The Permanent Forum supports an initiative to declare an International Year of Quinoa, recognizing the importance of quinoa to indigenous people and that it is a natural food with a high nutritional content.
The Permanent Forum is deeply concerned that the problems and discrimination facing indigenous children and youth are not reflected in the Millennium Development Goals, and it urges States and United Nations organizations to develop culturally sensitive policies, programmes and projects that fully incorporate indigenous children and youth into achieving the Goals.
The Permanent Forum recommends that States provide financial support to the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Peoples to facilitate the participation of indigenous youth in key United Nations meetings and processes most relevant to indigenous issues.
The Permanent Forum recommends that the “Study on the impacts of the Doctrine of Discovery on indigenous peoples, including mechanisms, processes and instruments of redress” (E/C.19/2014/3), with references to the Declaration and particularly to articles 26 to 28, 32 and 40, be submitted to the President of the General Assembly and to Member States as a reference guide in the discussions relating to the high-level plenary meeting/World Conference on Indigenous Peoples.
The Permanent Forum welcomes the discussion with the Inter-Agency Support Group on Indigenous Issues and indigenous representatives on the draft toolkit and the development advocacy framework for enhancing the work of the United Nations with indigenous peoples at the country and regional levels and urges finalization of the revised toolkit and the development advocacy framework and their presentation to the United Nations Development Group for further use by country teams.
The Permanent Forum welcomes the draft general recommendation on the rights of indigenous women and girls of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. The Permanent Forum reiterates its recommendation, contained in the report on its twentieth session (E/2021/43, para. 32), that the general recommendation be adopted at the earliest opportunity. The Permanent Forum invites the Committee to share its plans for implementation of the general recommendation at the twenty-third session of the Permanent Forum, to be held in 2024.
Transnational and national extractive industries, at best, consistently disregard their responsibility to respect Indigenous Peoples’ rights and to engage in free, prior and informed consent processes. At worst, their practices and behaviours contribute to serious human rights abuses. The Permanent Forum recommends that Member States, as duty bearers, ensure that private sector entities respect Indigenous Peoples’ rights through safeguard and due diligence policies. It further recommends that Member States ensure the application of the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights: Implementing the United Nations “Protect, Respect and Remedy” Framework and the Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. The Permanent Forum welcomes the ongoing international efforts to develop legally binding instruments that ensure accountability and due diligence by transnational companies. The reflection of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in such instruments is essential.