The Permanent Forum recommends that States implement the principles contained in General Comment No. 21 (2009) of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights on article 15, paragraph 1 (a), of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights regarding the right of everyone to take part in cultural life. In its interpretation of the article, the Committee takes into account the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. It consequently distinguishes the right of indigenous peoples to take part in their own culture from the same right as it applies to minorities. This distinction is made in particular as a result of the extension of the concept of indigenous culture to material aspects such as territories and resources.
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.
The Forum urges the United Nations system and States to give special priority to implementing previous recommendations made by the Forum, and to take into account the cross-cutting nature of human rights issues.
The Permanent Forum encourages indigenous parliamentarians to organize a global satellite conference of indigenous representatives with the objective of analyzing as a whole the level of progress in the promotion, protection and exercise of the rights of indigenous peoples around the world within the framework of the seventh session of the Permanent Forum.
The Permanent Forum acknowledges the signing of the peace accord in Colombia and the efforts to implement it. The Forum takes note of Colombia’s statement at the eighteenth session of the Forum on the need to protect the lives and integrity of indigenous human rights defenders. The Forum is, however, deeply concerned that killings of indigenous leaders have been increasing. The Forum urges the Government of Colombia to intensify its efforts to provide effective measures to prevent further attacks and to ensure peace and security for indigenous human right defenders and leaders.
Recalling the recommendation contained in the report of its fifteenth session (E/2016/43-E/C.19/2016/11, para. 52), the Permanent Forum urges States to take measures for settlement, protection and security in post-conflict areas and for the construction of durable and lasting peace, promoting the full and effective inclusion of indigenous peoples, including indigenous women, in any initiative for peace and reconciliation. The Forum also recommends that the Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and indigenous peoples, including women and young people, consider indigenous peoples’ traditional conflict resolution systems for achieving durable and lasting peace.
States should take effective measures to eliminate violence against indigenous peoples by studying the root causes of conflict and human rights abuses, developing indicators and methodologies for risk assessment and early warning mechanisms and improving national legislation for the administration of justice with regard to the perpetrators of war crimes.
The Permanent Forum is concerned that, in their efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, Member States are not complying with the Declaration. In one case, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination requested that Norway temporarily suspend the ongoing construction of the Fosen Vind onshore wind power project, which negatively affects the reindeer herding of the South Sami people. The Government of Norway, having concluded that its administrative and legal processes were sufficient, did not implement the interim measures. The Forum urges Member States to respect and comply with decisions made by the United Nations treaty bodies.
The Permanent Forum requests the Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights, with the support of the secretariat of the Forum, to expand and strengthen the United Nations response to reprisals and threats faced by indigenous human rights and environmental defenders by enhancing high-level engagement on reprisals, ensuring appropriate action on urgent cases when reprisals occur.
The Permanent Forum recommends that relevant special procedures of the Human Rights Council collaborate with each other and with other human rights bodies to address the situation of indigenous human rights defenders through monitoring, mediation, analysis and the provision of concrete recommendations for the effective protection of indigenous human rights defenders.
Human rights defenders are increasingly targeted as terrorists for promoting and protecting decades-old guaranteed rights. This alarming trend is seen in every region. Even the Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, Victoria Tauli-Corpuz; former expert member of the Permanent Forum Joan Carling; and former member of the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples José Molintas, have been declared terrorists in a petition by the Government of the Philippines. The Forum rejects this dangerous precedent and calls on the Government of the Philippines to remove their names, and the names of other indigenous leaders, from the petition and to ensure their safety as they continue promoting and protecting the rights of indigenous peoples. Further, the Forum urges the Government of the Philippines to repeal the Human Security Act, comply with its international human rights obligations and pursue its commitments under the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law.
Recalling the study on decolonization of the Pacific region (see E/C.19/2013/12), the Permanent Forum invites the relevant States to provide information on the status of the situation of the indigenous peoples concerned to the Permanent Forum at its sixteenth session.