The Permanent Forum recommends that Member States formulate evidence- based policies, long-term strategies and regulatory frameworks, in cooperation with indigenous peoples, to ensure their support and the protection and revitalization of indigenous languages, including adequate, sustained support for bilingual, mother- tongue education. The Forum also recommends that States facilitate the mainstreaming of indigenous languages. Allowing indigenous peoples to gain access to health care and other public services in their own languages will help to ensure their overall well-being.
The Forum recommends that the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women) and the bureau of the fifty-seventh session of the Commission on the Status of Women include indigenous women as experts on violence against women in the interactive panels and guarantee the participation of indigenous women in the process of preparation for and during the fifty-seventh session of the Commission.
There generally appears to be positive recognition of the approach to Goal 1 suggested by the Permanent Forum, while there has been less attention paid to Goal 2. In both areas, there appears to be an increase in the number of projects being implemented in Latin America, with limited projects in Asia, and one or two projects in Africa. This is particularly the case under Goal 2, where there is a general lack of reporting from Asia or Africa on intercultural/bilingual education projects or programmes in this area.
The Permanent Forum welcomes national engagement of the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples with Brazil, Finland, Mexico, New Zealand and Sweden on projects related to, among others, the development of national action plans for the implementation of indigenous peoples’ rights, processes related to land demarcation and land titling, and facilitating the repatriation of sacred ceremonial objects. The Forum highlights the agreement facilitated by the Expert Mechanism among the Museum of World Culture in Sweden, the Yaqui people in Mexico and the United States of America on the repatriation of the Maaso Kova as a commendable best practice. The Forum encourages States and indigenous peoples to build on the successful country engagement practices and avail themselves of the Expert Mechanism’s unique analytical capacity and potential to support dialogue between indigenous peoples and Governments.
The Permanent Forum welcomes the “International Conference on Biological and Cultural Diversity: Diversity for Development and Development for Diversity” (8-10 June 2010, Montreal, Canada) as a useful dialogue on the interface of diversities and development and notes its goal to consider a future collaborative programme of work between the Secretariat of the Conference on Biological Diversity, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), other relevant agencies, including the Forum and relevant indigenous organizations and non-governmental organizations, and decides to send the Chair of the Forum to report on the outcomes of the ninth session of the Permanent Forum regarding the theme.
The Permanent Forum encourages Member States, in cooperation with United Nations agencies, to develop social policies that will enhance the production of indigenous peoples’ traditional foods and promote the restoration or recovery of lost drought-resistant indigenous food varieties to ensure food security. In this context, the Forum recommends that Burkina Faso, Mali and the Niger, as well as United Nations agencies such as FAO, IFAD and the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, establish a committee, in full consultation with and with the participation of indigenous peoples, aimed at preventing food crises in the sub Saharan region where indigenous peoples reside. The committee’s objective should be to prevent humanitarian disasters and, in particular, to prevent starvation at the same level as the disaster that struck the region in 1973.
The Permanent Forum welcomes the World Intellectual Property Organization facilitating a process, in accordance with the Declaration, to engage with indigenous peoples on matters including intellectual property, genetic resources, traditional knowledge and folklore.
The Permanent Forum invites the United Nations Global Compact to lead a study on how the human rights of indigenous peoples can be integrated into the model guidance for stock exchanges when reporting on environmental, social and governance information for their market, and report on its progr ess to the Permanent Forum at its twenty-second session, to be held in 2023.
The Permanent Forum supports the efforts of UNESCO to mobilize resources for the creation of a financial mechanism for the International Decade. The Permanent Forum encourages Member States and the private sector to contribute to this mechanism. Indigenous peoples’ representatives should advise on the granting of funds to initiatives
The Permanent Forum reiterates its recommendation to adopt a programme of work on article 8 (j) and other provisions of the Convention on Biological Diversity and strengthened institutional arrangements through a permanent subsidiary body to take forward the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and to ensure a human rights-based approach, and full and effective participation of Indigenous Peoples, by the sixteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention. The Permanent Forum recommends ensuring direct access to financial resources for Indigenous Peoples, inclusive of all landscapes and seascapes, more efficient financial mechanisms managed by Indigenous Peoples and the inclusion of Indigenous Peoples’ representatives in the governance of the Framework to better design and implement grants. In that respect, the modus operandi and methods of work for enhanced Indigenous participation under article 8 (j) and related provisions The Permanent Forum reiterates its recommendation to adopt a programme of work on article 8 (j) and other provisions of the Convention on Biological Diversity and strengthened institutional arrangements through a permanent subsidiary body to take forward the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and to ensure a human rights-based approach, and full and effective participation of Indigenous Peoples, by the sixteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention. The Permanent Forum recommends ensuring direct access to financial resources for Indigenous Peoples, inclusive of all landscapes and seascapes, more efficient financial mechanisms managed by Indigenous Peoples and the inclusion of Indigenous Peoples’ representatives in the governance of the Framework to better design and implement grants. In that respect, the modus operandi and methods of work for enhanced Indigenous participation under article 8 (j) and related provisions must be the minimum standard and be prioritized as an essential prerequisite for the full implementation of target 31 of the Framework.
The Permanent Forum recognizes the history of the placement of Indigenous children in boarding and residential schools without free, prior and informed consent, where there have been dramatically grave negative impacts on the well-being and identity development of Indigenous students, on their families, and on the communities and cultures of Indigenous Peoples in all sociocultural regions. The Forum recommends that States find mechanisms to redress the harms caused by boarding and residential schools, and engage in effective reconciliation efforts. With respect to French Guiana specifically, the Forum calls upon the Government of France to establish a truth commission to investigate the conditions of boarding and residential schools in France and its overseas territories. The Government of France should adopt measures for healing, reparation and rehabilitation. The commission should guarantee gender equality in terms of inclusion and ensure the full participation of the Indigenous Peoples affected.
The Permanent Forum remains concerned that Indigenous women and girls experience widespread discrimination and violence. The Forum congratulates the Government of Australia for its commitment to end violence against Indigenous women by undertaking to establish a national action plan consistent with the advice of United Nations treaty bodies and experts. The Forum reiterates its call for Member States that have not yet done so to implement the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and general recommendation No. 39 (2022) on the rights of Indigenous women and girls of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women; to ensure the rights of Indigenous women to full, effective and meaningful participation in decision-making at national and United Nations system agencies; and to ensure the availability of sustainable financing and resources to support initiatives for Indigenous women and youth.