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Addressee: Donor Agencies, United Nations agencies, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, IADB and International Financial Institutions
Full Text
The Permanent Forum calls upon United Nations agencies, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, other multilateral financial institutions and bilateral donors to establish clear policy commitments to protect the ancestral lands of indigenous peoples.
Responses
OP-765 sets clear mandates for safeguarding the ancestral lands and territories of indigenous peoples. This policy is being applied in a number of the Bank’s activities, including the programming process and country strategies.
The Asian Development Bank’s Policy on Indigenous Peoples of 1998 was conceived taking into mind “the circumstances of indigenous peoples and identifying measures toward satisfying their needs and aspirations” (para. 5). The Policy also recognizes that indigenous peoples have “unique ties and attachments to traditional habitats and ancestral territories and natural resources in these habitats and territories” (para. 9). ADB is aware that development programmes can lead to externally determined land use change and therefore has ensured in its policy that planning as it relates to indigenous peoples is conducted with the informed participation of and in consultation with the indigenous peoples themselves, to determine appropriate mitigation measures and to ensure that self-sufficiency of communities continue, and that cultural integrity will not be lost in the process of development.
Final Report of UNPFII Session 6 (2007)
Area of Work
