The Permanent Forum urges States to implement articles 11 and 13 of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, in particular in relation to the practice and revitalization of indigenous peoples’ languages, cultural traditions and customs as a way of building resilience and preventing self-harm, violence and suicide.
The Forum reiterates its recommendation that the Economic and Social Council approve the creation, under the auspices of the Forum, of a three-year working group on free, prior informed consent and participatory research guidelines, with the participation of stakeholders concerned, namely Governments, indigenous peoples’ organizations, corporations and States and the United Nations system, with combined funding provided partly by the regular budget and partly through the Voluntary Fund, the World Bank and corporations, that includes a focus on how free, prior informed consent and participatory research guidelines relate to economic, social and environmental projects and the protection of indigenous knowledge and natural resources.
The Permanent Forum welcomes the positive contributions of the members of the Inter-Agency Support Group on Indigenous Issues and urges them to continue implementing development projects and programmes in participation with indigenous peoples, where applicable. The Forum also requests that more case studies of good practices and lessons learned be presented at the sessions of the Forum, including information about less successful cases
The Permanent Forum supports the recommendations of the international expert group meeting on extractive industries, indigenous peoples’ rights and corporate social responsibility addressed to extractive industry corporations, States, United Nations agencies, funds and programmes, indigenous peoples, nations and organizations, and international financial institutions, contained in a paper presented to the Forum.
The Permanent Forum welcomes the initiative taken by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the secretariat of the Permanent Forum to convene a first expert meeting on the nexus between indigenous peoples and migration and endorses the recommendations of that meeting and requests further inter-agency cooperation and collaboration regarding data collection and case studies on indigenous peoples and migration, in particular the creation of a task force to specifically address migration issues of indigenous peoples within the existing Inter-Agency Support Group on Indigenous Issues for the Permanent Forum. Such a task force could assist with studies by indigenous leaders and experts and promote capacity-building projects dealing with the migration of indigenous peoples.
The Permanent Forum recommends, on the basis of articles 14 and 15 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, that States support indigenous peoples in establishing their own educational systems and institutions, including universities. Specific measures should be put in place to support indigenous, intercultural and community higher education institutions and programmes in their academic, organizational, financial and accreditation processes. An excellent example of best practices in this regard is the inclusion of compulsory indigenous studies in the curricula of higher education institutions. The Forum urges States to recognize the importance of the Higher Education Sustainability Initiative, launched during the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development of 2012, and to incorporate the knowledge, history and proposals of indigenous peoples into the activities to be undertaken.
The Permanent Forum recommends that, in the Arctic, Amazon and Congo basins and the Sahara oases, which are indicators of climate change for the rest of the world, Member States work closely with indigenous peoples. The discussions and negotiations on climate change should respect the rights of indigenous peoples to nurture and develop their traditional knowledge and their environment-friendly technologies. In the case of indigenous peoples living in voluntary isolation and inhabiting the most biodiverse areas in the Amazon, the primary requirement of their free prior and informed consent for any alien intervention must be stressed.
The Permanent Forum recognizes the efforts made by UNFPA, the United Nations Children’s Fund and UN-Women and recommends that they continue to make efforts to implement the recommendation made by the Forum at its fifteenth session to develop a fact sheet on maternal and child health in indigenous communities (E/2016/43-E/C.19/2016/11, para. 38) and present the fact sheet to the Forum by 2018, so as to provide support for target 3.7 of the Sustainable Development Goals.
The Permanent Forum recommends, in paragraph 64 of the report, that the relevant United Nations entities should “conduct a study, in partnership with indigenous peoples’ organizations, that documents the linkage between environmental violence, including the operations of extractive industries, chemical pollution and the destruction of the indigenous habitat, and the sexual and reproductive health of indigenous peoples, as well as issues pertaining to sexual exploitation, trafficking of indigenous girls and sexual violence, with concrete recommendations on protection measures”.
In the context of the implementation of the Policy on Ethnicity and Health, adopted by the executive committee of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) in 2017 (CE160.R11), the Permanent Forum invites PAHO and the World Health Organization (WHO) to collaborate with health institutions and policymakers to address issues related to indigenous maternal health, including the practice of indigenous midwifery. It recommends that PAHO prepare a study on the advancements in indigenous maternal health, including best practices used by indigenous midwives and supportive organizations. The Forum invites PAHO to submit the report by 2020.
The Forum recommends that all human rights treaty bodies and other human rights mechanisms of the United Nations and the treaty monitoring mechanisms of ILO pay special attention to the human rights of indigenous peoples, in particular indigenous women, in the discharge of their mandates. The Forum also encourages indigenous women’s organizations and other organizations working in this area to enhance their cooperation and contacts with these mechanisms.
Furthermore, the Permanent Forum urges those States that have abstained to reverse their positions and endorse the Declaration so as to achieve full consensus.