In regard to the rights of indigenous peoples, the Permanent Forum reiterates its long-standing position of encouraging the United Nations, its organs and specialized agencies, as well as all States, to adopt a human rights-based approach. At the international, regional and national level, the human rights of indigenous peoples are always relevant if such rights are at risk of being undermined. Human rights are indivisible, interdependent, and interrelated. They must be respected in any context specifically concerning indigenous peoples, from environment to development, to peace and security, and many other issues.
Indigenous peoples have a profound relationship with their environment. This includes their distinct rights to water. The Permanent Forum urges States to guarantee those rights, including the right to access to safe, clean, accessible and affordable water for personal, domestic and community use. Water should be treated as a social and cultural good, and not primarily as an economic good. The manner in which the right to water is realized must be sustainable for present and future generations. Moreover, indigenous peoples’ access to water resources on their ancestral lands must be protected from encroachment and pollution. Indigenous peoples must have the resources to design, deliver and control their access to water.
The Permanent Forum urges States to include indigenous peoples in decision-making processes in all areas of water management, including commercial use, irrigation and environmental management, and to ensure that such decision-making processes are consistent with the principles of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, in particular its article 32, under which the free and informed consent of indigenous peoples is required prior to the approval of any project affecting their lands or territories and other resources.
The Permanent Forum supports an initiative to declare an International Year of Quinoa, recognizing the importance of quinoa to indigenous people and that it is a natural food with a high nutritional content.
The Permanent Forum recommends that the secretariat of the Permanent Forum, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Institute for Training and Research, UNDP and the United Nations Programme on Youth cooperate closely with the Global Indigenous Youth Caucus to conduct and support regional and international human rights training programmes to build the capacity and advocacy skills of indigenous youth.
The Permanent Forum reiterates the recommendation, contained in paragraph 17 of the report on its second session (E/2003/43-E/C.19/2003/22), related to the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. The Permanent Forum invites OHCHR, in particular the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, to report on the situation of indigenous children to the Forum at its eleventh session.
The Permanent Forum calls upon all member States and United Nations agencies to respond to the annual questionnaire from the secretariat of the Permanent Forum in order to provide information on reliable practices that lead to the full and effective implementation of the Declaration. Further, the Forum recommends that the secretariat of the Permanent Forum include questions that particularly focus on indigenous children and youth.
The Permanent Forum recommends that UNICEF establish a particular budget and strengthen programmes and projects for indigenous children and youth.
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 requests that UNICEF prepare a report on the state of the world’s children, with a thematic focus on indigenous children. The report should give special attention to the implementation by Member States of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the Convention on the Rights of the Child and general comment No. 11 (2009) of the Committee on the Rights of the Child on indigenous children and their rights under the Convention. Furthermore, the Forum requests UNICEF to begin to disaggregate data on indigenous children, including from its existing database.
The Permanent Forum recommends that UNICEF allocate at least one fellowship to an indigenous young person from each region every year for a term of at least three months, to empower indigenous youth and promote knowledge and experience regarding the United Nations system and the work of the Fund, and including financial support.
Bearing in mind the principle of free, prior and informed consent as enshrined in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the Permanent Forum recommends that relevant UNICEF materials be translated into the languages of and made accessible to the indigenous peoples with whom the Fund is working so that they can participate fully in the planning and implementation of projects that directly or indirectly affect them.
