Recognizing the emerging role of civil society and indigenous peoples in the search for creative solutions as a means of contributing to formulating, developing and implementing policies and programmes of the United Nations system, the Forum welcomes the initiative of the Secretary-General to create a high-level panel to prepare a series of recommendations on the participation of civil society in the work of the United Nations system. The Forum recommends that the Secretary-General ask the high-level panel to hold consultations and to take into account the recommendations of the Forum on the improvement of indigenous peoples’ participation in and contributions to the work of the United Nations system.
The Forum, deeply concerned about the harmful and widespread impact of armed conflict on indigenous children, recommends that the Committee on the Rights of the Child make recommendations on the situation of the human rights of indigenous children involved in armed conflict, taking into account the principles and norms contained in the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict.