The Permanent Forum calls upon the President of the General Assembly at its sixty-sixth session to share with its members the main conclusions and recommendations emanating from the half-day dialogue on the World Conference held by the members of the Forum within the framework of its eleventh session.
In “a spirit of partnership and mutual respect”, the Permanent Forum emphasizes the important standards set out in articles 18, 19 and 41 of the Declaration. Article 18 provides that “indigenous peoples have the right to participate in decision-making in matters that would affect their rights, through representatives chosen by themselves in accordance with their own procedures”, and article 19 provides that “States shall consult and cooperate in good faith with the indigenous peoples concerned through their own representative institutions in order to obtain their free, prior and informed consent before adopting and implementing legislative or administrative measures that may affect them”. Such equal, direct and meaningful participation by indigenous peoples throughout all stages of the World Conference is essential for the international community to achieve a constructive and comprehensive outcome that will genuinely improve the status and conditions of indigenous peoples worldwide.
The Permanent Forum encourages all Member States to contribute to the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Populations as an essential way to ensure the participation of indigenous peoples in all United Nations meetings and to increase their capacity at the international and local levels.
Bearing in mind that the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues was named at a time when the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples had not yet been adopted, and considering that the title of the Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples was changed, two years ago, from its previous title of “Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people”, we strongly urge the Economic and Social Council to recommend that the name of the Forum be changed to “Permanent Forum on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples”.
The Permanent Forum thanks the Governments of Canada and the United States of America for hosting its 2011 pre-sessional meeting, and thanks the Governments of the Plurinational State of Bolivia, Spain, Norway, Denmark and Greenland and China for having hosted previous pre-sessional meetings of the Forum. The Permanent Forum recommends that States that have not yet done so consider hosting future pre-sessional meetings. The Permanent Forum also requests that the Secretariat organize pre-sessional meetings for future sessions of the Forum.
The Permanent Forum expresses its concern about the continuing and long-term negative impacts of large dams on indigenous peoples in many parts of the world. Many large dams continue to be planned for construction on indigenous lands. The Permanent Forum supports the implementation of the recommendations of the World Commission on Dams contained in its report Dams and Development: A New Framework for Decision-making. The implementation of these recommendations must be in accordance with the provisions set out in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
The Permanent Forum calls on the Inter-American Development Bank to establish an advisory council of indigenous peoples to implement its strategy on indigenous peoples.
The Permanent Forum decides to reappoint Victoria Tauli-Corpuz as Special Rapporteur to complete a study on the impacts of the global crisis on indigenous peoples by 31 December 2010 and submit it to the Permanent Forum at its tenth session, in 2011.
The Permanent Forum decides that Forum members Lars-Anders Baer, Bartolomé Clavero Salvador, Michael Dodson and Carsten Smith shall prepare a paper that responds to the comments made by certain Member States on the annex to the report of the Permanent Forum on its eighth session (E/2009/43) at the general segment of the substantive session of the Economic and Social Council, in July 2009.
The Permanent Forum welcomes the invitation extended by the Maskwacis Cree and the Confederacy of Treaty Six Chiefs to the members and the secretariat to attend the United Nations Expert Seminar on treaties, agreements and other constructive arrangements between States and indigenous peoples at the Samson Cree Nation from 25 to 27 September 2006. This is a historic first United Nations expert meeting to be held on indigenous treaty territory.
The Permanent Forum reiterates its recommendations on the establishment of the indigenous fellowship programme within its secretariat and requests Governments, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), other donors and foundations to contribute to the fellowship programme so that it can be launched and administered in 2007.
The Permanent Forum recognizes the need to better consolidate and coordinate activities and capacity-building regarding indigenous issues at the country and regional levels and recommends that UNDP and the United Nations Development Group inform United Nations resident coordinators, regional directors and United Nations country teams, and establish inter-agency coordination mechanisms at those levels.
