The Forum welcomes the nomination of the High Commissioner, Justice Louise Arbor, and recommends that she convene a meeting with the Forum members.
The Permanent Forum recommends that Member States take measures to advance indigenous women’s right to intercultural health through its inclusion in legal frameworks and public policies, as well as programmes to guarantee culturally, geographically and financially appropriate health and social services.
The Permanent Forum urges all Arctic States to endorse and implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
The Permanent Forum recommends that OHCHR pursue its efforts to encourage increased use of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples by national human rights institutions.
UNICEF should consider developing projects to benefit indigenous children in developed countries as required, taking into consideration that many indigenous children in such countries, mainly those living in rural areas, face the same problems as indigenous children in developing countries.
The Permanent Forum continues to raise region-specific concerns about the adverse impact of climate change on indigenous communities (see E/2011/43-E/C.19/2011/14, para. 30) and invites the secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to prepare a study on the impact of climate change on indigenous women, for submission to the Forum at its eighteenth session.
The Permanent Forum reiterates its invitation to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women to adopt a general recommendation on indigenous women by 2020, in accordance with the Declaration and other international instruments. The Forum recommends that the general recommendation on indigenous women consider issues related to the individual and collective rights to equality, non-discrimination and self-determination; social and economic rights, including the rights to decent work and to land, territory and resources; the right to water and food; cultural rights; civil and political rights; and the right to live free of any form of violence.
Recalling the recommendations made by the Special Rapporteur appointed to undertake a study on the status of implementation of the Chittagong Hill Tracts Accord of 1997 (E/C.19/2011/6, sect. VIII), the Forum encourages the Government of Bangladesh:
(a) To set a time frame for the full implementation of the Accord, including devolution of authority to the Chittagong Hill Tracts Regional Council and three Hill District Councils;
(b) To adopt the rules of business for the Chittagong Hill Tracts Land Commission and allocate sufficient human and financial resources for the Commission.
UNICEF is invited to report to the Forum at its fifth session on the result of the "25 by 2005" initiative on maximizing indigenous girls' education programs
In “a spirit of partnership and mutual respect”, the Permanent Forum emphasizes the important standards set out in articles 18, 19 and 41 of the Declaration. Article 18 provides that “indigenous peoples have the right to participate in decision-making in matters that would affect their rights, through representatives chosen by themselves in accordance with their own procedures”, and article 19 provides that “States shall consult and cooperate in good faith with the indigenous peoples concerned through their own representative institutions in order to obtain their free, prior and informed consent before adopting and implementing legislative or administrative measures that may affect them”. Such equal, direct and meaningful participation by indigenous peoples throughout all stages of the World Conference is essential for the international community to achieve a constructive and comprehensive outcome that will genuinely improve the status and conditions of indigenous peoples worldwide.
The Permanent Forum recalls that in paragraph 7 of its report on its tenth session (E/2011/43-E/C.19/2011/14), it congratulated the International Fund for Agricultural Development on the establishment of the Indigenous Peoples’ Forum as an example of good practice that should be followed by other United Nations entities. The Forum urges other United Nations entities to report on their progress achieved in this regard to the Forum at its seventeenth session.
The Permanent Forum welcomes the efforts of Member States, United Nations entities and other intergovernmental organizations to implement the Declaration, as reaffirmed in the outcome document of the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples, as well as the recommendations of the Forum, the Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples and the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous People in various regions, and urges them to take specific measures in this regard.