E/2005/43
E/C.19/2005/9
3.
It is the understanding of the Secretariat that the proposals, objectives,
recommendations and areas of possible future action to be carried out by the United
Nations as set out below will be implemented to the extent that resources from the
regular budget and extrabudgetary resources are available.
1.
Special theme: Millennium Development Goals and indigenous peoples: Goal 1 of
the Millennium Development Goals: “Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger”, to
be addressed under the following thematic approach of combating poverty: good
practices and barriers to implementation
4.
The Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues notes that the implementation of
the Millennium Development Goals in connection with indigenous peoples must be
viewed within the broader context of the United Nations Millennium Declaration,
which brings together the three basic aims of the Charter of the United Nations:
peace and security, economic and social development, and human rights. Indigenous
peoples have the right to benefit from the Millennium Development Goals and from
other goals and aspirations contained in the Millennium Declaration to the same
extent as all others. Indigenous and tribal peoples are lagging behind other parts of
the population in the achievement of the goals in most, if not all, the countries in
which they live, and indigenous and tribal women commonly face additional
gender-based disadvantages and discrimination.
5.
The Forum therefore notes with concern that indigenous issues are often
absent from Millennium Development Goals and poverty reduction processes and
from Millennium Development Goals reports and poverty reduction strategy papers.
The Forum is concerned that, unless the particular situation of indigenous peoples
are adequately taken into account, some Millennium Development Goals processes
may lead to accelerated loss of lands and natural resources for indigenous peoples,
and thus of their means of subsistence and their displacement, as well as to
accelerated assimilation and erosion of their culture.
6.
The Forum recalls the recommendations made at its first three sessions on
economic and social development, as well as on indigenous children, indigenous
women and the other areas of its mandate, and stresses that those recommendations
are valid and important towards the achievement of the Millennium Development
Goals.
7.
The Forum invites all the African States, the African Union and the African
Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights to its fifth session to participate in
meetings on the Millennium Development Goals and their implementation in Africa
during the Second Decade of the World’s Indigenous Peoples.
8.
The Permanent Forum encourages the African Governments and the
intergovernmental agencies to intensify dialogue among themselves under the
supervision of the African Union, more precisely within the African Commission on
Human and Peoples’ Rights, with special emphasis on poverty eradication based on
the free, prior and informed consent of indigenous peoples.
9.
In connection with Millennium Development Goal 1, “Eradicate extreme
poverty and hunger: reduce by half the proportion of people living on less than a
dollar a day and reduce by half the proportion of people who suffer from hunger”,
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