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 takes note of the difficulties mentioned in the IFAD report and during the in-depth dialogue regarding engagement with partners whose approach may not be favourable to indigenous issues. The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples has been acknowledged by IFAD as an important instrument to promote a strong focus on indigenous peoples with its partners. The Permanent Forum recommends that IFAD use the Declaration actively and engage in a constructive dialogue regarding indigenous peoples’ issues, even if its partners demonstrate a lack of interest or a less-than-positive attitude.
In order to enhance its capacity, first-hand understanding and leadership in the area of indigenous peoples’ issues, the Permanent Forum strongly recommends that UNDP establish training programmes similar to the Leadership Development Programme and junior professional programmes focused on attracting indigenous professionals or incorporate an indigenous component in existing programmes.
The Permanent Forum reiterates its call to Member States to redouble their efforts to ensure disaggregated data collection on indigenous peoples (in accordance with target 17.10) and to include complementary indicators on indigenous peoples in voluntary national reports submitted by Governments for meetings of the high-level political forum on sustainable development. Data disaggregated by ethnicity will help Governments to make informed decisions in a culturally appropriate way in response to the specific needs of indigenous peoples. The Forum underlines the importance of applying a human rights-based approach to data collection, including on ethnicity.
The Permanent Forum intends to make the formulation of an indigenous peoples’ development index, based on the human rights affirmed in the United Nations Declaration and international human rights instruments, a recurring part of its agenda. The Forum recommends that the United Nations Development Programme, especially its Human Development Report Office, and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights assist the Forum in developing such an index, building on existing initiatives by indigenous peoples and United Nations agencies, and report thereon to the Forum at its fifteenth session
The Permanent Forum acknowledges the work of the International Telecommunication Union, in collaboration with indigenous peoples’ organizations, on digital inclusion training programmes in the Americas region. The Permanent Forum recognizes the need to undertake additional efforts aimed at eliminating the existing digital inequality affecting indigenous peoples and invite s the International Telecommunication Union to expand its programmes globally, with a special emphasis on nomadic and semi-nomadic indigenous peoples.
The Permanent Forum encourages FAO to support the recognition and protection of Indigenous knowledge and systems related to food production and food generation, which include, inter alia, forestry, shifting cultivation, fisheries, whaling, livestock, pastoralism and hunting-gathering systems.