The Permanent Forum reiterates its call to all Member States, intergovernmental organizations, the bodies and organizations of the United Nations system, in particular the Inter-Agency Support Group, non-governmental organizations and the private sector to cooperate fully with the preparatory processes and the World Conference.
The Permanent Forum calls upon Member States, guided by the spirit of solidarity with indigenous peoples and consistent with their capabilities, to provide support for the effective implementation of the outcomes of the World Conference in mutually agreed areas of cooperation within the framework of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
The Permanent Forum expresses concern regarding indigenous young people in situations in which they are increasingly migrating from their communities because of poverty, lack of economic opportunities and climate change. With a focus on Sustainable Development Goal 8, the Forum encourages ILO and IOM, in cooperation with indigenous peoples, to conduct a study, by 2021, on good practices on, opportunities for and challenges in generating culturally appropriate, decent work for indigenous young people. The study should inform the development of programmes and initiatives for indigenous youth employment, both in their communities and in the context of migration.
As a matter of indigenous human rights and consistent with article 18 of the United Nations Declaration, previous Permanent Forum recommendations and the outcome document of the World Conference, with particular consideration of paragraph 33, the right to participate in decision-making is highly relevant to fast-approaching and pivotal multilateral negotiations. In this regard, the Forum urgently requests all States, United Nations agencies and high-level representatives of the United Nations system to ensure the direct participation of indigenous peoples in the multilateral negotiations referred to below. The Forum also requests that all those actors advocate and ensure that there is explicit reference to indigenous peoples and their distinct human rights and status throughout the processes relating to:
(a) The United Nations summit for the adoption of the post-2015 development agenda, to be held from 25 to 27 September 2015;
(b) The high-level event on climate change, to be held in New York on
29 June 2015, and the twenty-first session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and eleventh session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol, to be held in Paris from 30 November to 11 December 2015;
(c) The third International Conference on Financing for Development, to be held in Addis Ababa from 13 to 16 July 2015.
The Permanent Forum recommends that UNESCO and other United Nations entities facilitate the work of language activists, including through methodological, educational, scientific, psychosocial and financial support, within the framework of the International Decade. The Permanent Forum invites UNESCO and its Forum of National Commissions, the United Nations Children’s Fund and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research to develop, in cooperation with experts and representatives of indigenous peoples, an incubator of international methodologies in multilingual education, including studies of language revitalization best practices, teacher training and cross-cultural learning tools by 2025
The Permanent Forum notes the importance of several concurrent United Nations Decades that are of importance to indigenous peoples. The Permanent Forum recommends that the United Nations entities responsible for the international decades declared by the General Assembly, such as the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, the International Decade for Action, “Water for Sustainable Development”, 2018–2028, and the International Decade of Indigenous Languages, ensure good communication and coordinate efforts regarding the participation of indigenous peoples and their issues. In this regard, the Permanent Forum recommends that the relevant United Nations entities report to the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, which, in turn, is invited to prepare a study on the funding, modalities and scale of indigenous peoples’ participation in all four Decades. The Permanent Forum further invites Member States to support and fund cooperation during the four Decades to ensure the full and effective participation of indigenous peoples.
The Permanent Forum welcomes the fact that United Nations entities and bodies, including mandate holders and, notably, OHCHR and the United Nations Environment Programme, take their share of the responsibility to ensure a safe space for Indigenous Peoples participating in United Nations meetings. The Permanent Forum requests that United Nations bodies and entities create an urgent response mechanism to acts of intimidation and reprisals against Indigenous human rights defenders cooperating with the United Nations, in line with existing United Nations guidance on protection and promotion of civic space and the Secretary-General’s Call to Action for Human Rights. The Permanent Forum will consider how to strengthen its own response mechanisms and its cooperation with the Assistant SecretaryGeneral for Human Rights, in line with General Assembly resolution 77/203, on this pressing matter, including through the appointment of focal points.
The Permanent Forum is deeply concerned about circumstances in which Indigenous Peoples are deprived of essential services and experience violence, including gender-based violence. The Forum urges Member States and United Nations entities to protect displaced Indigenous Peoples, including refugees, and calls upon the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to conduct global and regional studies, by 2026, on the needs of displaced Indigenous Peoples and to update the Forum at its 2025 session. Furthermore, the Forum urges UNHCR to join the Inter-Agency Support Group on Indigenous Issues.