The Permanent Forum regrets the outcome and impact of the “Indigenous Voice” referendum on Indigenous Peoples, in particular Indigenous youth, held in Australia in 2023, which undermines their journey towards the full realization of the right to self-determination for Indigenous Peoples. The Forum urges the Government of Australia to implement the Declaration.
The Permanent Forum highlights the pivotal role of Indigenous women and elders in transmitting cultural values and traditions, recognizing their critical influence on the sustainability of Indigenous cultures. The Forum calls upon Member States to support the establishment of mechanisms for the empowerment of Indigenous women and girls, and calls for their equal involvement and participation in decision-making processes at all levels
The Permanent Forum welcomes information from the Government of Bangladesh on progress towards the implementation of the Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Accord. It calls upon Bangladesh to make further efforts towards full implementation of the Accord through constructive dialogue and cooperation with the Chittagong Hill Tracts Regional Council, the three Hill District Councils and the Chittagong Hill Tracts Land Dispute Resolution Commission.
Importantly, and in parallel with action plans, the Permanent Forum calls upon Member States to urgently provide adequate and appropriate support and resources for Indigenous Peoples’ languages, with a focus on Indigenous-led initiatives. That is especially crucial in circumstances in which the languages are critically endangered. When an Indigenous Peoples’ language becomes extinct, the richness of the ways of life and world views of Indigenous Peoples is lost, which is detrimental both to Indigenous Peoples and to the world.
Indigenous peoples have been a distinct constituency at the United Nations since 1977 and, with the adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples by the General Assembly in 2007, their inherent rights were affirmed as the international minimum standard. The Permanent Forum reiterates the position of the Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, namely that it is unacceptable to undermine the status and standing of indigenous peoples by combining or equating them with non-indigenous entities such as minorities, vulnerable groups or local communities. Such attempts, whether by States or United Nations entities, are not acceptable and will be challenged by indigenous peoples and those mandated to defend their rights. The Permanent Forum urges all United Nations entities and States parties to treaties concerning the environment, biodiversity and the climate to eliminate the use of the term “local communities” in conjunction with indigenous peoples, so that the term “indigenous peoples and local communities” would be abolished.
The Permanent Forum invites the African Development Bank to develop a policy of engagement with indigenous peoples that includes effective safeguards, and invites the African Development Bank to report to the Permanent Forum at its twentythird session, to be held in 2024, on its progress
The Permanent Forum invites the Special Rapporteur of the Human Rights
Council on the situation of human rights defenders to prepare a study on the drivers
of attacks against indigenous human rights defenders in business contexts and invites
the Special Rapporteur to share information on progress with the Permanent Forum
at its twenty-second session, to be held in 2023.
The Permanent Forum calls on States, in consultation with indigenous peoples, to establish national judicial institutions tasked with identifying lands, waters, coastal waters and other resources to which the indigenous peoples concerned have established ownership and usufruct rights, and to demarcate such lands and resources.
The Permanent Forum expresses thanks to the Government of Finland for hosting its pre-sessional meeting for 2020. The Forum also expresses its thanks to the Governments of Bolivia (Plurinational State of), Canada, China, the Congo, Denmark, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Norway, Peru, the Russian Federation, Spain and the United States of America, as well as the government of Greenland, for having hosted previous pre-sessional and intersessional meetings of the Forum. The Forum recommends that States that have not yet done so consider hosting such meetings in the future. It also requests that the secretariat of the Forum organize pre-sessional meetings for future sessions of the Forum.
Considering that some indigenous peoples are living in countries that do not have United Nations country offices and lack opportunities to cooperate and coordinate with the United Nations agencies in advancing their rights and well-being, the Permanent Forum invites the United Nations system to cooperate with indigenous peoples in those regions.
The Permanent Forum reiterates its recommendation that indigenous peoples have equal participation in the drafting of all documents that emerge from the World Conference process, including any outcome document.