The Forum requests: a. That each United Nations agency and organization make the Forum’s recommendations formally available to its governing body, assembly or other relevant high-level committee or organ, drawing particular attention to the recommendations specifically addressed to the organization or body concerned;
b. That Member States take into account the recommendations of the Forum in developing policies on the governing bodies of organizations to which they are members.
The Permanent Forum welcomes the interest expressed at the interactive dialogue on the follow-up to the World Conference held by the Department of Economic and Social Affairs on 22 April 2015, in which States and indigenous peoples stressed the importance of repatriating ceremonial objects and human remains. The Forum therefore recommends that States and indigenous peoples establish a working group to prepare a manual of good practice with regard to the repatriation of ceremonial objects and human remains, with the support of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and other United Nations entities, and submit a progress report to the Forum at its fifteenth session.
The Forum recommends that the World Intellectual Property Organization Committee continue to cooperate, where relevant, with other organizations and agencies within the United Nations system, such as the secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, the United Nations Environment Programme, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
Recalling the Workshop on Data Collection and Disaggregation for Indigenous Peoples (see E/C.19/2004/2 for the report of the Workshop), the Permanent Forum welcomes the ongoing collaboration with the United Nations Statistics Division in reviewing national practices in data collection and dissemination in the areas of ethnicity, language and religion. In the light of this work, as well as of the 2010 World Population and Housing Census Programme, the Permanent Forum reiterates its support to the Statistics Division as expressed in the report of the Permanent Forum on its fourth session and its recommendations contained in paragraphs 80 and 81of that report.
The Permanent Forum welcomes the report of the technical expert group meeting on indicators, mechanisms and data for assessing the implementation of indigenous peoples’ rights, held in Geneva in September 2010 by the International Labour Organization (ILO), the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the secretariat of the Permanent Forum. The report sets out important principles and guidance for further work. The Permanent Forum recommends that the Inter-Agency Support Group on Indigenous Peoples’ Issues and, in particular, ILO, OHCHR and the secretariat of the Permanent Forum continue their work to develop a common framework for monitoring the situation and well-being of indigenous peoples and the implementation of the Declaration, including the identification of indigenous-appropriate indicators, possible data sources and linkages to relevant mechanisms. The process should be taken forward in a collaborative manner with other interested institutions, ensuring full consultation and participation of indigenous peoples.
The Forum urges the Secretary-General to appoint a special envoy, in consultation with indigenous peoples, to advance the implementation of the Declaration and invites States to support this initiative.
The Permanent Forum reiterates its previous recommendations that address the alarming number of suicides among indigenous youth. The Forum encourages community organization for safe spaces and low-threshold health services, respecting non-discrimination, in particular where discrimination based on ethnicity, gender and sexual orientation is concerned. The United Nations system, in particular the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), should emphasize the provision of mental health services, with particular efforts to address suicide among indigenous youth.
The Permanent Forum strongly urges the General Assembly to adopt the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
During its tenth session, the Permanent Forum emphasized that redefining the relationship between indigenous peoples and the State as an important way to understand the doctrine of discovery and a way to develop a vision of the future for reconciliation, peace and justice. To that end, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples provides a strong human rights framework and standards for the redress of such false doctrines, notably in articles 3, 28 and 37. The Permanent Forum encourages the conduct of the processes of reconciliation “in accordance with the principles of justice, democracy, and respect for human rights, equality, non-discrimination, good governance and good faith”.
The Permanent Forum recalls and stresses its earlier recommendation that the Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) recognize the human rights of indigenous peoples in the ASEAN region and establish a working group on indigenous peoples. In addition, the Forum urges the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation to establish a human rights commission and a working group on indigenous peoples.
The Permanent Forum calls upon all States that have ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights to develop, at national level, in partnership with indigenous peoples, benchmarks, timelines and indicators to measure progressive realization of indigenous human rights. Furthermore, the Permanent Forum supports the efforts to elaborate an optional protocol to allow for the submission of complaints under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
The Forum notes that in order for it and the United Nations system to review the situation of indigenous children and youth, there is a need for country-specific situation analyses. Given UNICEF’s unique and long experience and expertise in that area, the Forum invites UNICEF to initiate such situation analyses on indigenous children by field offices in countries with indigenous communities. The Forum also invites UNICEF to transmit such situation analyses to the Forum.