UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues April 21-May 2, 2025 Statement on Behalf of Global Indigenous Peoples Caucus Preparatory Meeting
April 19-20 2025
Preamble
On 19 and 20 April 2025, Indigenous Peoples from around the world gathered for the Global Indigenous Peoples Caucus. This statement reflects the issues and concerns raised at that time. The following recommendations were informed by the statements made at the 2025 GIPC preparatory meetings.
Recommendations
- UNDRIP be raised to the level of a convention to ensure the inherent rights of Indigenous Peoples, including the right to Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (A/HRC/EMRIP/2019/3/REV.1; A/HRC/39/62).
- We are asking the UNPFII to strongly recommend the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Convention on Biological Diversity, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, for a Moratorium on REDD+, all carbon markets and offsets as enshrined in Article 6 of the Paris Agreement including carbon dioxide removals like carbon capture and storage, forest, soil and ocean offsets, nature-based solutions, biodiversity offsets and other geoengineering technologies. Support is needed for a Just Transition from mining that includes Indigenous Peoples.
- Recalling the Permanent Forum’s recommendation to develop a guide for Member States to fulfill their international obligation to consult with and obtain the free, prior, and informed consent of Indigenous peoples in accordance with the standards established in the UNDRIP (UNPFII session 15, p. 030). We ask the Permanent Forum to urge appropriate UN agencies to work on developing a process outlining the minimum standards and guidelines for FPIC, that includes Indigenous Peoples in defining these standards. We recommend an Indigenous advisory board oversee this
- Remembering UN DESA Policy Brief No. 151, we call for additional protections around Indigenous We call for a UN Convention on Indigenous languages.
- We ask for the creation of an Indigenous Sports Body
- Any removal or dispossession of our lands are in direct violation of UNDRIP Article 26 we have the right determine what is best for us on our traditional lands
- We are our own experts and object to having non Indigenous Peoples serving as Vice Chair and Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (SRRIP). The representation of these and other positions need to include a fair distribution from the 7 UN regions.
- We call for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, GA Resolution 217A, to be applied as a common standard to all Indigenous Nations and Peoples especially in urgent situations including during times of war and conflict.
- We recommended that a Commission of some kind be created to foster the uplifting of Indigenous legal systems based upon Traditional Indigenous Knowledge. Other issues include Inherent Treaty rights being put aside without recognizing that Treaty rights are human rights, the need for a Declaration on Indigenous Peace Building, ongoing rights abuses that are supposed to be protected by UNDRIP, Rights come
directly from the Creator thus it is important to recognize rights of collective group instead of individuals, based on language and traditional Indigenous Knowledge.
- We urge member states to understand and adhere to ILO 169, Articles 28-30 specifically: “ Governments shall adopt measures appropriate to the traditions and cultures of the peoples concerned, to make known to them their rights and duties, especially in regard to labour, economic opportunities, education and health matters, social welfare and their rights deriving from this Convention.”
- We recommend the establishment of a UN mechanism to monitor and enforce treaty compliance and call for the support of Indigenous-led initiatives to document and litigate treaty violations in international courts as well as develop a process to hold states accountable in the Universal Periodic Review (UPR).
Human Rights Needing Urgent Attention
Sexual violence against women and girls, along with hunger utilized as weapons of war is an urgent concern for the Indigenous Peoples of Sudan. We urge the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues to enforce the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) to provide protection for our Indigenous relatives. Article 7.2 clearly states: “Indigenous peoples have the collective right to live in freedom, peace and security as distinct peoples and shall not be subjected to any act of genocide or any other act of violence, including forcibly removing children of the group to another group.” We recognize and acknowledge that similar violations are happening across the world in places like Gaza, Ukraine, Congo, Yemen, Central and South America.
Self Determination, Sovereignty, and the Protection of our Land and Environment
We call for a cessation of the termination and development agenda. UNDRIP Articles 3&4 highlight the Indigenous peoples right to inherent right to self-determination. Indigenous territorial integrity is tied to the territorial integrity of Mother Earth.
Indigenous peoples from the Amazon, Argentina, and Chile, shared about the destruction and devastation of their lands in the name of “clean energy” and rare earth mineral extraction. We uplift the call from the Saami Youth at the 23rd session of UNPFII that emphasized Greenwashing is Green Colonialism. Carbon markets, carbon trading, REDD, and rare earth mineral mining are still fundamentally extractive and exploitative technologies rooted in termination.
The termination agenda also includes the United Nations and its agencies conflating original free prior sovereign Indigenous Nations with subordinate local communities and populations.
Free, Prior and Informed Consent and Conservation
Members States manipulate or don’t comply with the issues relating to Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC). We know this is an effort to circumvent consent in order to achieve predetermined outcomes in their favor. Indigenous Peoples globally emphasize consultation is not consent.
As it relates to “conservation” we express our concerns of the misuse of UNDRIP Article 26 where Indigenous Lands are designated for conservation and have resulted in Indigenous Peoples being forcibly removed without clear adherence to the FPIC requirements.
Women and Gender Based Violence
We have serious concerns regarding the rise of gender-based violence especially against women and girls. The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of discrimination against women (CEDAW), UNDRIP provides some protections however new provisions need to be added and current provisions are not being enforced and adhered to by some member states.
Concerns were raised that no action has been taken on the Global Study of Forced Sterilization of Indigenous Women which was approved six years ago. Mother Earth must be included when we discuss violence perpetrated against women and girls, “violence against Mother Earth is violence against women.”
Protections for Indigenous Women running for political office within member states. Member States must provide the full protection that is established in the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and UNDRIP Article 18.
Spirituality/Culture/Language
The majority of Member States do not provide services in the Indigenous languages which is a violation of UNDRIP Article 13 Sections 1&2. We refer to UNDRIP Articles 11.1, 12.1 which provide protection for Indigenous peoples to practice, preserve, and maintain our language, culture, and spiritual traditions. Our languages, knowledge, and culture are intertwined with one another. In order to preserve our Indigenous lifeways, we need to preserve our languages. Educational support is vital for language revitalization
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