The Forum recommends that States pay special attention to the situation of uncontacted indigenous peoples, peoples in voluntary isolation, and peoples in isolated and remote localities and displaced peoples from indigenous communities. The Forum recommends that the Special Rapporteur on the human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people pay special attention in his annual reports to the situation of these peoples. The Forum also considers that the situation of these peoples should be the subject of a special international meeting during the Second International Decade of the World’s Indigenous People.
Many indigenous peoples described situations where their human rights were being impacted by large-scale infrastructure projects, natural resource extraction and industrial agriculture activities in their territories without their free, prior and informed consent. The Permanent Forum received information to that effect from the Shuar, Sapara, Maasai and Ogaden peoples, among others. The Forum is concerned, in particular, by cases where it appears that the interests of investors are better protected than the rights of indigenous peoples. It reiterates that States and the private sector must respect the human rights of indigenous peoples by ensuring the effective implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.
The Forum recommends that UNICEF, in cooperation with the ILO, UNESCO and UNHCR, report to the Forum at its fourth session on ways that the United Nations system can assist in capacity-building in that area.
The Permanent Forum recommends that States and the United Nations system, with particular attention to the activities of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO), introduce indigenous youth perspectives into existing youth policies and plans, including the five-year action agenda of the Secretary-General to address health issues. In addition, there should be a distinct focus on indigenous youth by improving participation in decision-making and by introducing and including mental health services for young people, with particular efforts to address suicide among indigenous youth.
The Permanent Forum requests that UNICEF design, in partnership with other relevant United Nations agencies, a protocol for emergency situations resulting from natural disasters to ensure that, in cases of emergency, there are no violations of the human rights of indigenous peoples, especially indigenous youth, children and women, owing to forced relocation.
The Permanent Forum recommends that the General Assembly, by 2020, proclaim an international year of indigenous languages and draw attention to the critical loss of indigenous languages and the urgent need to preserve, revitalize and promote indigenous languages and to take further urgent steps at the national and international levels.
The Forum urges the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, in conjunction with other relevant United Nations entities, to convene a workshop on the theme "Indigenous women, traditional knowledge and the Convention on Biological Diversity" in collaboration with the Indigenous Women’s Biodiversity Network and the Commission of Intellectual Property and Commercialization of the Intercontinental Network of Indigenous Women of the Americas.
The Permanent Forum emphasizes that achieving the Sustainable Development Goals is not possible without fulfilling the rights of indigenous peoples to lands, territories and resources. The Forum thus calls upon States to include the recognition of customary rights or tenure of indigenous peoples to their lands and resources under target 3 of Sustainable Development Goal 2, which calls for secure and equal access to land.
In implementing the Millennium Development Goals, States should ensure the absolute prohibition of racial discrimination and, where appropriate, should promote multicultural policies, affirmative action and special measures necessary for poverty reduction among indigenous communities
The Permanent Forum reiterates its call to all Member States to intensify their efforts to adopt the modalities for the World Conference as soon as possible and before the end of the sixty-sixth session of the General Assembly.
In the absence of in-person sessions of the Permanent Forum for two years, the Forum expresses its appreciation of the online dialogues held with United Nations funds, programmes and specialized agencies and welcomes the continuation of this good practice in the coming years, beyond the effects of the pandemic. The Permanent Forum expresses its appreciation to the secretariat of the Forum for facilitating these dialogues and invites the secretariat to continue to do so.
The Permanent Forum urges the Secretary-General to convene, in consultation with the Forum and before its eighteenth session, regional consultations in each of the seven indigenous regions to discuss the modalities for the participation of indigenous people at the United Nations, including how the participation of indigenous representatives can be enhanced. The Forum urges Member States to support the organization of these regional consultations.