Noting that the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women makes no reference to indigenous women and that it does not take into account the specific nature of the gender dimension of racial discrimination, the Forum recommends that the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women:
a. Pay special attention to the issues related to maintaining the integrity of indigenous women and the gender dimension of racial discrimination against indigenous peoples;
b. Organize a meeting, in collaboration with indigenous women, UNIFEM, UNESCO and UNDP, with the objective of beginning a process to develop and adopt a general recommendation on indigenous women, including women living under colonization.
The Forum recommends that Governments integrate a gender framework that encompasses all areas of their work, including their agricultural and economic policies, and include in their policies actions that directly benefit indigenous women, through the following measures:
(a) Provide access for indigenous women to funding from public budgets;
(b) Create specific measures that enhance women’s participation in their own development processes;
(c) Create national policies that generate employment for indigenous women;
(d) Improve indigenous women’s access to education and the development of their skills, and reform education systems so that they allow women to take advantage of training and employment opportunities;
(e) Strengthen programmes in indigenous communities that ensure benefits for indigenous women.
The Permanent Forum welcomes the intention of the Commission on the Status of Women to make the issue of the empowerment of indigenous women a focus area of its sixty-first session, to be held in 2017. The Forum invites the Bureau of the Commission to consider organizing a half-day session on the issue. The Forum calls upon the Commission to consider the empowerment of indigenous women as a theme in future sessions, pursuant to paragraph 19 of General Assembly resolution 69/2.
Sexual and gender-based violence increases in settings of conflict. Sexual violence has also been used systematically as a weapon of war against indigenous women. In the light of the particular risks and vulnerabilities of indigenous women and girls relating to sexual and gender-based violence, the Permanent Forum recommends that Governments, local authorities, specialized agencies of the United Nations system and civil society collaborate with indigenous peoples to establish multisectoral and holistic approaches to combat the various forms of violence against women and girls.
The Permanent Forum calls upon the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women), UNICEF, UNFPA, UNDP and other entities of the United Nations system to develop programmes and projects that support and build the capacity of indigenous women in Africa in order to empower them economically and socially. A good practice in this regard is strengthening the entrepreneurship of indigenous women and facilitating their access to formal markets and financial institutions for their activities. The Forum also encourages States to develop affirmative actions that are aimed at actively including indigenous women in decision-making at all levels and at ensuring that indigenous women’s voices are equally represented in economic, social and political decision-making processes.
The Permanent Forum calls upon the Economic and Social Council, including its youth forum, the high-level political forum on sustainable development, the Commission on the Status of Women and the Commission for Social Development, as well as other relevant United Nations forums, to include representatives of indigenous youth-led organizations in their meetings.
Positive developments have been achieved in setting international human rights standards for the rights of indigenous peoples to lands, territories and resources, including by regional human rights mechanisms in Africa and the Americas. The Permanent Forum welcomes those developments, including the recent decision of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights in the case of the Ogiek community in Kenya. The Forum encourages indigenous peoples and States to engage further with regional mechanisms and to implement their decisions effectively.
The Permanent Forum recommends that UNESCO, in active collaboration with other relevant United Nations entities, organize as a major event of the International Year a world conference or high-level event on indigenous languages, which would be preceded by regional conferences, and encourages Member States to support its organization. The Forum emphasizes that all events organized to mark the International Year must include the full and effective participation of indigenous peoples.
The Forum recommends that the precautionary principle underpin the regulation of the introduction of technologies, such as genetically modified crops, including genetic utilization restriction technologies, "the terminator seed technology", and further recommends that Governments ratify and implement the Biosaftey Protocol of the Convention on Biological Diversity
The Forum invites indigenous peoples, States and relevant organizations of the United Nations system to share experiences on education that represent best practices at the primary or community levels, based on indigenous cultures and traditions. The outcome of such discussions should be published and disseminated widely
1) The Permanent Forum recommends that States, indigenous peoples and United Nations agencies, funds and programmes immediately engage in a consultative process focused on the full and effective implementation of the outcome document at the local, national, regional and international levels. 2) It also recommends that the Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs outline and provide his vision of a procedure to guarantee the direct participation of representatives of indigenous peoples, including the expert members of the Forum, in the preparation and coordination of the system-wide action plan, with the objective of promoting and protecting the human rights of indigenous peoples and to enhance and increase the coherence of the activities of the United Nations system in that regard. 3) The Forum invites the Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs to inform the Forum on the progress at its fifteenth session.
The Permanent Forum recommends that States support the Trust Fund on Indigenous Issues as an important contribution to the implementation of the goal and objectives of the Decade.