The Permanent Forum urges States to address the stark inequality between indigenous and non-indigenous people in all aspects of life, which has been heightened as a result of COVID-19, by implementing in full the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989 (No. 169), the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in all their legal norms and public policies related to indigenous peoples.
The Permanent Forum welcomes the ratification on 15 April 2021 by the Bundestag of Germany of the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989 (No. 169) of the International Labour Organization (ILO) and reiterates its recommendation to all Member States that have not ratified said Convention to do so as early as possible.
The Permanent Forum highlights the continued misappropriation and illicit use of indigenous peoples’ intellectual property and cultural heritage by enterprises and individuals that use it for their own vested interests or benefits. The Permanent Forum stresses that the intellectual property rights held by indigenous peoples, including with regard to data and knowledge, should not be exploited or be taken by private companies and individuals without the free, prior and informed consent of the indigenous peoples concerned. The principle of free, prior and informed consent and the stringent application of relevant safeguards and policies promulgated by United Nations system entities also applies to intellectual property rights in the context of industrial, forestry, mining and other projects conducted on indigenous peoples’ lands and territories. This also applies to relevant international instruments, such as the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization to the Convention on Biological Diversity.