The Permanent Forum expresses its appreciation to the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) for its training programme established to enhance the conflict prevention and peacebuilding capacities of indigenous peoples’ representatives, which has provided outstanding training for 270 indigenous representatives since 2000, and recommends that this important programme be supported henceforth through the regular budget of the United Nations.
The Permanent Forum welcomes General Assembly resolution 65/198, by which it expanded the mandate of the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Populations to facilitate the participation of indigenous representatives in meetings of the Human Rights Council and the human rights treaty bodies. With the large number of human rights violations that indigenous representatives bring to the Permanent Forum, it encourages indigenous representatives to take advantage of this opportunity.
The Permanent Forum welcomes the initiative of UNESCO, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) and the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM) to review current procedures and capacity to ensure free, prior and informed consent, and the protection of indigenous peoples’ livelihoods, tangible and intangible heritage. During this review process, it would be advisable to review the inconsistency of approaches to natural world heritage and cultural world heritage. The Permanent Forum makes itself available to assist in the review and revision of UNESCO operational guidelines with regard to nominations and site assessments. The Permanent Forum further recommends that UNESCO invite indigenous peoples’ representatives and experts to contribute to deliberations on and recommended changes to procedures and operational guidelines.
Indigenous professionals, technicians, and indigenous leaders should build their capacity in respect of data-collection processes and non-indigenous professionals and technicians should be informed of the culture and practices of indigenous peoples
The Forum recommends inviting the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean and other regional commissions to present a report of their activities concerning the situation of indigenous peoples and poverty in Latin America.
The Permanent Forum welcomes the efforts of UNDP to endorse the political participation of indigenous peoples in Latin America and the Caribbean and its support in the preparation of the report on democracy and indigenous peoples in the region. The Forum recommends to UNDP that it extend this good practice to other regions and follow up regularly.
The Permanent Forum calls upon the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs to publish a comprehensive report on the state of indigenous peoples, similar to the Human Development Report, to mark the Decade.
The Permanent Forum acknowledges the efforts and initiatives of States and United Nations agencies to promote mother-tongue based multilingual education, develop health programmes and provide skills to indigenous children and youth. In this regard, the Forum encourages States and United Nations agencies to increase their efforts in a targeted and wide-scale manner to respond to the needs and priorities of indigenous children and youth, especially in the areas of education and health, in a manner that is culturally sensitive and ensures their overall well-being consistent with articles 11, 14, 41 and 42 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Recalling paragraph 86 of its report on its eighth session (E/2009/43-E/C.19/2009/14), the Permanent Forum urges public and private education institutions to provide permanent positions for indigenous teachers and to establish scholarships designated exclusively for indigenous students.
In approaching Millennium Development Goal 2, "Achieve universal primary education: ensure that all boys and girls complete primary school", especially for indigenous children, the Forum recalls the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, International Labour Organization (ILO) conventions, the International Charter of Traditional Games and Sports and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Convention against Discrimination in Education
The Permanent Forum urges the Human Rights Council expert mechanism on indigenous peoples to evaluate whether existing and proposed climate change policies and projects adhere to the standards set by the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. These bodies, together with the members of the Inter-Agency Support Group for Indigenous Issues, should collaborate with States, multilateral bodies, donors and indigenous peoples to effectively ensure that the implementation of the Declaration is central to the design and implementation of climate change policies and programmes.
The Forum recommends that the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, in conjunction with the Forum, convene an international workshop, with the participation of United Nations agencies and indigenous experts, on indigenous peoples and the human rights to health and culturally appropriate health care.