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.
Relations between development agencies and the organizations of indigenous peoples should be direct and not relayed through intermediate institutions of the dominant society
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 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.
As highlighted in article 31 of the Declaration, the Permanent Forum requests that both WIPO and States take effective measures and establish mechanisms to recognize the right of indigenous peoples to protect their intellectual property, including their cultural heritage, traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions, as well as the manifestations of their sciences, technologies and cultures, including human and genetic resources, seeds, medicines, knowledge of the properties of fauna and flora, oral traditions, literatures, designs, sports and traditional games, and visual and performing arts.
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 urges United Nations bodies and specialized agencies to implement the Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States.
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 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 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.
The Permanent Forum welcomes the adoption by the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity at its 10th meeting of the Code of Ethical Conduct to Ensure Respect for the Cultural and Intellectual Heritage of Indigenous and Local Communities Relevant to the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Biological Diversity (the Tkarihwaié:ri code of ethical conduct), which arose from a Forum recommendation made at its second session, and invites parties and Governments, international agencies and all those working with indigenous communities to make use of the code for research and access to, use, exchange and management of information concerning traditional knowledge.
The Forum notes the preparation of the World Congress on Protected Areas, to be held in Durban, South Africa, in September 2003, which Forum members consider to be an important meeting calling for their attention and action. The Forum recommends that all laws, policies or work programmes on forests and protected areas guarantee, ensure and respect various aspects of indigenous peoples’ lives, such as their spiritual and cultural lives, lands and territorial rights, including sacred sites, needs and benefits, and recognize their rights of access to and control over the management of forests.