The Permanent Forum expresses concern that indigenous peoples are not receiving adequate information regarding the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals at the national level and encourages Governments, United Nations entities, indigenous peoples and civil society organizations to convene workshops and other forums to ensure their effective participation in implementing the 2030 Agenda.
The Permanent Forum welcomes the progress made in operationalization of the United Nations Indigenous Peoples’ Partnership, a joint venture of the United Nations agencies, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, UNDP, ILO, UNICEF and UNFPA at the regional and country levels, in partnership with indigenous peoples, and reiterates its support to its work, firmly believing that it is critical to the implementation of the Declaration at the country level. The Forum also welcomes the contributions of the Governments of Denmark and Finland to the Partnership and calls upon States Members of the United Nations and others to support the work of the Partnership.
The Permanent Forum notes the initiative of the United Nations country team in Nicaragua to establish a consultative committee comprising members of indigenous peoples, Afrodescendants and country team staff, in order to promote and strengthen the realization of the rights and principles set out in international human rights instruments. The Permanent Forum urges other United Nations country teams to follow this example and establish similar consultative mechanisms.
The Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues takes account of the diversity of national experience with surveys, censuses and other data and information-collection systems as applied to indigenous peoples, and in view of the urgent need for disaggregated data on indigenous peoples within all of the mandated areas for developing and streamlining the policies and guidelines of the work of United Nations agencies, funds and programmes, and also in view of the complexities of producing coherent data, reiterates the recommendation made at its first session to organize a workshop on the subject, and recommends that the Economic and Social Council adopt draft decision 1 contained in chapter I, section A, of the present report.
The Permanent Forum calls on ILO to provide more information in the future on the status and trends in the practice of traditional occupations.
The Permanent Forum calls upon the World Bank to strengthen its accountability mechanisms so that they focus on situations in which its funded projects adversely affect indigenous peoples and also to proactively implement specific measures to meaningfully contribute to the progressive realization of the right of indigenous peoples to self-determination.
The Permanent Forum recommends that FAO develop an action plan to identify priorities with indigenous peoples to support their participation in the 2022 International Year of Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture.
The Forum recommends that all relevant United Nations entities and Governments:
(a) Advise Governments to revise their national legal and administrative frameworks to ensure indigenous women’s equal rights and access to social and economic services and resources, including land ownership;
(b) Identify and give recognition to the capacities of indigenous women and their specialized knowledge in the areas of health, natural environment, traditional technologies, crafts and arts, and design appropriate employment and income-generating strategies;
(c) Provide indigenous women with the appropriate education and training resources so that they can effectively access and participate in mainstream national, regional and international economic institutions.
During the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, the members of the Permanent Forum were not able to register as United Nations experts. Forum members attend many United Nations meetings where their specific status is not recognized. The Forum therefore recommends that Member States include Forum members as United Nations experts, not as part of major groups, in United Nations accreditation processes.
The Forum recommends that the findings of the millennium ecosystem assessment and its recommendations concerning the environment be submitted to it at its fourth session, and that the participation of indigenous peoples be taken into account by the assessment in the review of its reports, analysis and findings.
The Forum recommends that WIPO undertake a study, in collaboration with Forum members, on the use of indigenous knowledge relating to medicinal plants and resources, the commercialization of such knowledge and how indigenous communities are benefiting from such commercialization.
The Permanent Forum decides to extend the appointment as Special Rapporteur of Michael Dodson, a member of the Forum, to prepare a paper on the relevant principles contained in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, taking into account the provisions of ILO Conventions No. 169 and No. 107 that relate to indigenous land tenure and management arrangements, to assist indigenous peoples, States and United Nations agencies in negotiating indigenous land tenure and management arrangements and to present the paper at the eighth session of the Forum, in 2009.