UNICEF is invited to report to the Forum at its fifth session on the result of the "25 by 2005" initiative on maximizing indigenous girls' education programs
The Permanent Forum urges UNDP to enhance its own capacity in the area of indigenous peoples’ issues by ensuring sufficient expertise and human resources, in particular at the headquarters level, but also in its regional centres, including regional policy advisers on indigenous peoples’ issues who are able to provide adequate support to country offices.
The Permanent Forum recommends that the United Nations and United Nations system organizations ensure the effective participation of indigenous peoples at the Food Systems Summit in 2021, as well as at all the related processes conducted in advance thereof and thereafter, including the pre-summit to be held in Italy from 19 to 21 July 2021. The food systems of indigenous peoples support sustainability and care for the environment and generate healthy foods important for the eradication of hunger and the achievement of the Goals.
The Permanent Forum recommends that the full, effective and direct representation and participation of indigenous peoples, including their indigenous governments, councils, parliaments and other political institutions, should be ensured at all United Nations forums and multilateral and bilateral negotiations, and in the drafting processes of the corresponding emerging instruments, for example, those under discussion at the World Bank, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity. Such instruments must be harmonized with the Declaration, which is regarded as a reflection of the minimum human rights standards necessary for the promotion and protection of indigenous peoples, nations and communities. Such instruments should be consistent with or exceed those minimum standards.
The Permanent Forum recommends that Member States actively engage with their indigenous peoples in both developed countries and developing countries, including indigenous women, indigenous youth and indigenous persons with disabilities, in developing key indicators on indigenous peoples, including for data disaggregation, to be included in the overall indicators for the post-2015 development agenda to be adopted in March 2016.
In accordance with article 16 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, indigenous peoples have the right to full freedom of expression, including the right to establish their own media in their own languages. The Permanent Forum is concerned that indigenous peoples of Latin America have been criminalized for the establishment of community radio stations and urges Member States to protect the rights of indigenous communicators
The Permanent Forum welcomes the work of the Government of Bangladesh with United Nations country offices to support peace in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. The Permanent Forum further welcomes the ongoing study on the status of implementation of the Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Accord of 1997 and invites the Government of Bangladesh, with the full and effective participation of indigenous peoples, to report on the results of the study at the twenty-second session of the Permanent Forum, setting a timeframe for its full implementation. The Permanent Forum also calls upon the Government of Bangladesh to continue to address all forms of violence, including enforced disappearances, and sexual violence against women in the Chittagong Hill Tracts committed by law enforcement agencies.
The Permanent Forum welcomes the adoption of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework at the fifteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity. The Permanent Forum urges the Conference of the Parties to establish a commission, as early as possible, to monitor and evaluate the implementation of the Framework, especially its target 3 on protecting 30 per cent of the planet’s land and water by 2030, with the full and equitable participation of Indigenous Peoples and respecting their rights to free, prior and informed consent. The establishment of robust grievance mechanisms is vital.
The Permanent Forum recognizes that education systems must be culturally safe and support Indigenous Peoples’ languages. The Forum reiterates the urgent need for Member States to protect Indigenous Peoples’ languages, both spoken and written, during the International Decade of Indigenous Languages, by adopting appropriate laws and policies.
The Permanent Forum is concerned about the harms and injustices caused in certain instances by carbon markets and biodiversity credits on Indigenous Peoples’ lands and territories and biodiversity. The Forum urges the secretariats of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Convention on Biological Diversity, and the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, to demand highintegrity projects that have clear accountability for carbon emissions and biodiversity as well as measured benefits for Indigenous Peoples. The Forum invites the aforementioned entities to report on their actions at its session in 2025.