The Permanent Forum welcomes the importance that the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees attaches to the use of indigenous languages when working with indigenous peoples in emergency situations. The Permanent Forum encourages other United Nations agencies, funds and programmes to follow that positive practice. For instance, the Permanent Forum recommends that the World Health Organization (WHO) prioritize indigenous languages as a determinant of health.
The Permanent Forum regrets the very high incarceration rates of indigenous peoples globally, which contributes to poor health, poverty and untimely death, including in indigenous families and communities. States are reminded of their obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and should therefore address this issue urgently by reducing the incarceration and eliminating the cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment of indigenous peoples by justice systems.
6. The Permanent Forum welcomes recent proposals made by the Sami to address cross-border collaboration and urges the States involved to work constructively with the affected indigenous peoples in these matters. The Permanent Forum also welcomes the Inuit Nunangat Policy of Canada, by which Inuit Nunangat is recognized as a distinct geographic, cultural and political region that encompasses the Inuvialuit Settlement Region, Nunavut, Nunavik, and Nunatsiavut. The Permanent Forum invites other Member States to develop, in close cooperation with indigenous peoples, similar arrangements that recognize indigenous peoples’ ancestral territories