The Permanent Forum recognizes the harm that the recent decision of the European Parliament regarding the seal product import ban may cause Inuit in the Arctic, and calls upon the European Union to rescind this import ban and, failing that, to enter into direct and meaningful dialogue with the Inuit Circumpolar Council to discuss ways of moving forward. Furthermore, the European Union must make decisions that affect both European and non-European indigenous peoples taking into account their right to free, prior and informed consent.
The Permanent Forum acknowledges the Fund’s country strategic opportunities programmes as an important instrument for actively focusing on indigenous issues at the national level. The Permanent Forum recommends that IFAD construct mechanisms to secure the complementary use of the national operative planning instruments and the new institutional policy on engaging with indigenous peoples. The alignment of those instruments with the future institutional policy on indigenous issues is important for the mainstreaming of indigenous peoples’ issues within IFAD.
The Permanent Forum recognizes the initial efforts made by FAO towards the elaboration of a methodological discussion platform to address indigenous peoples’ territorial rights. The Permanent Forum recommends that FAO and other interested or partner agencies continue the joint elaboration of the participatory methodology and start using it in the field in order to strengthen the delimitation, titling and negotiated development processes specifically targeting indigenous peoples’ needs