The lack of recognition of Indigenous Peoples violates their right to self-determination. Their legal recognition should be aligned with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the report of the Working Group of Experts on Indigenous Populations/Communities of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights.1 The Permanent Forum invites African Governments to join groups of friends of Indigenous Peoples.
The Permanent Forum reiterates that it has urged all United Nations entities and States parties to treaties concerning the environment, biodiversity and climate change to eliminate the use of the term “local communities” in conjunction with Indigenous Peoples, and to distinguish between the terms, in ongoing processes, policies and new international agreements at all levels.
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.