The Forum recommends that courts and judicial bodies take urgent step to ensure the protection of indigenous peoples from threats of the use of physical violence by Governments or paramilitary groups controlled by Governments and non-State actors
The Permanent Forum also welcomes the launching by FAO, during the twenty-seventh session of its Technical Committee on Agriculture, in 2020, of the global hub on indigenous peoples’ food systems. It recommends that FAO continue to facilitate the work of the global hub. In addition, the Permanent Forum welcomes the White/Whipala paper on indigenous peoples’ food systems, which was drafted under the coordination of the global hub, and which has been accepted as one of the scientific papers that will serve to inform constituents at the Summit.
The Permanent Forum notes that, over the course of the global COVID-19 pandemic, opportunities for consultations and participation in decision-making have increasingly moved online. Although in-person meetings and interaction should always be the preferred option, on-line consultations and decision-making present opportunities for enhanced participation. However, these online options expose existing inequalities and a digital divide that is especially detrimental to the participation of indigenous peoples in many parts of Africa, Latin America, the Pacific and in rural areas around the world. Recognizing that virtual dialogues, consultations and other events will continue beyond the pandemic, the Forum emphasizes that existing mechanisms to support the participation of indigenous peoples in processes that affect them must adapt to this new environment and support the online participation of indigenous peoples. This includes purchasing data packages and facilitating access to electricity and necessary hardware and in-country travel to gain access to stable Internet connections. The Forum notes that current administrative processes of the United Nations do not facilitate such participation and therefore requests that the Secretary-General instruct relevant United Nations entities to make the necessary arrangements as a matter of urgency.
The Forum recommends that FAO and the Sustainable Agricultural and Rural Development Initiative work further on the development of cultural indicators for identifying priorities and criteria and methodologies for the right to food and food security, with the participation of indigenous peoples, taking into account the protection and restoration of indigenous peoples' traditional food systems and their agrobiodiversity and associated traditional knowledge and livelihoods. The threats to sustaining such systems, such as monoculture cash crop production, mineral extraction, environmental contamination and genetically modified seeds and technology, should be addressed.