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 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 Permanent Forum calls upon WIPO to strengthen its efforts to reach out to indigenous peoples and to continue to provide practical assistance and capacity-strengthening for and in cooperation with indigenous peoples.
The Permanent Forum takes note of the evaluation report on action by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to revitalize and promote indigenous languages, within the framework of the International Year of Indigenous Languages. According to the report, which was adopted by the Executive Board of UNESCO, UNESCO and the global task force should adopt lessons learned and the recommendations contained therein during the International Decade of Indigenous Languages, including by developing a road map with clear, measurable and time-bound activities and results. The Forum welcomes the inclusion of indigenous experts in indigenous language revitalization in the coordinating team of UNESCO for the International Decade and stresses the continuing need for such experts in the future. With a view to enhancing the global accessibility of all relevant information pertaining to the Decade, the use of the six official languages of the United Nations is crucial.
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 Permanent Forum recommends that international financial institutions unequivocally acknowledge the collective right of indigenous peoples to their lands, territories and resources in their safeguard policies and in all development project contexts (not merely in exceptional circumstances). Banks should not support any projects that affect indigenous peoples without prior recognition of and effective guarantees for their collective rights to own, control and manage their lands, territories and 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 urges States with indigenous peoples whose livelihoods and cultures are based upon sea, river and lake fisheries to recognize fishing rights that will build solid foundations for securing and developing local indigenous communities and their cultures.
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 Forum invites the secretariat of the World Trade Organization (WTO) to its third session for an
exchange of views on important issues of common interest.
The Forum recommends that the relevant United Nations entities, in particular the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, in particular its Division for the Advancement of Women, UNICEF, UNIFEM, the Department of Public Information and ILO:
(a) Encourage the dissemination of information in indigenous languages at the local level, concerning the rights of indigenous peoples, especially indigenous women;
(b) Encourage and support the training of indigenous women in human rights and the rule of law;
(c) Provide technical assistance to governments to establish the fundamental rights of indigenous peoples, especially indigenous women.
The Forum requests the Special Rapporteur on the human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous peoples to undertake a study on the United Nations decolonization process and on the Special Committee on Decolonization to assess its historical and current impact on the human rights of indigenous peoples of the non-self-governing territories. Furthermore, the Forum requests the Secretary-General to undertake a mid-decade review of the Second International Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism to determine whether substantial progress has been made in achieving the goals of the Second Decade and to identify proposals for addressing obstacles to achieving the goals of the Second Decade.