The Permanent Forum calls on the Office of the Attorney General and the district prosecutors’ offices in the Departments of Chuquisaca, Santa Cruz and Tarija to conduct criminal investigations into the events described by the Plurinational State of Bolivia in its report to this session of the Forum and in the subsequent report of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
As a result of the loss of their lands, territories and resources due to development and other pressures, many indigenous peoples are forced to leave their traditional lands and territories and migrate within and between countries to escape conflict, persecution and the impact of climate change. Indigenous peoples’ mobility has become an increasingly complex issue in recent years. The Permanent Forum therefore invites Member States to fully implement the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration adopted in December 2018, in line with the Declaration.
The Permanent Forum recommends that Asian States:(a)Adopt the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, as adopted by the Human Rights Council on 29 June 2006, before the end of the sixty-first session of the General Assembly;(b)Recognize indigenous peoples constitutionally and legally as peoples, promote legal reform, in particular with regard to the recognition of indigenous peoples’ collective land rights and their customary laws and institutions, which promote diversity and pluralism;(c)Adopt laws regulating the activities of investors and mitigating the negative impact of economic liberalization on the territories of indigenous peoples;(d) Have national laws in conformity with relevant international norms and standards;(e)Establish land commissions or mechanisms that address violations of indigenous peoples’ land rights, facilitate the restitution of alienated land and settle disputes;(f) Establish full transparency regarding projects on indigenous territories by States and corporations, through the implementation of the principles of free, prior and informed consent, in accordance with customary laws and practices of the respective indigenous peoples;(g) Abandon transmigration policies and programmes and prevent illegal migration to indigenous territories.
The Permanent Forum reiterates its previous recommendations that those States that have not already done so adopt or endorse, where applicable, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, ILO Convention No. 169 and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
The Permanent Forum recommends that the Governments of Canada and the United States address the border issues, such as those related to the Mohawk Nation and the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, by taking effective measures to implement article 36 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which states that indigenous peoples divided by international borders have the right to maintain and develop contacts, relations and cooperation with their own members as well as other peoples across borders.
The Forum recommends that UN-Habitat jointly, with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, through the United Nations Housing Rights Programme, organize an expert group meeting in 2006 to review the status of the realization process of indigenous peoples’ housing rights globally, and identify and document best practices and report on the outcome and recommendations of the expert group meeting at the sixth session of the Forum.
In support of their country-level programming, and with a view to a deeper appreciation of indigenous peoples’ perceptions of such interventions, UNICEF and UNFPA should undertake a study on the social, cultural, legal and spiritual institutions of indigenous peoples and how these affect the rights of women and children as laid out in local, regional and global frameworks.
The Permanent Forum also welcomes the interest of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children in joining the Inter-Agency Support Group and calls upon the Special Representative to work closely with the members of the Forum in preparing a section on the situation of indigenous children in the Special Representative’s annual reports to the General Assembly and the Human Rights Council.
The Millennium Campaign should raise awareness about the Millennium Development Goals and indigenous peoples, providing space for indigenous youth to express their views and share experiences related to Millennium Development Goals issues, enable young indigenous people to interact with their national leaders, and facilitate networking between youth groups to crystallise new projects. The campaigns should include several elements including school-based outreach, national conferences, local workshops, media activities, including phone-in radio programs and televised debates, essay and expression contests and service days
The Permanent Forum welcomes the report of the international expert group meeting on indigenous languages, held in New York from 8 to 10 January 2008, and recommends that States and United Nations agencies engage with indigenous peoples to develop strategies to implement the recommendations of the report.
The Permanent Forum takes note with concern of the situation of indigenous peoples of the Sahel and other parts of Africa, where a number of factors, including climate change, are having a devastating impact on economic development and human security. The lack of recognition of the collective rights of these peoples has created fertile ground for their loss of territories and resources and the emergence of complex forms of conflict, including violent extremism. The Forum calls on the Working Group on Indigenous Populations/Communities in Africa of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights to prepare recommendations for the consideration of the African Union to address this situation, in partnership with the Economic Commission for Africa and other regional bodies.
The Permanent Forum calls on United Nations entities to elevate the discussion on indigenous peoples to the highest possible governance level of their entities in order to ensure system-wide ownership and support for indigenous peoples’ rights. It encourages the focal points of United Nations entities to facilitate the commencement of dialogues between the Permanent Forum and the heads of the entities. The objective of such dialogues could include reviews of the entities’ internal policies and safeguards guaranteeing the right to self-determination of indigenous peoples, respect for their free, prior and informed consent and due diligence in accordance with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and other relevant international standards by the end of 2022