The Permanent Forum welcomes the proclamation by the General Assembly in its resolution 74/135 of the period 2022–2032 as the International Decade of Indigenous Languages, following the successful celebration in 2019 of the International Year of Indigenous Languages. The International Decade provides a unique opportunity for creating sustainable changes in complex social dynamics for the preservation, revitalization and promotion of indigenous languages.
The Permanent Forum recommends that States include in all education curricula, in particular the school system, a discussion of the doctrine of discovery/dispossession and its contemporary manifestations, including land laws and policies of removal.
The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), UNESCO, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the World Bank, the International Fund for Agricultural Development and other agencies should continue to support, in cooperation with indigenous peoples, intercultural and bilingual education programs and to promote in particular the right to education, with emphasis on indigenous children; direct financial assistance to indigenous educational institutions should be considered.
The Permanent Forum recommends that States recognize the language rights of indigenous peoples and develop language policies to promote and protect indigenous languages, with a focus on high-quality education in indigenous languages, including by supporting full immersion methods such as language nests and innovative methods such as nomadic schools. It is essential that States develop evidence-based legislation and policies to promote and protect indigenous languages and, in that regard, they should collect and disseminate baseline information on the status of indigenous languages. These activities should be conducted in close cooperation with the indigenous peoples concerned.
The Forum recommends that the United Nations Environment Programme report on the feasibility of developing mechanisms for indigenous peoples to participate in the persistent organic pollutants global monitoring programme’s evaluation process under the Stockholm Convention. The Forum also welcomes the key findings of the UNEP global mercury assessment, and recommends that the Economic and Social Council recommend that UNEP take immediate action on mercury contamination and work towards initiating a global legally binding instrument and other measures at the next UNEP Governing Council meeting of environmental ministers, to be held in the Republic of Korea in 2005.
The Permanent Forum urges States parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity to seriously consider the recommendations of the above-mentioned international expert group meeting.
The Permanent Forum welcomes the measures undertaken by several countries that aim, inter alia, to explore and develop alternative sources of income, significantly reduce the exploitation of natural resources, enhance conservation of biological diversity and establish measures in favour of indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation, such as the national initiative undertaken by Ecuador entitled “Yasuni-ITT initiative”. The Permanent Forum recommends that such measures respect the right to free, prior and informed consent of the indigenous peoples concerned.
Scientists, policymakers and the international community as a whole should undertake regular consultations with indigenous peoples so that their studies and decisions will be informed by indigenous peoples’ traditional knowledge and experiences. The Permanent Forum can play a role in ensuring that the traditional knowledge and best practices of indigenous peoples relevant to fighting climate change and its impacts will be considered in the negotiation processes leading to the Copenhagen Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and beyond, including through discussions with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
The Permanent Forum is concerned by the killings, violence and harassment targeted at indigenous human rights defenders, which are also frequently committed with impunity. The Permanent Forum is concerned that, despite international condemnation, these criminal acts of violence persist, especially in a small number of countries in South and Central America, Africa and Asia.
The Permanent Forum urges the Human Rights Committee and the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights to require States parties to take into account, in their reports to each body, the first article of both the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which must be understood pursuant to article 3 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which sets out the right of indigenous peoples to self-determination
The Permanent Forum welcomes the collaboration with indigenous parliamentarians during the tenth session of the Forum. It encourages the parliamentarians and other elected indigenous representatives from national, regional and local decision-making bodies to establish an international network or organization in order to share common experiences, including those related to the implementation of the Declaration in legislative and other democratic bodies. It further encourages the Inter-Parliamentary Union to install a liaising body with the indigenous parliamentarians to strengthen awareness of the Declaration. The Forum calls upon indigenous parliamentarians to promote the necessary legislative reforms for implementation of the Declaration.
The special rapporteurs, as well as other mechanisms relevant to the Commission on Human Rights, are encouraged to study the effects of armed conflict on the fundamental rights of indigenous peoples, especially on women and children.