Rights of indigenous peoples A/RES/73/156 Stressing the importance of the empowerment and capacity-building of indigenous women and youth, including their full and effective participation in decision-making processes in matters that affect them directly, including policies, programmes and resources, where relevant, that target the well-being of indigenous women, children and youth, in particular in the areas of health, education, employment and the transmission of traditional knowledge, languages and practices, and the importance of taking measures to promote awareness and understanding of their rights, Deeply concerned at the vast number of endangered languages, in particular indigenous languages, and stressing that, despite the continuing efforts, there is an urgent need to preserve, promote and revitalize endangered languages, i n particular indigenous languages, Reaffirming the importance of the International Year of Indigenous Languages to draw attention to the critical loss of indigenous languages and the urgent need to preserve, revitalize and promote indigenous languages, including as an educational medium, and to take further urgent steps to that end at the national and international levels, Welcoming the preparations and the progress made for the celebration of the 2019 International Year of Indigenous Languages, including the lead role of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization in developing an action plan and the establishment of the steering committee for organizing the International Year, in consultation and cooperation with Member States, the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, the Special Rapporteur of the Human Rights Council on the rights of indigenous peoples and the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, as well as indigenous peoples and a range of different stakeholders, Recognizing that indigenous peoples can contribute to a range of issues on the international agenda, Recognizing also the importance to indigenous peoples of revitalizing, using, developing and transmitting to future generations their histories, la nguages, oral traditions, philosophies, writing systems and literature, Expressing concern that, in some cases, suicide rates in indigenous peoples’ communities, in particular among indigenous youth and children, are significantly higher than in the general population, Bearing in mind the importance of promoting respect for the rights of indigenous children, in particular eliminating the worst forms of child labour, in accordance with international law, including relevant human rights law and international labour law obligations, Recognizing the importance of access to justice in the promotion and protection of the rights of indigenous peoples and individuals and the need to examine and take steps to remove obstacles to justice, especially for indigenous women, indigenous children, youth, older persons and indigenous persons with disabilities, Underlining the responsibility of transnational corporations and other business enterprises to respect all human rights, applicable laws and international principl es 11 and operate transparently and in a socially and environmentally responsible manner, and emphasizing the need to refrain from negatively affecting the well -being of indigenous peoples and to take further action towards corporate responsibility and accountability, including the prevention, mitigation and remediation of human rights abuses, __________________ 11 18-22251 Including the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights: Imple menting the United Nations “Protect, Respect and Remedy” Framework (A/HRC/17/31, annex). 3/8