The Permanent Forum expresses its appreciation to the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) for its training programme established to enhance the conflict prevention and peacebuilding capacities of indigenous peoples’ representatives, which has provided outstanding training for 270 indigenous representatives since 2000, and recommends that this important programme be supported henceforth through the regular budget of the United Nations.
Relations between development agencies and the organizations of indigenous peoples should be direct and not relayed through intermediate institutions of the dominant society
The Permanent Forum welcomes the initiative of UNESCO, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) and the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM) to review current procedures and capacity to ensure free, prior and informed consent, and the protection of indigenous peoples’ livelihoods, tangible and intangible heritage. During this review process, it would be advisable to review the inconsistency of approaches to natural world heritage and cultural world heritage. The Permanent Forum makes itself available to assist in the review and revision of UNESCO operational guidelines with regard to nominations and site assessments. The Permanent Forum further recommends that UNESCO invite indigenous peoples’ representatives and experts to contribute to deliberations on and recommended changes to procedures and operational guidelines.
Indigenous culture and tourism is often seen as a driver of growth and development for the economies and businesses of indigenous peoples, with indigenous peoples often trivialized and viewed solely as cultural icons and objects by others. The Permanent Forum therefore recommends that United Nations agencies, in collaboration with the indigenous peoples concerned, affirm and make operational the right of indigenous peoples to determine their own priorities for development and opportunities concerning indigenous culture and tourism.
The Forum recommends inviting the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean and other regional commissions to present a report of their activities concerning the situation of indigenous peoples and poverty in Latin America.
The Permanent Forum commends the inclusion by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development of free, prior and informed consent in its policy on indigenous peoples, and strongly urges other multilateral and bilateral financial institutions to follow this example. In particular, the Forum calls upon the Asian Development Bank to ensure that free, prior and informed consent and the provisions of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples are integrated into its revised policy on indigenous peoples. It also calls upon the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation to review their policies and adopt free, prior and informed consent as the central principle in their dealings with indigenous peoples instead of the present free, prior, informed consultation. The international financial institutions should develop a strategy to raise staff awareness at the national and headquarters levels on indigenous peoples’ rights and development perspectives and thereby improve their relationships with indigenous peoples at the country level.
The Permanent Forum calls upon the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs to publish a comprehensive report on the state of indigenous peoples, similar to the Human Development Report, to mark the Decade.
The Forum welcomes the establishment of indigenous education caucuses and looks forward to working with them to promote mutual indigenous education goals, and urges indigenous educators to become actively involved in these useful structures.
The Permanent Forum acknowledges the efforts and initiatives of States and United Nations agencies to promote mother-tongue based multilingual education, develop health programmes and provide skills to indigenous children and youth. In this regard, the Forum encourages States and United Nations agencies to increase their efforts in a targeted and wide-scale manner to respond to the needs and priorities of indigenous children and youth, especially in the areas of education and health, in a manner that is culturally sensitive and ensures their overall well-being consistent with articles 11, 14, 41 and 42 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Recalling paragraph 86 of its report on its eighth session (E/2009/43-E/C.19/2009/14), the Permanent Forum urges public and private education institutions to provide permanent positions for indigenous teachers and to establish scholarships designated exclusively for indigenous students.
In approaching Millennium Development Goal 2, "Achieve universal primary education: ensure that all boys and girls complete primary school", especially for indigenous children, the Forum recalls the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, International Labour Organization (ILO) conventions, the International Charter of Traditional Games and Sports and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Convention against Discrimination in Education
The Permanent Forum recommends that States immediately begin the process of demarcation of indigenous peoples’ lands and territories in accordance with customary laws and the norms reflected in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, with a view to further protecting indigenous peoples’ lands and resources from expropriation, exploitation and designation as conservation areas or national parks without the free, prior and informed consent of indigenous peoples, as set out in articles 19, 26 and 27 of the Declaration.