The Permanent Forum recognizes the need for the United States of America to honour its treaty obligations with tribes. The Forum calls upon the Government of the United States to ensure the return of lands that house boarding schools to Indigenous Peoples.
The Permanent Forum supports the call of the Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples to redress treaty violations. Indigenous Peoples deprived of treaty rights are also at risk; the Forum urges relevant States to adopt constructive agreements and appropriate laws to ensure Indigenous lands and territories are protected in the face of mineral extraction and development.
The Permanent Forum is deeply concerned about circumstances in which Indigenous Peoples are deprived of essential services and experience violence, including gender-based violence. The Forum urges Member States and United Nations entities to protect displaced Indigenous Peoples, including refugees, and calls upon the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to conduct global and regional studies, by 2026, on the needs of displaced Indigenous Peoples and to update the Forum at its 2025 session. Furthermore, the Forum urges UNHCR to join the Inter-Agency Support Group on Indigenous Issues.
The Permanent Forum welcomes the report transmitted in the note by the Secretariat entitled “International expert group meeting on the theme ‘Indigenous Peoples in a greening economy’” (E/C.19/2024/4) and urges Member States to integrate the proposed innovative practices and sustainable economic models into national policies while supporting Indigenous entrepreneurship with a view to upholding traditional knowledge and sustainable development.
The Permanent Forum remains concerned that Indigenous women and girls experience widespread discrimination and violence. The Forum congratulates the Government of Australia for its commitment to end violence against Indigenous women by undertaking to establish a national action plan consistent with the advice of United Nations treaty bodies and experts. The Forum reiterates its call for Member States that have not yet done so to implement the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and general recommendation No. 39 (2022) on the rights of Indigenous women and girls of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women; to ensure the rights of Indigenous women to full, effective and meaningful participation in decision-making at national and United Nations system agencies; and to ensure the availability of sustainable financing and resources to support initiatives for Indigenous women and youth.
The Permanent Forum recognizes the urgent need to increase commitment to the health of Indigenous women globally, as their health needs are often underserved and they lack culturally appropriate care, including as a result of the criminalization of traditional childbirth practices. The Forum urges Member States and United Nations entities to collaborate in developing programmes and allocating funds that prioritize the health of, and midwifery services for, Indigenous Women; and in increasing the visibility of the situation with regard to the health of Indigenous women through more disaggregated data. The Forum calls for the revision of discriminatory laws affecting Indigenous women. The Forum invites the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Population Fund and the United Nations Children’s Fund to partner in identifying and documenting good practices of culturally appropriate health interventions from their work at the country level, including supporting Indigenous women and girls in exercising their sexual and reproductive rights. The Forum requests that the entities compile a comprehensive progress report, to be submitted at the 2025 session of the Forum.
The Permanent Forum reiterates the recommendation it made at its twenty-second session that Member States ratify and uphold the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its Optional Protocol on a communications procedure. The Forum expresses deep concern over the high incidences of suicide, trauma from harsh incarceration conditions, and adverse experiences in out-of-home care affecting Indigenous children and adolescents in Australia and globally.
The Permanent Forum welcomes the study transmitted in the note by the Secretariat entitled “Improving the health and wellness of Indigenous Peoples globally: operationalization of Indigenous determinants of health” (E/C.19/2024/5). The Forum recognizes that the Indigenous determinants of health framework contains 33 risk and protective factors that empower United Nations entities and Member States to improve the health and wellness of Indigenous Peoples. Those entities and Member States must adopt the framework to operationalize the Indigenous determinants of health globally.
The Permanent Forum recognizes the history of the placement of Indigenous children in boarding and residential schools without free, prior and informed consent, where there have been dramatically grave negative impacts on the well-being and identity development of Indigenous students, on their families, and on the communities and cultures of Indigenous Peoples in all sociocultural regions. The Forum recommends that States find mechanisms to redress the harms caused by boarding and residential schools, and engage in effective reconciliation efforts. With respect to French Guiana specifically, the Forum calls upon the Government of France to establish a truth commission to investigate the conditions of boarding and residential schools in France and its overseas territories. The Government of France should adopt measures for healing, reparation and rehabilitation. The commission should guarantee gender equality in terms of inclusion and ensure the full participation of the Indigenous Peoples affected.
The Permanent Forum recommends that Member States and the United Nations make additional and more steadfast efforts to collect data and perform research regarding Indigenous Peoples in voluntary isolation and in initial contact and the effects of such data and research. The Forum reiterates its recommendation that the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), in cooperation with regional bodies and Indigenous Peoples, advance the protection of Indigenous Peoples living in voluntary isolation and in initial contact.
The rights of Indigenous Peoples in voluntary isolation and in initial contact continue to face grave threats of dispossession and destruction of their ancestral territories, as well as the risk of genocide, owing to the lack of recognition of their rights. These threats include encroachment by extractive industries and the rapid imposition of monocultures, deforestation, violence, and the presence and proselytism of missionaries, including Mennonite groups. The Permanent Forum urges the application and observance of guidelines and recommendations by regional and international entities, including the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, for the protection of the rights of Indigenous Peoples in voluntary isolation and in initial contact.
The Permanent Forum welcomes the proposal by the Government of the Plurinational State of Bolivia concerning a law on free, prior and informed consent. The Forum calls for this law to be adopted and to reflect the Declaration, ensuring the full and effective participation of Indigenous Peoples throughout the process and promoting the recognition of Indigenous Peoples’ own free, prior and informed consent protocols.
