E/2006/43
E/C.19/2006/11
82. The Permanent Forum supports ongoing dialogues between Governments and
armed forces undertaken to seek peaceful solutions to conflicts occurring in
indigenous peoples’ territories and affecting indigenous peoples.
83. The Permanent Forum reiterates its recommendation on indigenous peoples
living in voluntary and semi-voluntary isolation, or “uncontacted”, from its fourth
session, 16 and urges Governments, indigenous peoples’ organizations, nongovernmental organizations and multilateral bodies to take note of and implement
the Belem Declaration on Isolated Indigenous Peoples of the Amazon and Gran
Chaco, 17 as well as International Labour Convention No. 169, domestic legislation
and court orders that protect and maintain the rights of these indigenous peoples and
their designated territories throughout the world to exist in isolation, should they so
choose. The Permanent Forum urges Governments, the United Nations system, civil
society and indigenous peoples’ organizations to cooperate in immediately ensuring
effective prohibition against outside encroachment, aggression, forcible
assimilation, and acts and processes of genocide. Measures of protection should
comprise the safeguarding of their natural environment and livelihood and
minimally invasive, culturally sensitive mobile health-care services.
84. The Permanent Forum recommends that the Office of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Human Rights, ILO and UNESCO convene an expert workshop
in cooperation with the Permanent Forum on the situation of indigenous peoples in
voluntary isolation in order to develop strategies and programmes for the protection
of their rights and territories and report to the Permanent Forum thereon at its next
session.
85. The Permanent Forum recommends that the Office of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Human Rights in cooperation with the Permanent Forum develop
a coherent and strategic plan of action in Africa in cooperation with indigenous
peoples and their representative organizations, and that the implementation of the
programme of the Office of the High Commissioner to strengthen capacity to protect
and advocate for the human rights of indigenous peoples be linked to other United
Nations bodies, notably the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the secretariat of the Convention
on Biological Diversity, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO),
UNESCO and others.
86. The Permanent Forum recommends that there be productive cooperation with
the Danish Institute for Human Rights focusing on training and awareness-raising
within the national human rights commissions in Africa. The Permanent Forum
further recommends that there be an effort made by the United Nations system to
bring greater awareness of instruments and mechanisms specific to indigenous
peoples to the attention of the African Union, the Pan-African Parliament, and the
New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) initiative.
__________________
16
17
14
Ibid., para. 73.
These peoples include the Jarawa, Onges and North Sentinel of Andaman and Nicobar Islands in
South Asia; the Mlabri and Penan of South-East Asia; the Ayureo of the Gran Chaco region in
South America; the “Rio Pardo Indians”, Massaco, Masko-Piro, Nukak-Maku, TagaeriTaromenane (Ecuador), Awa-Guaja, Cacataibo, Murunahua Land Reserve (Peru), Yora and
others of the Amazon region of South America; and hunter-gatherers in West and Central Africa;
and others in the Pacific region.