The Permanent Forum urges Governments in the Arctic, Eastern Europe, the Russian Federation, Central Asia and Transcaucasia to fully implement the relevant international obligations related to environmental and social safeguards to assure the conservation of nature and access to natural resources for indigenous peoples within their territories in accordance with Sustainable Development Goals 12, 14 and 15.
The Permanent Forum expresses thanks to the Government of Canada for hosting its pre-sessional meeting for 2016 and to the Governments of the Plurinational State of Bolivia, Canada, China, the Congo, Denmark, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Norway, the Russian Federation, Spain and the United States of America, as well as the Government of Greenland, for having hosted previous
pre-sessional and intersessional meetings of the Forum. The Forum recommends that States that have not yet done so consider hosting such meetings in the future. It also requests that the secretariat of the Forum organize pre-sessional meetings for future sessions of the Forum.
The Forum requests Governments to prepare reports on their experience and case studies as to how they are addressing indigenous people’s health and the Millennium Development Goals, and to submit their reports to the Forum at its fourth session.
The Permanent Forum encourages the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the Human Rights Council to continue the process of addressing rights related to treaties and agreements between indigenous peoples and the United States and Canada, including through the consideration and implementation of the recommendations resulting from the first two United Nations treaty seminars, held in 2003 and 2006, and by taking steps to hold a third seminar, as mandated by the Economic and Social Council, and urges the Expert Mechanism to advance the work on treaties.
The Forum calls upon the European Commission to establish further collaboration with it on indigenous issues.
The Permanent Forum welcomes the work of the Government of Namibia in the development and validation of the white paper on the rights of indigenous peoples, developed with the support of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs. The Forum encourages the Government to take measures to ensure that the white paper is approved and effectively implemented, in cooperation with indigenous peoples in Namibia. Furthermore, the Forum encourages other States, in particular African States, to consider similar measures, consistent with the Declaration.
Recognizing and appreciating the progress made, but at the same time acknowledging that further work needs to be done, it is urged that recommendations by the Forum at its past sessions that are of particular relevance to children and youth be implemented immediately
The Permanent Forum wishes to express its thanks to the Government of Nicaragua for hosting its 2012 pre-sessional meeting. The Forum also thanks the Governments of Bolivia (Plurinational State of), Canada, China, Denmark, Greenland, Norway, Spain and the United States of America for having hosted the Forum’s previous pre-sessional meetings, and the Government of the Congo for offering to host the 2013 pre-sessional meeting. The Forum requests that the secretariat organize pre-sessional meetings for future sessions of the Forum and urges all Member States that have not considered hosting pre-sessional meetings of the Forum to do so.
The Permanent Forum notes the mission to Bolivia and Paraguay and thanks the Governments of both countries for their invitations. This mission came about following the Forum’s recommendation regarding the situation of forced labour of Guarani communities at its seventh session. The Permanent Forum welcomes the mission as a good practice and decides to publish the reports of the mission as official documents. The Forum urges United Nations country teams to follow up the recommendations of these reports and suggests to the relevant Governments that they report on the implementation of these recommendations at the ninth session of the Forum in 2010.
The Permanent Forum greatly welcomes the new global indigenous peoples’ partnership initiative that UNDP is developing with the International Labour Organization (ILO) and OHCHR to promote the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and ILO Convention No. 169. The Permanent Forum hopes to support that initiative, working in cooperation with other actors, by providing advice during the initial phase as well as throughout the process.
The Permanent Forum recommends that WHO create and convene regional round tables to address the issue of indigenous peoples and the pandemic in order to ensure that the indigenous peoples of the globe are uniquely considered in mitigation efforts. Such round tables would also offer a timely opportunity to coordinate actions for responding to the impact of the pandemic on indigenous peoples.
In September 2024, 10 years will have passed since the adoption by the General Assembly of the outcome document of the high-level plenary meeting of the Assembly known as the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples, and of its annex, the Alta outcome document. The Permanent Forum calls upon the Secretary-General and the President of the General Assembly to hold a “World Conference on Indigenous Peoples Plus 10” in August 2024 to allow Member States, United Nations entities and indigenous peoples to report on implementation of the outcome document, with the full participation of indigenous peoples.