Welcome to the United Nations
Addressee: Member States, UN Agencies, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs
Full Text
1) The Permanent Forum recommends that States, indigenous peoples and United Nations agencies, funds and programmes immediately engage in a consultative process focused on the full and effective implementation of the outcome document at the local, national, regional and international levels. 2) It also recommends that the Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs outline and provide his vision of a procedure to guarantee the direct participation of representatives of indigenous peoples, including the expert members of the Forum, in the preparation and coordination of the system-wide action plan, with the objective of promoting and protecting the human rights of indigenous peoples and to enhance and increase the coherence of the activities of the United Nations system in that regard. 3) The Forum invites the Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs to inform the Forum on the progress at its fifteenth session.
Responses
6.1)
System-wide Action Plan
• As requested in the Outcome Document of the World Conference (paragraph 31), a System-wide Action Plan for ensuring a coherent approach within the United Nations to achieving the ends of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples was developed over 10 months through a consultative process. The action plan was finalized by the United Nations Inter-Agency Support Group during their annual meeting 26-27 October and later introduced to Heads of UN funds, programmes and agencies by the UN Secretary-General at the Chief Executive Board meeting on 18 November 2015.
• The System-wide action plan was disseminated to all United Nations Country Teams with a call to share it with the host governments through a letter from the Under-Secretary-General of Economic and Social Affairs and the UNDP Administrator through the United Nations Development Group.
National Action Plans
• As requested in the Outcome Document of the World Conference (paragraph 8-9), some governments have initiated the development of national action plans to support the full implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The system-wide action plan contains an action element on how the UN system on country level can support this process.
Participation of Indigenous Peoples within the United Nations
• The President of the 70th Session of the General Assembly has appointed four advisors amongst Member States and Indigenous Peoples to support him to conduct consultations on how to enable the participation of indigenous peoples’ representatives and institutions in meetings of relevant United Nations bodies on issues affecting them. Consultations are ongoing and expected to result in a final compilation of views and good practices to form the basis for a draft text to be finalized and adopted by the Assembly during its seventy-first session (see more below under recommendation 7).
6.2)
• As requested in the Outcome Document of the World Conference (paragraph 31), a System-wide Action Plan was developed over 10 months through a consultative process.
• The consultation process was informed by a series of background notes based on existing analysis already made by indigenous peoples, Member States, UN agencies, funds and programmes as well as the three indigenous specific mechanisms: The Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.
• In March-April 2015, UN-DESA disseminated questionnaires among Member States and indigenous peoples, including the expert members of the Forum, requesting their inputs on the initial stages of the action plan, as well as other matters related to follow-up to the World Conference. The responses to the questionnaire informed the preparation of the Progress Report of the Secretary General on the follow-up to the World Conference (A/70/84).
• UN-DESA conducted an interactive dialogue on the follow-up to the World Conference during the 14th session of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (April 2015) and a second interactive consultation on 24 July at the 8th session of the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Geneva.
• The final System-wide Action Plan was finalized during a two-day meeting on 26-27 October by the Inter Agency Support Group and with participation of the Chairperson and the vice-chair of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues as well as the Chairperson of the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Final Report of UNPFII Session 14 (2015)
Area of Work
