–4, 8, 18, 25–26 and 32 of the Declaration, the Permanent Forum urges African States to promote, recognize and protect the collective rights of indigenous peoples to their lands, territories and resources through the development of mechanisms to ensure the legal recognition of land and resource rights, the resolution of land disputes, fair and equitable redress, and the creation of permanent dialogue frameworks to facilitate political participation and representation of indigenous peoples in decision-making.
The Permanent Forum urges the Secretary-General to convene, in consultation with the Forum and before its eighteenth session, regional consultations in each of the seven indigenous regions to discuss the modalities for the participation of indigenous people at the United Nations, including how the participation of indigenous representatives can be enhanced. The Forum urges Member States to support the organization of these regional consultations.
Member States must take urgent measures to guarantee adequate and effective participation by indigenous peoples in the design and implementation of national plans for the transition to clean and green energy. Where States have already begun the development of such plans without the participation of indigenous peoples, they must take remedial action.