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Addressee: Member States , IPOs, NGOs, Intergovernmental Institutions
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The Permanent Forum reiterates its recommendation on indigenous peoples living in voluntary and semi-voluntary isolation, or “uncontacted”, from its fourth session, and urges Governments, indigenous peoples’ organizations, non-governmental organizations and multilateral bodies to take note of and implement the Belem Declaration on Isolated Indigenous Peoples of the Amazon and Gran Chaco, as well as International Labour Convention No. 169, domestic legislation and court orders that protect and maintain the rights of these indigenous peoples and their designated territories throughout the world to exist in isolation, should they so choose. The Permanent Forum urges Governments, the United Nations system, civil society and indigenous peoples’ organizations to cooperate in immediately ensuring effective prohibition against outside encroachment, aggression, forcible assimilation, and acts and processes of genocide. Measures of protection should comprise the safeguarding of their natural environment and livelihood and minimally invasive, culturally sensitive mobile health-care services.
Responses
The Government of Spain reports: “With respect to paragraph 83, and following up the recommendations of the fourth and fifth sessions on indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation, Spain supported the holding of the Regional Seminar on Indigenous Peoples in Voluntary Isolation and in Initial Contact of the Amazonian Basin and El Chaco. This seminar was held in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, from 20 to 22 November 2006 and was organized by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the Vice-Ministry of Lands of the Government of Bolivia, the International Working Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA) and the Confederacy of Indigenous Peoples (CIDOB). The seminar brought together over 90 participants, including government representatives, indigenous organizations and experts from the seven countries of the Amazon and Gran Chaco (Bolivia, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay and Peru) and from international organizations that are particularly influential in this area, with a view to reaching an agreement on the situation of indigenous peoples in isolation and in initial contact and to formulating recommendations for States, international agencies, experts and indigenous organizations on protecting the rights of these peoples. AECI plans to maintain its support for this initiative in 2007 and 2008.”
The Government of Switzerland reports: “Switzerland has not yet ratified ILO Convention No. 169. An in-depth analysis of the implications of ratification of that Convention in relation to the Swiss travellers community has been carried out. Although the Convention has not been ratified, its principles have been included in the foreign policy of Switzerland, especially with regard to development cooperation.”
ILO reports that an international seminar on indigenous peoples living in isolation or experiencing initial contact in the Amazon and Gran Chaco region was organized by the OHCHR, the Vice-Ministry of Lands in Bolivia, the International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs and the Confederation of Indigenous Peoples of Bolivia from 20 to 22 November 2006. An ILO specialist participated in the workshop and made a presentation of the Convention concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries (Convention No. 169) and its relation to indigenous peoples living in voluntary isolation.
OHCHR reports that a Regional Seminar on Indigenous Peoples in Voluntary Isolation and in Initial Contact of the Amazonian Basin and El Chaco was jointly organized by OHCHR, the Vice-Ministry of Lands of the Government of Bolivia, the International Working Group for Indigenous Affairs and the Confederacy of Indigenous Peoples of Bolivia and was funded by the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation, the Danish International Development Agency and the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation. The seminar was held in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, from 20 to 22 November 2006. The Santa Cruz appeal, which was agreed on by all participants in the meeting (representatives of Governments and indigenous organizations, international organizations and experts), is included in the annex to this report. In addition, the full report of this seminar contained in document E/C.19/2007/CRP.1, which includes a list of participants and the programme, will be submitted to the Permanent Forum.
Final Report of UNPFII Session 5 (2006)
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