The Permanent Forum calls for the implementation on the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which gives clear guidance to States on the need for them to minimize childhood exposure to toxic chemicals through water, food, air and other sources of exposure. It is critical that environmental regulators be educated specifically regarding article 24 of the Convention.
The Permanent Forum recommends that the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) convene platforms of dialogue with countries, United Nations agencies and private sector actors to find solutions to improve the economic empowerment of indigenous peoples consistent with their cultural identity and diversity, as well as sustainable and equitable development. The Forum also recommends that specific indicators pertaining to the well-being of indigenous peoples be systematically adopted in IFAD-funded projects implemented in accordance with article 41 of the Declaration.
The Permanent Forum urges States to generate statistics disaggregated by ethnicity, gender, indigenous identity, language, language skills and self-identification, and to provide sources of data to allow for a more accurate assessment of whether indigenous children and youth are actually benefiting from the expenditure earmarked for them. The Forum also urges United Nations agencies, funds and programmes to support member States in generating statistics and the United Nations agencies, funds and programmes and academic centres to produce a toolkit that provides a comprehensive and an accurate overview of human development indicators concerning indigenous children and youth.
The Forum encourages the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and its Member States to take practical steps to ensure that the inappropriate and unauthorized documentation and publication of traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions/folklore does not occur, and to reinforce the capacity of indigenous peoples and local communities to make informed decisions in their own interests concerning whether and how documentation should be issued, including through the development of practical toolkits and guides which should have this as their aim.
The Permanent Forum recommends that UNDP further engage indigenous peoples in the discussion regarding the concept of human development and in the elaboration of its Human Development Reports. The UNDP concept of human development and its work to promote such a paradigm should be more strongly founded on human rights principles and therefore on the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. With regard to indigenous peoples, this means recognizing the principles of self-determination, independent development and other peoples’ rights. Thus, national, regional and global UNDP Human Development Reports should reflect indigenous peoples’ views of development from the perspective and with the participation of indigenous peoples themselves.
The Forum recommends to Governments the design and implementation of mechanisms for resolving the problems related to land tenure and access to credits, with quality and efficiency and without affecting indigenous peoples.
The Forum renews the recommendation made at its first session on the need to create a three-year working group on free, prior informed consent and participatory research guidelines, under the aegis of the Forum, with funding from the regular budget that includes a focus on how the guidelines relate to the protection of indigenous knowledge and natural resources.
The Permanent Forum recommends that social and environmental impact assessments, including human rights impact assessments and poverty impact assessments, of financial investments and trade agreements directly affecting indigenous peoples be undertaken, and that the resources for those assessments be provided by the sources of the investments and the parties to trade agreements.
The Permanent Forum recommends that States develop laws and policies to ensure the recognition, continued vitality and protection from misappropriation of indigenous traditional knowledge.
The Permanent Forum recommends that the Framework Convention on Climate Change, in cooperation with States, provide adaptation funds to indigenous peoples affected by climate change-related disasters. Indigenous peoples whose lands have already disappeared or have become uninhabitable or spoilt due to seawater rise, floods, droughts or erosion, and who have thus become environmental refugees or displaced persons, should be provided with appropriate relocation with the support of the international community.
The Permanent Forum calls on indigenous peoples’ organizations, United Nations agencies and non-governmental organizations to develop popular education materials on climate change and climate mitigation and adaptation measures and undertake education and training activities at the local levels. The Forum also recommends that ICT be used to disseminate and raise awareness of indigenous peoples’ perspectives and issues on climate change.
The Permanent Forum is concerned that legal obligations and commitments and indigenous peoples’ treaties, agreements and other constructive arrangements with States are routinely denied and violated by States. With regard to interventions by indigenous peoples on unresolved land rights, including the Six Nations of the Grand River and others on which the Forum has made specific recommendations in the past, the Forum calls upon States to fairly and equitably redress the long-standing unresolved land rights issues through good-faith negotiations, consistent with the United Nations Declaration and without extinguishing indigenous peoples’ land rights.