The Permanent Forum emphasizes the essential role of Indigenous Peoples’ languages and cultural practices in self-determination and urges Member States to adopt stronger measures to protect them from erosion and loss. The Forum decries the ongoing destruction of cultural heritage sites and the loss of Indigenous Peoples’ languages, urging immediate protective measures through robust legal and policy frameworks aligned with the Declaration.
The Permanent Forum urges Canada and the United States to fund, expand and improve initiatives to end the epidemics that affect Indigenous Peoples, including the alarming rates of HIV, hepatitis C and sexually transmitted infections, especially among women, youth, persons with disabilities, and gender-diverse and two-spirited persons.
The Forum regrets that Indigenous Peoples living in environmental ecosystems and latitudes other than tropical and subtropical forests are ineligible for funding, including the $1.7 billion pledge made at the twenty-sixth session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The Forum advises the Forest Tenure Funders Group to promote a dialogue with United Nations mechanisms on the rights of Indigenous Peoples when defining the ongoing and future process of funding for Indigenous Peoples.