Without immediate action by States, COVID-19 will leave indigenous peoples behind in newly invigorated efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, the Geneva-based human rights expert charged with promoting constructive agreements between traditional communities and Governments told the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues today.
States must ensure the protection of indigenous peoples affected by the COVID-19 pandemic through timely, inclusive and equitable access to quality and affordable health-care services, including vaccines, speakers told the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues today as the body continued its 2021 session.
Indigenous peoples’ lands are increasingly occupied by terrorists and extremists, threatening their lives and often their ability to partner with Governments in the establishment of institutions to protect their rights, a renowned international human rights expert told the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues today.
Indigenous peoples have time and again shown themselves to be constructive partners with Member States and enrich the work of the United Nations, the Chair of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues stressed today, as she opened the body’s 2021 session.
The largest global gathering on indigenous issues, the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, will run in a mostly virtual format from 19 to 30 April.
The Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues concluded its eighteenth session this afternoon, approving several recommendations which reflected this year’s central theme, Indigenous Peoples’ Traditional Knowledge: Generation, transmission and protection.
Despite scattered gains in land, language and legal rights, a glaring lack of political will around the world is inhibiting fundamental change on the ground in thousands of communities in every region, delegates told the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues today as it continued its work.
The Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues today heard myriad challenges these communities face in pursuing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, as well as calls for indigenous peoples’ inclusion at the highest level of decision-making by granting them Observer Status in the General Assembly.
With the successful inclusion of indigenous peoples’ concerns in the major global frameworks, the priority now is to translate these aspirations into concrete improvements, the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues heard today in its fourth day of discussions.
Indigenous peoples face a worrying escalation in their criminalization and harassment, especially when defending and exercising rights to their territories and natural resources, the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues heard today as it continued its third day of discussions.
