E/2026/43 E/C.19/2026/6 63. The Permanent Forum recommends that all United Nations entities, Member States and other stakeholders affirm the distinct, internationally recognized collective rights of Indigenous Peoples and make clear distinctions regarding their rights in relation to other groups. The Forum reaffirms its previous recommendations and the outcome document of a meeting in 2024 between the Forum, the Expert Mechanism and the Special Rapporteur on this matter, 2 and welcomes the report of the Special Rapporteur on recognition of Indigenous Peoples. 64. The Permanent Forum urges Member States and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to recognize and account for the unique vulnerabilities and well-founded fears of Indigenous Peoples, including Indigenous leaders and Indigenous human rights defenders, in their interpretation of the refugee definition in the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and refugee protection responses, and to ensure the provision of institutional and financial support for Indigenous Peoples, including Indigenous leaders and human rights defenders, whether forcibly displaced across borders or facing internal displacement and persecution. Discussion on the six mandated areas of the Permanent Forum (economic and social development, culture, environment, education, health and human rights), with reference to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (item 4) 65. The Permanent Forum reviewed developments related to its six mandated areas through the lens of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, underscoring that gaps in the implementation of free, prior and informed consent and insufficient recognition of Indigenous Peoples as rights holders widen the divide between international commitments and lived realities. 66. Speakers reaffirmed the centrality of lands, territories, resources and relationships with Mother Earth, highlighting Indigenous Peoples’ leadership in biodiversity conservation, climate adaptation and environmental governance. At the same time, extractive activities, pollution, militarization, illegal mining, illegal logging, drug trafficking and other illicit economies continue to harm health and well being, drive displacement and undermine livelihoods and cultural practices. 67. The expansion of digital technologies, including artificial intelligence, presents opportunities but also risks, particularly regarding Indigenous Peoples’ data and knowledge, rights‑based safeguards, environmental impacts, algorithmic bias and violence against Indigenous women and children, that can deepen discrimination and inequality. 68. Economic and social development remain inseparable from self‑determination and control over lands, resources and development pathways; without effective free, prior and informed consent, development initiatives risk reinforcing inequalities. 69. The Permanent Forum welcomes the report of the international expert group meeting on nomadic and semi-nomadic Indigenous Peoples (E/C.19/2026/3) and the study on Indigenous Peoples and artificial intelligence (E/C.19/2026/4) and underscores the need for binding, rights-based Indigenous artificial intelligence governance frameworks. 70. With reference to the recommendations of the Permanent Forum during its twenty-second session, the Forum welcomes the study conducted by the United __________________ 2 26-06676 See www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/issues/indigenouspeoples/sr/statements/ outcome-document-rome-feb-2024-meeting-un-mechanisms-indigenous-peoples-rights.pdf. 13/24