A/RES/52/108
Page 3
7. Also reaffirms, among the objectives of the Decade listed in the programme of activities, the
consideration of the establishment of a permanent forum for indigenous people within the United Nations
system;
8. Welcomes the holding of the second workshop on the establishment of a permanent forum for
indigenous people within the United Nations system at Santiago, from 30 June to 2 July 1997, takes note
of the report thereon,5 and recommends that the Commission on Human Rights at its fifty-fourth session
take into account the outcome of the workshop and the comments received by the United Nations High
Commissioner for Human Rights from Governments, the relevant United Nations bodies and organizations,
the specialized agencies, non-governmental organizations and indigenous organizations in its further
consideration of the possible establishment of a permanent forum for indigenous people within the United
Nations system;
9. Also welcomes the holding of the workshop on traditional knowledge and biological diversity
at Madrid, from 24 to 28 November 1997, convened to address the implementation of article 8 (j) of the
Convention on Biological Diversity6 with regard to the role of traditional knowledge, innovations and
practices of indigenous and local communities in the sustainable use of biological diversity;
10. Encourages Governments to support the Decade by:
(a) Preparing relevant programmes, plans and reports in relation to the Decade, in consultation with
indigenous people;
(b) Seeking means, in consultation with indigenous people, of giving indigenous people greater
responsibility for their own affairs and an effective voice in decisions on matters that affect them;
(c) Establishing national committees or other mechanisms involving indigenous people to ensure
that the objectives and activities of the Decade are planned and implemented on the basis of full
partnership with indigenous people;
(d) Contributing to the United Nations Trust Fund for the International Decade for the World's
Indigenous People;
(e) Contributing, together with other donors, to the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Indigenous
Populations in order to assist indigenous representatives in participating in the Working Group on
Indigenous Populations of the Subcommission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of
Minorities and the open-ended inter-sessional working group of the Commission on Human Rights charged
with elaborating a draft declaration on the rights of indigenous people;
(f) Considering contributing, as appropriate, to the Fund for the Development of Indigenous Peoples
in Latin America and the Caribbean, in support of the achievement of the goals of the Decade;
5
E/CN.4/SUB.2/AC.4/1997/CRP.1.
6
See United Nations Environment Programme, Convention on Biological Diversity (Environmental Law
and Institution Programme Activity Centre), June 1992.
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