The Permanent Forum calls upon UNESCO, the Secretariat of the Conference on Biological Diversity, UNDP, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Population Fund, the World Intellectual Property Organization and the United Nations Development Group to support indigenous peoples in their process of cultural heritage restoration and strengthening. This process should be guided by indigenous peoples in order to avoid the misuse and distortion of indigenous peoples’ culture, practices and knowledge and to respect their perspectives and aspirations.
The Permanent Forum encourages all States to endorse the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, considering the need to protect and enhance indigenous peoples’ distinct identities and cultural institutions, philosophies and world views, customary laws, indigenous political governance and justice systems, indigenous knowledge systems and sustainable traditional livelihoods and other economic systems, as well as to rebuild in urban centres the cultures and communities of indigenous peoples displaced from their traditional territories. The Forum calls upon States to build on good practices to ensure, safeguard and protect indigenous knowledge and intangible heritage and to promote indigenous peoples’ cultural expressions.
The Permanent Forum endorses the recommendations submitted on 8 May 2009 to the fourth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants by the Indigenous Peoples Caucus to increase and ensure the formal participation of indigenous peoples in that process.
States, United Nations agencies, funds and programs should mobilize support for indigenous peoples who are extremely vulnerable to natural disasters.
The Permanent Forum urges States responsible for major sources of pollution and emissions of greenhouse gases to be accountable by enforcing and upholding stricter global pollution regulations that will apply to polluting parties.
The Permanent Forum recommends that IFAD develop a stronger focus on issues relating to land and territory and actively promote indigenous peoples’ rights to land.
The Permanent Forum recalls its recommendations contained in paragraphs 52, 54, 55 and 58 of the report on its seventh session (ibid., chap. I, sect. B) and expresses concern for the human rights of indigenous peoples in the context of Non Self-Governing Territory issues and those seeking reinscription as a Non-Self-Governing Territory, and calls upon the Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples and other mandate holders to examine and report on the impact on the human rights of those indigenous peoples in that regard.
The Permanent Forum takes note of the Deatnu (Tana/Teno) river fishing agreement between the Governments of Finland and Norway that was adopted by their respective Parliaments in March 2017. The Sami Parliaments of Finland and Norway have informed the Forum that the agreement was adopted without the free, prior and informed consent of the Sami. The Forum requests the Governments of Finland and Norway to renegotiate the agreement with the full and effective participation of Sami rights holders.
The Permanent Forum recommends that staff in country offices as well as those who work on specific countries from their own headquarters ensure the full participation of indigenous peoples in conducting evaluations under the United Nations Development Assistance Framework, as recommended in the 2004 framework.
The Forum recommends that the Committee on the Rights of the Child, at its special discussion day on the indigenous child, to be held on 19 September 2003, in addition to considering reports from States parties, pay special attention to issues related to safeguarding the integrity of indigenous families.
The Permanent Forum urges UNESCO to develop an indigenous peoples’ platform within the agency to ensure that UNESCO language programmes provide tangible benefits to indigenous communities and ensure that indigenous peoples are active in all aspects of the work of UNESCO.
The Forum welcomes the adoption by the Commission on the Status of Women at its fifty-sixth session of the resolution entitled “Indigenous women: key actors in poverty and hunger eradication” (see E/2012/27-E/CN.6/2012/16, resolution 56/4) and calls for its implementation.