Positive developments have been achieved in setting international human rights standards for the rights of indigenous peoples to lands, territories and resources, including by regional human rights mechanisms in Africa and the Americas. The Permanent Forum welcomes those developments, including the recent decision of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights in the case of the Ogiek community in Kenya. The Forum encourages indigenous peoples and States to engage further with regional mechanisms and to implement their decisions effectively.
The Permanent Forum decides that Forum members Lars-Anders Baer, Bartolomé Clavero Salvador, Michael Dodson and Carsten Smith shall prepare a paper that responds to the comments made by certain Member States on the annex to the report of the Permanent Forum on its eighth session (E/2009/43) at the general segment of the substantive session of the Economic and Social Council, in July 2009.
1) The Permanent Forum recommends that States, indigenous peoples and United Nations agencies, funds and programmes immediately engage in a consultative process focused on the full and effective implementation of the outcome document at the local, national, regional and international levels. 2) It also recommends that the Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs outline and provide his vision of a procedure to guarantee the direct participation of representatives of indigenous peoples, including the expert members of the Forum, in the preparation and coordination of the system-wide action plan, with the objective of promoting and protecting the human rights of indigenous peoples and to enhance and increase the coherence of the activities of the United Nations system in that regard. 3) The Forum invites the Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs to inform the Forum on the progress at its fifteenth session.
The Forum expresses its appreciation to all those who contributed to the Trust Fund for the support of the Forum and calls upon Governments, intergovernmental organizations, foundations and non-governmental organizations to give generously to the Fund
The Permanent Forum recommends that Member States support, financially and in every other way, Indigenous Peoples’ development of their own strategies in revitalizing, strengthening and developing their languages parallel to other efforts under the Global Action Plan.
The Permanent Forum welcomes the commitment of the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Peoples to enhance Indigenous Peoples’ participation within United Nations entities. The Forum encourages Member States and other funders to support the Voluntary Fund and the Trust Fund on Indigenous Issues.