Post-pandemic recovery efforts have exacerbated human rights violations against indigenous peoples across Asia. Governments have used economic recovery plans as a justification to seize indigenous lands for the purposes of resource extraction, and indigenous environmental defenders are often threatened and arrested. The Permanent Forum calls on Member States to guarantee the principles of free, prior and informed consent throughout its post-pandemic recovery efforts to ensure that the socioeconomic development of indigenous territories is implemented in full cooperation with indigenous peoples.
The Permanent Forum is concerned over the decision of the Supreme Administrative Court of Finland to include individuals not recognized by the Sami community in the Sami Parliament’s electoral roll. The Forum urges the Parliament of Finland to amend the Sami Parliament Act in line with Sami Parliament proposals to protect the Sami People’s right to self-determination and ensure that their electoral processes reflect their standards of community membership.