The Permanent Forum takes note of the report submitted by the International Indian Treaty Council and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations on the three-year field-testing programme for the cultural indicators for food security, food sovereignty and sustainable development, which included the input of more than 450 indigenous representatives from 66 indigenous communities and peoples in five countries. The Forum recognizes the importance of such collaborative programmes undertaken jointly by United Nations agencies and indigenous peoples, and calls upon members of the Inter-Agency Support Group and Member States and agencies to develop and apply the cultural indicators in accordance with their mandates, in collaboration with indigenous peoples.
The Permanent Forum welcomes the global synthesis report on indicators of well-being, poverty and sustainability relevant to indigenous peoples, which is the culmination of efforts by the United Nations system and indigenous peoples’ organizations over the past several years. The Forum invites the United Nations system, including the United Nations Development Group and the Inter-Agency Support Group, the donor community, States, indigenous peoples, non-governmental organizations and the private sector to use those indicators as a guide in programmes and projects directly or indirectly affecting indigenous peoples and their communities, in accordance with the standards set by the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
The Permanent Forum recommends that the Plurinational State of Bolivia continue the implementation of specific policies in the areas of housing, health and education in order to benefit the freed communities, paying particular attention to those who have been subjected to servitude, and especially children and adolescents.
The Permanent Forum appoints Les Malezer, a member of the Forum, to undertake a study on indigenous peoples and sustainable development, to be submitted to the Forum at its seventeenth session.
The Forum recommends that concerned State Governments conduct workshops, training courses and other programmes for indigenous peoples, on a regular basis, to enhance their interest in the cultural diversity of the world and thus increase awareness about preserving distinct indigenous peoples’ culture.
The Permanent Forum congratulates the secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity for considering the important role of indigenous peoples in its activities related to the International Year of Biodiversity in 2010 and recommends that it fund and organize a workshop on indigenous peoples and biological diversity as part of its celebration of the Year.
The Permanent Forum decides to appoint Mr. Lars Anders-Baer, a member of the Permanent Forum, as a special rapporteur to undertake a study to determine the impact of climate change adaptation and mitigation measures on reindeer herding.
The Forum reiterates the recommendations made in its report on its first session and:
(a) Urges the World Health Organization (WHO), the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and all United Nations bodies and agencies involved in programmes relating to health to incorporate indigenous healers and cultural perspectives on health and illness into their policies, guidelines and programmes, and to undertake regional consultations with indigenous peoples on these issues, in order to mainstream indigenous health issues into the United Nations system;
(b) Urges the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to undertake a study on the relationship between food security, subsistence agricultural practices and indigenous health and illness.
The Permanent Forum notes with concern that the COVID-19 pandemic has increased sexual and reproductive health challenges worldwide and stresses that there is a need for Governments to implement the commitments they made during the summit held in Nairobi in 2019 to mark the twenty-fifth anniversary of on the International Conference on Population and Development.
Given the rapid increase in diabetes among indigenous peoples, the Permanent Forum calls upon WHO to undertake a pilot study to assess its prevalence among selected indigenous peoples worldwide in the seven indigenous geo-cultural regions.
The Permanent Forum calls for the cooperation of all States, indigenous peoples, the United Nations system and other intergovernmental organizations in its task of ensuring that the Declaration reaches indigenous peoples in their communities by appropriate dissemination of the text in indigenous peoples’ own languages.
The Forum calls upon all those Members States which have not yet done so to consider without delay ratifying the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and International Labour Organization Convention No. 169