The Forum takes note with appreciation of the focus and work of UN-Habitat, particularly regarding the ongoing study jointly initiated with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on indigenous peoples and the right to adequate housing, and recommends that UN-Habitat submit a report on the conclusions and recommendations of this study to the Forum at its fourth session, and that it participate in the dialogue.
The Permanent Forum encourages the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), jointly with other United Nations agencies, to support the consolidation of the already established communication platforms in Latin America and Canada and to establish platforms in Asia and Africa and the Pacific. The Forum recommends that FAO and other agencies strengthen the reporting and monitoring mechanisms for the communication platforms, especially with a view to supporting indigenous peoples with a monitoring mechanism for their territories.
The Permanent Forum welcomes the launch of online courses on the rights of indigenous peoples offered by Columbia University, OHCHR, Tribal Link Foundation, UNDP and Universidad Indígena Intercultural, and recommends that academic, indigenous and other organizations and the United Nations system seek ways to provide access to these courses for indigenous peoples living in remote areas without Internet or digital devices. Special efforts should be made to make such courses available in various languages, including indigenous languages, and to make them accessible to indigenous young people. The Forum also recommends incorporating more indigenous knowledge into universities, in consultation with the indigenous owners of the knowledge, with the design of online course content that addresses specific local and national indigenous issues in different countries, and increasing the participation and voices of indigenous peoples in online courses.
The Permanent Forum welcomes the study entitled “Indigenous peoples and boarding schools: a comparative study” prepared by a consultant for the secretariat of the Forum and requests that it be made available as a document of the ninth session of the Forum in all official languages of the United Nations and that it be widely disseminated. The Forum decides in particular to transmit the study to UNESCO, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the Special Adviser of the Secretary-General on the Prevention of Genocide, the Special Rapporteur on the right to education, the Human Rights Council expert mechanism on the rights of indigenous peoples, the Committee the Rights of the Child and the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
The Permanent Forum reiterates its call to Member States to establish mechanisms and processes for comprehensive dialogue and consultations with indigenous peoples in order to obtain their free, prior and informed consent in relation to any project that will have an impact on their territories and resources. In this regard, the Forum expresses concern regarding the lack of consultation by the Government of the Plurinational State of Bolivia with the indigenous peoples who will be affected by the mega-hydroelectric project of El Bala-Chepete and Rositas, including the Guarani, Mosetén, Tacana, Tsimané, Leco, Ese Ejja and Uchupiamona peoples. The Forum urges the Government of the Plurinational State of Bolivia to respect the fundamental rights of indigenous peoples and ensure that they are able to exercise their rights in accordance with international human rights standards.
The Forum urges WHO, in implementing the outlined global strategy on health of marginalized ethnic populations, to gather data and extend programme services to indigenous peoples based on criteria relating to ethnicity, cultural or tribal affiliation and language.
Considering the bloody wars and grave conflicts that have afflicted a range of States in Africa during the last decade, the Permanent Forum recommends that United Nations agencies (IOM, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), UNICEF, UNFPA, the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), UNDP and WHO) and African States urgently convene a general meeting on health in order to evaluate the negative effects of these conflicts on the health of indigenous peoples and to find appropriate solutions to address the issue.
The Permanent Forum encourages Member States, in particular those in Africa and Asia, to invite the Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples to undertake country studies and promote best practices in realizing the rights of indigenous peoples.
The Permanent Forum recognizes that it is important that the Human Rights Council continues to effectively address indigenous peoples’ issues as human rights issues. The Permanent Forum decides to appoint Ms. Ida Nicolaisen and Mr. Wilton Littlechild to undertake a study on the structures, procedures and mechanisms that presently exist and that might be established to effectively address the human rights situation of indigenous peoples, to arrange for indigenous representation and inclusion in such structures, procedures and mechanisms and to submit a report on the subject to the Permanent Forum by 31 December 2007.
The Permanent Forum recommends that the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and relevant United Nations agencies and organs establish specific units for indigenous peoples’ issues to contribute to the implementation of the Declaration in accordance with its articles 41 and 42.
The Forum recommends that Member States review their constitutions with respect to the recognition of the existence and rights of indigenous peoples, with the effective participation of indigenous peoples
The Permanent Forum is convinced that a declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples will be an instrument of great value through which to advance the rights and aspirations of the world’s indigenous peoples. The Permanent Forum therefore recommends the adoption without amendments of the draft declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples as contained in the proposals of the Chairperson of the working group of the Commission on Human Rights on the draft United Nations declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples (see E/CN.4/2006/79, annex I) by the General Assembly during its sixty-first session in 2006. This would represent a major achievement for the Second International Decade of the World’s Indigenous People.