E/2023/43 E/C.19/2023/7 56. The Permanent Forum invites the Working Group on the use of mercenaries as a means of violating human rights and impeding the exercise of the right of peoples to self-determination to conduct a study on the human rights abuses against Indigenous Peoples of the Sahel region by mercenaries and other non-State armed actors. 57. Indigenous Peoples are affected also by the legacy of forced evictions and relocations owing to the establishment by colonial powers of military bases and installations on their traditional lands and territories. The Permanent Forum recommends that colonial States, past and present, ensure remedy and reparations for the affected Indigenous Peoples. 58. Transnational and national extractive industries, at best, consistently disregard their responsibility to respect Indigenous Peoples’ rights and to engage in free, prior and informed consent processes. At worst, their practices and behaviours contribute to serious human rights abuses. The Permanent Forum recommends that Member States, as duty bearers, ensure that private sector entities respect Indigenous Peoples’ rights through safeguard and due diligence policies. It further recommends that Member States ensure the application of the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights: Implementing the United Nations “Protect, Respect and Remedy” Framework and the Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. The Permanent Forum welcomes the ongoing international efforts to develop legally binding instruments that ensure accountability and due diligence by transnational companies. The reflection of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in such instruments is essential. 59. The Permanent Forum is dismayed at the criminalization of the linguistic freedom of Indigenous Peoples. Criminalization jeopardizes the preservation of Indigenous languages and customs and the integrity of Indigenous Peoples’ culture and traditions. 60. The Permanent Forum heard from many Indigenous women’s organizations and networks, including the national movement of midwives, Nim Alaxik, of Guatemala, on its work for the rights of Indigenous women and girls and their contributions to ensuring access to comprehensive and culturally appropriate health care, including sexual and reproductive health. The Permanent Forum welcomes the 2019 ruling by the Constitutional Court of Guatemala on the promotion of actions that guarantee access to culturally appropriate sexual and reproductive health for women and the rights of midwives as guardians of ancestral knowledge and practices and recommends that the ruling be implemented by the State. 61. The Permanent Forum reiterates the regrets that it expressed at its twenty-first session regarding the very high and inhumane incarceration rates of Indigenous Peoples globally, which contribute to poor health, poverty and early and preventable deaths. The Permanent Forum repeats its previous recommendation to the Unit ed States of America on the grating of clemency to Leonard Peltier. Owing to his age and poor health, his release is a humanitarian imperative. 62. The Permanent Forum was presented with horrific testimonies of Indigenous children incarcerated in prisons and other holding facilities. The Permanent Forum reminds Member States to fulfil their obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child in relation to the arrest, detention, or imprisonment of a child. No child should be in prison. In that regard, the Permanent Forum notes the finding in 2022 of the Supreme Court of Western Australia that the extensive solitary confinement and significant reduction in liberty of children, primarily Aboriginal children, was unlawful. The Permanent Forum calls upon Australia to respect the Court decision and remove its reservation to article 37 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Permanent Forum recommends that Member States review and reform their child 23-08492 13/24