The Permanent Forum reiterates the importance of preparatory processes at all levels for bringing different perspectives to the World Conference and building a spirit of partnership, inclusion and respect, and calls upon Member States, indigenous peoples and United Nations organizations, funds and programmes to work together at the national, regional and international levels.
The Permanent Forum welcomes the preparation by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean of the study entitled “Rights of indigenous peoples: achievements and challenges in the Latin American countries”, and encourages other regional commissions to undertake similar studies.
With a view to assessing the effectiveness of the implementation of policies on indigenous peoples, the Permanent Forum recommends to the United Nations entities that carry out free, prior and informed consent processes to develop a system for comprehensively documenting these processes.
The Permanent Forum commends UNICEF and UNFPA for their work to combat female genital mutilation practices and urges them to continue their efforts with indigenous peoples and their communities.
The Permanent Forum urges the World Food Programme to respect the habitual diet of indigenous peoples and to avoid the introduction of foreign foods of low nutritional quality in indigenous peoples’ communities. Furthermore, the Permanent Forum urges the World Food Programme to ensure that its methods of intervention are sensitive to indigenous peoples’ social fabric and respectful of their perceptions of the humanitarian-development nexus.
The Permanent Forum recognizes the importance of exploring possibilities for strengthening cooperation with the human rights treaty bodies on issues of relevance to its mandate. The Permanent Forum therefore invites the Chairs of the human rights treaty bodies each to designate a representative to participate in the twenty-second session of the Permanent Forum, to be held in 2023.
The Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues welcomes the report of the international expert group meeting on the theme “Truth, transitional justice and reconciliation processes” (E/C.19/2023/3). The Permanent Forum endorses the recommendations in the report urging Member States to include Indigenous representatives and leaders in all transitional justice institutions and conflict prevention initiatives and to develop training programmes on human rights and Indigenous Peoples’ rights for concerned government agencies. It recommends that the Human Rights Council request that OHCHR, in cooperation with relevant United Nations entities, prepare a companion report by 2025 related to the guidance note of the Secretary-General on the United Nations approach to transitional justice.
The dialogue highlighted the challenges Indigenous Peoples from Africa face in participating in United Nations meetings, including logistical obstacles in obtaining visas and a lack of financial resources. The Permanent Forum invites African States to contribute to the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Peoples and called for common efforts to facilitate visa processes in order to ensure the participation of African Indigenous Peoples, including women and youth.