The Permanent Forum appreciates the invitation to participate in the Second Continental Summit of Indigenous Communication, to be held in Oaxaca, Mexico, in 2013 and recommends that Forum members Saul Vicente Vazquez and Alvaro Pop attend the Summit.
The Permanent Forum acknowledges the signing of the peace accord in Colombia and the efforts to implement it. The Forum takes note of Colombia’s statement at the eighteenth session of the Forum on the need to protect the lives and integrity of indigenous human rights defenders. The Forum is, however, deeply concerned that killings of indigenous leaders have been increasing. The Forum urges the Government of Colombia to intensify its efforts to provide effective measures to prevent further attacks and to ensure peace and security for indigenous human right defenders and leaders.
The Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues has analysed and discussed indigenous fishing rights in the seas on the basis of a report submitted by the Special Rapporteurs. As a result of those discussions, the Forum considers the protection of the material basis of the culture of indigenous peoples to be a part of international law that should be applied also to fishing rights in the seas, and recommends that States in which indigenous peoples live in coastal areas recognize indigenous peoples’ right to fish in the seas on the basis of historical use and international law. In that context, the Forum notes the ongoing consultations between the Government of Norway and the Sami Parliament and recommends that the Government recognize the right of the coastal Sami to fish in the seas on the basis of historical use and international law.
The Permanent Forum acknowledges the entry into force on 14 April 2014 of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a communications procedure. In this regard, it recommends that the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the United Nations Children’s Fund, other United Nations agencies and States support the dissemination of the guide to this Optional Protocol, including its translation into different languages and the building of capacity among indigenous organizations and institutions to make effective use of the Optional Protocol in promoting and protecting the rights of indigenous children and youth.
Reinforce the investments in population and reproductive health which is crucial for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals - to reduce poverty, achieve universal primary education, improve maternal and child health, curb the spread of HIV/AIDS, promote gender equality, ensure sustainable development, and establish a strong partnership for development
The Permanent Forum recommends that agencies, funds and programmes of the United Nations system, in collaboration with indigenous peoples ’ organizations, monitor the high levels of global violence and threats directed at indigenous women human rights defenders. The Forum calls for an immediate halt to the criminalization,
incarceration, intimidation, coercion and assassination of, and death threats to, all indigenous human and environmental rights defenders.
The Permanent Forum recommends that bilateral donors increase official development assistance (ODA) to the level of 0.7 per cent of gross national product, as agreed in the outcome document of the International Conference on Financing for Development, as stated in the Millennium Development Goals and as reaffirmed in the 2005 World Summit Outcome, and also recommends that the donors ensure that targeted ODA is available for indigenous peoples. ODA will be used primarily for reinforcing indigenous peoples’ own priorities and for programmes to promote their development with identity.
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 Forum recognizes the efforts of the World Bank in the consultation process and the review of its policy on indigenous peoples. The members of the Forum request that the final draft policy be made available to them before its presentation to the Board of the World Bank. The members of the Forum express their great interest in reviewing the draft policy and making recommendations, as well as in meeting with the Board of Executive Directors of the World Bank.
The Forum recognizes the efforts of the World Bank in the consultation process and the review of its policy on indigenous peoples. The members of the Forum request that the final draft policy be made available to them before its presentation to the Board of the World Bank. The members of the Forum express their great interest in reviewing the draft policy and making recommendations, as well as in meeting with the Board of Executive Directors of the World Bank.
Post-pandemic recovery efforts have exacerbated human rights violations against indigenous peoples across Asia. Governments have used economic recovery plans as a justification to seize indigenous lands for the purposes of resource extraction, and indigenous environmental defenders are often threatened and arrested. The Permanent Forum calls on Member States to guarantee the principles of free, prior and informed consent throughout its post-pandemic recovery efforts to ensure that the socioeconomic development of indigenous territories is implemented in full cooperation with indigenous peoples.
The Permanent Forum urges United Nations entities to strengthen and facilitate the engagement of Indigenous youth in decision-making processes across all United Nations processes. Initiatives should focus on mentorship, capacity-building, knowledge exchange and the creation of advisory roles specific to Indigenous youth and Indigenous youth caucuses that facilitate active participation and leadership.