The Forum welcomes the offer of the World Bank to host a workshop on indigenous peoples and poverty, and looks forward to receiving the results of the workshop in its fifth session
The Permanent Forum also recommends to Member States that the development agenda beyond 2015 recognize, protect and strengthen indigenous peoples’ collective rights, in particular the right to land, territories and natural resources.
The Permanent Forum recommends the development and inclusion of clear indicators and monitoring tools relating to indigenous peoples in the sustainable development goals and post-2015 development process, to be developed jointly with indigenous peoples.
The Permanent Forum notes that 2010 is the review year for the Beijing Platform for Action and for the Millennium Development Goals. Fifteen years after Beijing and 10 years after the Millennium Summit, the situations of poverty faced by indigenous peoples, and their lack of access to basic services like health and education, especially among women, remain pervasive. The Forum reiterates and reaffirms the Beijing Declaration of Indigenous Women as a key tool for achieving the Millennium Development Goals with respect to indigenous women and their communities while advancing commitments to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The Forum calls on Governments and United Nations agencies to provide space for indigenous peoples, especially indigenous women, in the different processes leading to the review of the Beijing Platform for Action and the review of the Millennium Development Goals to be undertaken at the High-level Plenary Meeting of the General Assembly in September 2010.
As a means of redefining approaches, countries with indigenous peoples are urged to incorporate the issues and challenges specifically faced by indigenous peoples directly into the framework of the Millennium Development Goal reports by: (a) including indigenous peoples within the context of the overall report; (b) including indigenous peoples in the context of meeting each specific goal; (c) including indigenous peoples in the planning of the overall report and each individual goal; and (d) including indigenous peoples’ effective participation in the planning process of future interventions, and in the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of programmes and projects that will directly or indirectly affect them.
The Forum recognizes that:
(a) The right to education is a key instrument for achieving equitable development and respect for cultural diversity. Education is an investment in the future, a means to reduce poverty and counter discrimination; (b) Indigenous peoples have the right, including treaty rights (as relevant) to quality primary education that is sensitive to their holistic worldviews, languages, traditional knowledge and other aspects of their cultures, which contribute to human dignity, identity, and intercultural dialogue; c) Mother-tongue mediated bilingual education is indispensable for effective learning for indigenous children and for the reduction of dropout rates; (d) Any efforts to achieve Millennium Development Goal 2 are likely to fail if impartial and effective implementation of culturally sensitive educational programs, curricula and actions addressing the needs of indigenous peoples are not undertaken; (e) indigenous children experience particular difficulties relating to access to education of quality and sociocultural relevance at all levels. Obstacles are numerous and complex and include, among others, distance to schools, differences in lifestyles, for example, nomadic and semi-nomadic communities, discrimination, violence, extreme poverty and exclusion; (f) Education can be one of the most important tools for combating prejudice and discrimination. National curricula frequently ignore the cultures, treaties, histories, and spiritual values of indigenous peoples and reinforce stereotypes; (g) In many cases, current criteria to measure the achievement of Goal 2 regarding indigenous education are absent or are based on insufficient indicators which do not reflect indigenous educational specificities and are culturally inappropriate and insensitive
States, international organizations, non-governmental organizations, the private sector, academia and the media should promote national dialogues and collaboration, including through the establishment of policy and institutional frameworks, as appropriate, in order to bring together indigenous peoples' perspectives, technical knowledge and priorities for sustainable human development and their expectations regarding the Millennium Development Goals. Indigenous peoples' institutions and processes, where they exist, should be respected during these dialogues
The Forum calls for the dissemination and full implementation of the recommendations of the Special Rapporteur's reports on the relationships of indigenous peoples and land rights, and on permanent sovereignty of indigenous peoples over their natural resources and invites the Special Rapporteur, through the Subcommission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, to present an updated report at the next session of the Forum
Governments, the United Nations system and other intergovernmental organizations should develop programs, in cooperation with indigenous peoples, to build the capacity and awareness of their staff to better understand and address indigenous issues
The Forum wishes to draw particular attention to a number of recommendations made at its first three sessions that are of particular relevance for Millennium Development Goal 2
The Permanent Forum recommends that Member States, the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals and the United Nations system ensure that the processes relating to the definition of the development agenda beyond 2015 are formulated in accordance with the objectives of sustainable development, as defined in the Indigenous Peoples’ International Declaration on Sustainable Development and Self-Determination, adopted by the Indigenous Peoples’ International Conference on Sustainable Development and Self-Determination, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2012, and also recommends that culture be affirmed as the fourth pillar of sustainable development.
The Millennium Campaign should raise awareness about the Millennium Development Goals and indigenous peoples, providing space for indigenous youth to express their views and share experiences related to Millennium Development Goals issues, enable young indigenous people to interact with their national leaders, and facilitate networking between youth groups to crystallise new projects. The campaigns should include several elements including school-based outreach, national conferences, local workshops, media activities, including phone-in radio programs and televised debates, essay and expression contests and service days