As part of the active engagement of IFAD with indigenous peoples’ issues, the Permanent Forum recommends that the Indigenous Peoples Assistance Facility be incorporated into the organization’s general budget so as to guarantee sustainability and the transfer of good practices and lessons learned within IFAD programmes and projects. The Permanent Forum also recommends that the facility extend its funding directly to indigenous peoples’ organizations. Support for indigenous peoples’ organizations should have as its point of departure the co-administration and co implementation of the projects.
The Forum expresses its appreciation to the Inter-Agency Support Group for its contribution to its work during its third session and in-between sessions, as well as for the documents provided to the Forum. The Forum also expresses its appreciation for the attendance of the session by representatives of the United Nations agencies, funds and programmes, renews its invitation to the United Nations system to continue to attend its sessions, and expresses the hope that this constructive engagement will continue.
The Forum takes note of the report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people to the Commission on Human Rights submitted in 2005 (E/CN.4/2005/88), the report of a seminar on education and indigenous peoples organized by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and UNESCO held in Paris (E/CN.4/2005/88/Add.4), on a workshop on higher education and indigenous peoples in Costa Rica in 1999 (E/CN.4/Sub.2/AC.4/1999/5) and the minimum standards for education in emergencies, chronic crises and early reconstruction developed by the Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergency, and underlines that their recommendations should be promoted through good practices throughout the United Nations system and broadly to all Member States
The gaps and challenges facing IFAD in terms of its commitment to indigenous peoples’ issues include the mainstreaming of the new institutional policy on engaging with indigenous peoples at all levels of the organization globally, regionally and nationally. The Permanent Forum recommends that institutional mechanisms be established so as to secure the process of mainstreaming within the agency.
The Forum decides to appoint Yuri Boychenko and Parshuram Tamang, members of the Forum, as Special Rapporteurs, to prepare, without financial implications, a working paper on current practices and methods of work to be submitted at the fifth session of the Permanent Forum
In order to facilitate its work, the Forum decides to appoint Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, Chairperson of the Forum, and Wilton Littlechild, Member of the Forum, as Special Rapporteurs, to prepare, without financial implications, an analytical paper with a concise thematic compiliation of the recommendations of the first three sessions of the Forum, and their status of implementation at the national, regional and international levels, and to submit it to the Permanent Forum at its fifth session, in 2006
The Forum, recognizing the contributions of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) in reducing rural poverty and its experience of good practices, recommends that IFAD consider operational guidelines on indigenous peoples and a framework tool for advocacy for promoting indigenous rights and development and achieving internaitonal development goals which emerged from international conferences, summits and conventions which are relevant for indigenous peoples
The Permanent Forum notes the mission to Bolivia and Paraguay and thanks the Governments of both countries for their invitations. This mission came about following the Forum’s recommendation regarding the situation of forced labour of Guarani communities at its seventh session. The Permanent Forum welcomes the mission as a good practice and decides to publish the reports of the mission as official documents. The Forum urges United Nations country teams to follow up the recommendations of these reports and suggests to the relevant Governments that they report on the implementation of these recommendations at the ninth session of the Forum in 2010.
The Permanent Forum recommends that urban indigenous issues be given important consideration on the agenda of the fourth session of the World Urban Forum, and notes the organization by UN-Habitat of a round-table event on this theme. The Forum urges States, United Nations agencies and indigenous peoples’ organizations to cooperate with UN-Habitat in the lead up to this and other events at the fourth session, including through input and participation.
The Permanent Forum recommends that OHCHR duly reflect on its strategic management plan for 2008/09 and on its activities to mainstream indigenous issues at the field level, inter alia, in connection with Action 2.
The Permanent Forum decides to conduct a half-day discussion during its eighth session on the subject of “Countries of the Arctic region”, with the broad participation of indigenous communities, regional administrations and institutions of local self-governance.
The Permanent Forum calls on the European Commission, United Nations agencies, the World Bank Group, the Asian Development Bank, bilateral development agencies, export credit agencies and international and regional financial institutions, such as the Japan Bank for International Cooperation, to review, strengthen and implement their policies with regard to indigenous peoples in general, and indigenous peoples in Asia in particular, and to use the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples,1 as a framework for reference.
