The Forum decides to form a working group, including experts on statistics, to set directions for future statistical work, including that of the United Nations Statistics Division, and also decides that representatives from the Forum shall participate in scientific meetings to improve statistics in this area of work, such as the upcoming meeting sponsored by the International Association of Official Statisticians meeting, to be held in New Zealand on 14 and 15 April 2005, on the theme "Measuring small and indigenous populations".
The Forum recommends that UNESCO invite indigenous experts and specialists to participate in its education forums, congresses, conferences and meetings to ensure the recognition and contribution of indigenous scientific and technological knowledge.
Include relevant information on the rights of indigenous peoples, in particular indigenous women by engaging indigenous organizations in the reporting process to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and other relevant human rights bodies, encouraging indigenous women through their organizations to become involved in the reporting process to the Committee
Good practices in terms of the implementation of recommendations should be disseminated more widely so that they can provide examples for indigenous peoples, the United Nations system, Governments and others.
The Permanent Forum expresses appreciation to all States, United Nations agencies and foundations that contributed to the Trust Fund on Indigenous Issues, including contributions for the small grants programme for the Second International Decade of the World’s Indigenous People and the Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Populations, and invites States, agencies and foundations to continue contributing generously to the Funds. The Forum urges the Voluntary Fund on Indigenous Populations to give particular support to applications from indigenous peoples from the Pacific to participate in its seventh session in 2008. The Permanent Forum encourages representatives of indigenous peoples’ organizations from the Pacific to make applications to the Fund in order to the attend the seventh session of the Permanent Forum.
The Permanent Forum invites United Nations bodies with expertise on human rights, cultural rights and the traditional knowledge of indigenous peoples to provide legal and technical comments on the revised draft protocol to the Convention on Biological Diversity on access to genetic resources and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from their utilization for transmission to parties to the Convention for consideration in their final negotiations.
The Permanent Forum urges UNICEF and UNIFEM to include urban and migrant indigenous women and their children in their relevant studies on violence against women.
The Permanent Forum welcomes the decision by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights to promote and protect the rights of non-dominant minorities in Africa, who are distinct from indigenous populations and/or communities. While recognizing the importance of the rights of persons belonging to minorities, the Permanent Forum is concerned that the expanded mandate could compromise the current Commission standards for promoting the rights of indigenous peoples. The Permanent Forum therefore urges the Commission to establish a separate working group on minority rights. The Permanent Forum calls on the Commission to work closely with it, indigenous peoples representatives from Africa, and United Nations entities to highlight and advance the recognition, rights and participation of indigenous peoples at the regional and national levels. Furthermore, the Permanent Forum recommends that the Commission designate a focal point on indigenous people
The Permanent Forum recalls that, in the outcome document of the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples, Member States committed to “developing, in conjunction with the Indigenous Peoples concerned, fair transparent and effective mechanisms for … repatriation of ceremonial objects and human remains at the national and international levels”. The Forum urges United Nations entities to accurately identify affected Indigenous Peoples and provide them with advance notice and applicable timelines for both identification and repatriation so that Indigenous Peoples can request the repatriation of their ancestral remains, cultural patrimony and sacred objects.