Welcome to the United Nations
The Permanent Forum is an advisory body to the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) with a mandate to discuss Indigenous issues related to economic and social development, culture, the environment, education, health and human rights. The Permanent Forum holds annual two-week sessions at the United Nations Headquarters in New York in April-May.
The Permanent Forum is comprised of sixteen independent experts (See ECOSOC resolution 2000/22).
- Eight of the Members are nominated by governments and elected by ECOSOC, and
- Eight members to be appointed by the President of the Council following formal consultations with the bureau and regional groups through the coordinators, on a basis of broad consultations with indigenous organizations taking into account the diversity and geographic distribution of indigenous peoples of the world, as well as principles of transparency, representativity, and equal opportunity for all indigenous people, including internal processes, when appropriate, and local indigenous consultation processes.
Those appointed as expert members to the Permanent Forum serve in their personal capacity. They are not United Nations staff members, are not based at United Nations offices in New York or elsewhere, and do not receive a salary or other financial compensation, except for travel expenses and a daily living allowance as "experts on mission."
Vacancies to be filled from January 2026 to December 2028.
The current membership of the Permanent Forum is due to expire at the end of 2025.
Nominations are now requested for the three-year period from January 2026 until December 2028. Current members who have served the maximum of two terms (six years) as Permanent Forum members cannot be nominated for a further term.
Nominations by Indigenous People’s organizations
According to established practice, the eight Indigenous nominated members are from each of the seven socio-cultural regions determined to give broad representation to the world’s Indigenous Peoples.
These socio-cultural regions are: Africa; the Arctic; Asia; Central and South America and the Caribbean; Eastern Europe, Russian Federation, Central Asia and Transcaucasia; North America; and the Pacific.
The eighth member is nominated from one of the three regions with the largest Indigenous population (Africa; Asia; and Central and South America and the Caribbean). This seat rotates among these three regions every three years, thus adding a second member from that region for each three-year term. (See ECOSOC Decision 2016/205, Election 4).
Therefore, for the membership 2026–2028, there will be two members of the Permanent Forum from Africa.
Download the Call for nominations by DESA: EN | SP | FR | RU
How to submit nominations
To send in nominations for consideration the following documents are required:
- Nomination letter
- A recent resume/curriculum vitae of the nominee (maximum 2 printed pages in Word format)
- A short biography of the nominee (200 words)
- Information on consultation processes for nominations among Indigenous Peoples’ organizations; and
- Information about the nominating organization(s)
Consultations amongst Indigenous organizations are encouraged to commence as soon as possible to ensure that the President of the ECOSOC has suitable candidates for consideration and appointment. In considering possible candidates the organizations are encouraged to take into account the expertise relevant to the mandate of the Permanent Forum as well as the principles of geographic distribution and gender balance.
Where to submit
All nominations must be submitted by 25 January 2025 via email:
indigenous_un@un.org | Subject: Nomination for 2026-2028 UNPFII Membership
OR correspondence:
Indigenous Peoples and Development Branch - Secretariat of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, Division for Inclusive Social Development, Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA),
Room S-2555, 405 East 42nd Street, New York, NY 10017, United States of America.
Received nominations will be confirmed by email.
Information on the outcome of the process will be posted on www.un.org/indigenous once a decision has been made by the Economic and Social Council and its President.