The Permanent Forum welcomes the recommendations of the international expert workshop on the World Heritage Convention and indigenous peoples, held in Copenhagen on 20 and 21 September 2012, and the anticipated establishment by the World Heritage Committee of a consultative body on the Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention during its thirty-seventh session, to be held in Phnom Penh from 17 to 27 June 2013, in order to consider, among others, revisions to the guidelines relating to the human rights of indigenous peoples, including the principle of free, prior and informed consent. The Forum recommends that UNESCO and the World Heritage Committee implement the Convention in accordance with the rights enshrined in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, taking an approach based on human rights. The Forum members will endeavour to participate in the thirty-seventh session of the Committee, including the meetings of the consultative body on the Operational Guidelines, as observers.
The Permanent Forum welcomes the report on the International Workshop on Perspectives of Relationships between Indigenous Peoples and Industrial Corporations, organized jointly by the Administration of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Region, the Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East, and the secretariat of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, with support from the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation, held in Salekhard, Russian Federation, on 2 and 3 July 2007, and calls upon States to fully support and accept the recommendations contained in the report.
The Forum reiterates the recommendations on the dissemination of information on indigenous issues, and invites indigenous peoples organizations, through the indigenous education caucus, to foster new forms and ways to further education and dissemination of information concerning the Forum to indigenous peoples communities and organizations, using radio programmes, publications and other appropriate cultural and educational media. The Forum recommends that the funds, programmes and organizations of the United Nations system assign appropriate resources and funds to achieve that objective.
The Permanent Forum decides to appoint a member to participate in any future meetings of the Working Group on access and benefit-sharing and the tenth Conference of the Parties to the Convention.
However, elements of the Tkarihwaié:ri code of ethical conduct are voluntary. The Permanent Forum is concerned that paragraph one of the code is restrictive as it includes the following: “They should not be construed as altering or interpreting the obligations of Parties to the Convention of Biological Diversity or any other international instrument. They should not be interpreted as altering domestic laws, treaties, agreements or other constructive arrangements that may already exist.”
The Permanent Forum calls upon Member States to ensure that the outcome document of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) is aligned with the rights affirmed in the Declaration, and invites UNEP to organize a dialogue to discuss the Rio+20 outcome, its implications for indigenous peoples and its implementation.
The Permanent Forum calls for urgent, serious and unprecedented action by the Economic and Social Council and the General Assembly, along with all United Nations bodies and agencies, recognizing that climate change is an urgent and immediate threat to human rights, health, sustainable development, food sovereignty, and peace and security, and calls upon all countries to implement the highest, most rigorous and most stringent levels of greenhouse gas reduction.
The Permanent Forum recommends that States ensure that the territories of indigenous peoples in Asia be free of State military interventions and that military bases, camps and training centres established in indigenous territories without the free, prior and informed consent of indigenous peoples be removed immediately, consistent with articles 19 and 30 of the Declaration.
States should recognize the rights of indigenous peoples to food and nutritional security and the sustainable production and consumption of healthy and nutritious foods by using appropriate sustainable technology. There is a particular need to ensure that indigenous peoples who depend on marine and terrestrial resources be supported in protecting and ensuring their rights to and sustainable use of those resources.
The Permanent Forum calls upon the Government of the United States of America to comply with the provisions recognized in the Declaration and to ensure the rights of the Great Sioux Nation to participate in decision-making, as set out in article 19 of the Declaration, given that the construction of the Dakota access pipeline will affect their rights, lives and territory. Furthermore, the Forum recommends that the Government of the United States initiate an investigation of alleged human rights abuses by private security and law enforcement officers that occurred during protests to prevent construction of the pipeline.
The Permanent Forum recommends that the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants pay special attention to the vulnerability of urban and migrant indigenous persons.
The Permanent Forum recommends that corporations, regulating bodies and certification bodies incorporate the rights of indigenous peoples in their quality standards, operating plans, business plans and investment plans.