E/2021/43 E/C.19/2021/10 Nations Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Peoples. The course, which is available on the OHCHR website, is a small but important contribution towards building capacities for the promotion and protection of indigenous peoples’ rights. 26. The Permanent Forum recalls its invitation to the Committe e on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights to initiate a general comment on the collective rights of indigenous peoples to lands, territories and natural resources. The Forum welcomes the decision of the Committee to draft a general comment on land and econ omic, social and cultural rights. However, the Forum expresses its concern about the limited participation of indigenous peoples in the drafting of the general comment and invites the Committee to consider facilitating the participation of indigenous peopl es. The Forum also invites the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Peoples to provide support in this regard. 27. The Permanent Forum recommends that the Organization of American States establish a consultation mechanism, composed of experts from indigenous peoples, as part of the effort to ensure national implementation of the American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989 (No. 169). 28. The Permanent Forum urges States to address the stark inequality between indigenous and non-indigenous people in all aspects of life, which has been heightened as a result of COVID-19, by implementing in full the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989 (No. 169), the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in all their legal norms and public policies related to indigenous peoples. 29. Given increased violence against indigenous peoples in the Amazon region, the Permanent Forum urges the Member States of the region to take urgent, extraordinary and coordinated measures to protect the individual and collective rights of indigenous peoples, with the aim of maintaining their ownership and use of their territories. The Forum also calls upon the United Nations system and specialized agencies, including OHCHR, the United Nations Environment Programme, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and ILO, to support Member States in the protection of indigenous peoples’ habitats and cultures in the Amazon region in cooperation with indigenous peoples. 30. The Permanent Forum recommends that all indigenous peoples make use, whenever appropriate, of the early warning measures and urgent procedures established by the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. These early warning measures and procedures are aimed at preventing existing situations from escalating into conflicts and respond to problems requiring immediate attention to prevent or limit the scale or number of serious violations of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. The Forum also recommends that the Committee’s Working Group on Early Warning and Urgent Action Procedures urgently address the serious human rights violations and the criminalization of indigenous peoples in the Amazon in order for the Committee to take effective measures. 31. Member States must urgently address violence against indigenous peoples, including State violence, gender-based violence, forced assimilation and forced child removals, discrimination in the justice system and other forms of discrim ination, including discrimination based on gender, religion, disability, age and LGBTIQ identity. The Forum encourages the Expert Mechanism, at its earliest convenience, to engage with the Governments of Australia and New Zealand, and with the participation of indigenous peoples, regarding the removal of indigenous children. 21-06102 9/29