Given that the United Nations relies on the cooperation of the people whom it serves and that everyone, individually and in association with others, has the right to unhindered access to and communication with the Organization, the Permanent Forum requests the Secretary-General, through the Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights and in consultation with other relevant United Nations mechanisms, to report on trends related to intimidation and reprisals against indigenous peoples who seek to engage with the United Nations, including by providing suggestions to prevent and address reprisals through reporting from all parts of the United Nations system and with input from indigenous peoples, to the Forum at its eighteenth session, in 2019.
The Forum welcomes the work of the Government of Bangladesh to support peace in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. The Forum calls upon the Government to prioritize the implementation of the Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Accord of 1997 and to assess the implementation status of the Accord through full, meaningful and effective participation of the Accord signatory party, the Parbatya Chattagram Jana Samhati Samiti, Chittagong Hill Tracts regional institutions and traditional governing bodies.
The Permanent Forum recalls that in paragraph 7 of its report on its tenth session (E/2011/43-E/C.19/2011/14), it congratulated the International Fund for Agricultural Development on the establishment of the Indigenous Peoples’ Forum as an example of good practice that should be followed by other United Nations entities. The Forum urges other United Nations entities to report on their progress achieved in this regard to the Forum at its seventeenth session.
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.