E/2002/43/Rev.1 E/CN.19/2002/3/Rev.1 Draft decision I Establishment of the secretariat of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues “The Economic and Social Council decides that the secretariat of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues shall be established as a matter of urgency and that, given the broad mandate of the Forum, the secretariat shall be located in New York and shall be attached to the secretariat of the Council. The secretariat will be designated as the secretariat of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, and will comprise five Professionals and two administrative staff, with due consideration being given to qualified indigenous persons. The secretariat will assist the members of the Forum in fulfilling its mandate by implementing the approved programme of activities, including the organization of meetings; undertaking research projects and preparing annual report to the Council; raising awareness and promoting the integration and coordination of activities relating to indigenous issues within the United Nations system; and preparing and disseminating information on indigenous issues. Those activities are to be funded from the regular budget.” 5. Within the United Nations Secretariat, activities related to indigenous people, including coordination, have been carried out by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. The Secretary-General has also designated that office as the lead agency for the preparations for the Forum. With the establishment of the Forum, the scope and nature of the activities related to indigenous issues to be carried out by the United Nations and the organizations of the United Nations system will be expanded considerably beyond the human rights area. The Forum calls for the establishment of a separate secretariat to be attached to the secretariat of the Council. The attention of the Council is drawn to the fact that the secretariat of the Council provides only technical secretariat services to the Council and its subsidiary bodies, including the Forum, in particular services dealing with procedural and organizational matters required before and during the sessions of those bodies. Since the secretariat unit proposed to be established by the draft decision would provide services of a substantive nature as outlined above, the Secretary-General considers that, while independent and located in New York, that secretariat unit should rather be attached to a substantive department/office, thus avoiding the creation of a separate budget section for such a relatively small entity. It is proposed that the description of the new secretariat unit’s programmatic activities and related budgetary resources be shown as a separate part under section 9, Economic and social affairs, of the programme budget. That arrangement will be temporary, until the Council finalizes the review mentioned in paragraph 8 of its resolution 2000/22. In that paragraph, the Council decided, once the Permanent Forum has been established and has held its first annual session, to review, without prejudging any outcome, all existing mechanisms, procedures and programmes within the United Nations concerning indigenous issues, including the Working Group on Indigenous Populations, with a view to rationalizing activities, avoiding duplication and overlap and promoting effectiveness. 6. In its report on its first session (E/2002/43 (Part I)-E/CN.19/2002/3 (Part I)), the Forum identified a number of proposals, objectives, recommendations and areas of possible future action. On that basis, the work of the secretariat of the Forum is envisioned to include the following: 24