scholarly journals Indigenous Peoples, International Law, and Extractive Industry Contracts

AJIL Unbound ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 109 ◽  
pp. 220-225 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ibironke T. Odumosu-Ayanu
Keyword(s):  
Informed Consent ◽  
International Law ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Indigenous Rights ◽  
Transnational Corporations ◽  
International Norms ◽  
Extractive Industry ◽  
Global Industry

The extractive industry has contributed to the development of international law since colonial times. Contracts between states and extractive companies largely drive this global industry. This essay situates extractive industry contracts involving Indigenous peoples, long term actors who have significantly informed the development of international law, within the context of international law. While these contracts are usually analyzed from domestic perspectives, they are impacted by international norms and, as developing transnational practices, even have the potential to show ways ahead in international law. As regards engagement with Indigenous peoples, contracts, which are typically regarded as private instruments, have significant public ramifications. This is especially the case where states, Indigenous peoples, and transnational corporations (TNCs) are involved and where internationally recognized principles relating to Indigenous rights, notably free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC) are implicated.

The Definition of Indigenous Peoples and its Applicability in China

2015 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 232-258 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linzhu Wang
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Ethnic Groups ◽  
Ethnic Minorities ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Indigenous Rights ◽  
International Norms ◽  
Chinese Government ◽  
Indigenous Status ◽  
Historical Continuity ◽  
Definition Of

This article considers the applicability of the concept of indigenous peoples in China, in accordance with the definitions developed in international law. It examines different approaches to define indigenous peoples in international law, and explores how those definitions may relate to Chinese ethnic groups. In particular, the article looks at possibilities for Chinese minorities to claim indigenous status, based on the standards of ‘the priority of settlement’ and ‘distinctiveness arising from historical continuity and attachment to a specific land’. It argues that the uncertainty of the definition, the complexity of the ethnic situation, and the reluctance of the Chinese Government make the application of indigenous rights in China unclear at the present. The Chinese minority/indigenous argument, to a certain extent, depends on the elaboration of international norms on indigenous rights, as well as the clarification of Chinese terms in relation to ethnic minorities.

Mobilising Free, Prior and Informed Consent (fpic) from Below: A Typology of Indigenous Peoples’ Agency

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 291-313 ◽  
Author(s):  
Almut Schilling-Vacaflor ◽  
Riccarda Flemmer
Keyword(s):  
Informed Consent ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Indigenous Rights ◽  
Legal Interpretation ◽  
Resource Governance ◽  
Natural Resource Governance ◽  
Indigenous Participation ◽  
Latin American Countries ◽  
Public Decision

Based on rich empirical data from Bolivia, Colombia, and Peru – the three Latin American countries where the implementation of prior consultation processes is most advanced – we present a typology of indigenous peoples’ agency surrounding prior consultation processes and the principle of free, prior and informed consent (fpic). The typology distinguishes between indigenous actors (1) mobilising for a strong legal interpretation of fpic, (2) mobilising for meaningful and influential fpic processes, (3) mobilising against prior consultation processes, and (4) blockading prior consultation processes for discussing broader grievances. We identify the most prominent indigenous strategies related to those four types, based on emblematic cases. Finally, we critically discuss the inherent shortcomings of the consultation approach as a model for indigenous participation in public decision-making and discuss the broader implications of our findings with regard to indigenous rights and natural resource governance.

scholarly journals The Duty to Consult the Sámi in Norwegian Law

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (0) ◽  
pp. 233
Author(s):  
Øyvind Ravna
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Informed Consent ◽  
International Law ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
General Review ◽  
Decision Making Processes

This article deals with the duty to consult indigenous peoples and the obligation to involve these peoples in decision-making processes in matters that concern them. After a general review of international legislation and obligations, particularly the ILO Convention no. 169 on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples, the article focuses on how these obligations are implemented towards the indigenous Sámi in Norwegian law. Here, the consultation agreement from 2005 and the Sámi Rights Committee’s 2007 draft are still central. The review includes an analysis of the extent to which these duties meet international law requirements, and a deliberation on the concept of free, prior and informed consent.

Indigenous Rights: Recent Developments in International Law

2000 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 266-310
Author(s):  
Julie Debeljak
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Indigenous People ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Indigenous Rights ◽  
Cultural Institutions ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Land Holdings

“Indigenous peoples have been deprived of vast land holdings, and access to life sustaining resources, and they have suffered … activ[e] suppress[ion of] their political and cultural institutions. As a result indigenous people have been crippled economically and socially, their cohesiveness as communities has been damaged or threatened, and the integrity of their cultures has been undermined.”

Indigenous Rights, Resistance, and the Law: Lessons from a Guatemalan Mine

2008 ◽  
Vol 50 (4) ◽  
pp. 91-121 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda M. Fulmer ◽  
Angelina Snodgrass Godoy ◽  
Philip Neff
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Social Responsibility ◽  
International Law ◽  
Financial Institutions ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Indigenous Rights ◽  
Democratic Governance ◽  
International Financial Institutions ◽  
Extractive Industry ◽  
Corporate Social

AbstractUsing a case study of a controversial mine in an indigenous area of Guatemala, this article explores the transnational dynamics of development and regulation of large-scale extractive industry projects in the developing world. It examines the roles played in the Marlin mine dispute by national law, international law, international financial institutions, and corporate social responsibility. It concludes that these legal regimes have a role in protecting human rights but have not addressed the fundamental questions of democratic governance raised by this case.

Recent Books on Human Rights and Groups Review Essays International Law and the Evolution of Indigenous Rights

2008 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 117-131
Author(s):  
Stephen Allen
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
International Law ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Indigenous Rights ◽  
Land Rights ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Critical Stage ◽  
Conditions Of Possibility ◽  
Supranational Level

AbstractThe recent adoption of the United Nations (UN) Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples has reinvigorated the discourse on indigenous rights. This essay reviews three books – Xanthaki's Indigenous Rights and United Nations Standards: Self-Determination, Culture and Land; Gilbert's Indigenous Peoples' Land Rights Under International Law: From Victims to Actors; and Rodriguez-Pinero's Indigenous Peoples, Postcolonialism and International Law: The ILO Regime (1919–1989) – that illustrate the way in which indigenous rights have evolved at the supranational level. Moreover, in their different ways, these important books highlight the conditions of possibility for indigenous peoples at a critical stage in the development of indigenous rights in international law.

scholarly journals Indigenous Title and its Contextual Economic Implications: Lessons for International Law From Canada’s Tsilhqot’in Decision

AJIL Unbound ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 109 ◽  
pp. 215-219 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dwight Newman
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Indigenous Rights ◽  
Land Rights ◽  
Supreme Court Of Canada ◽  
Economic Implications ◽  
The Supreme Court ◽  
Indigenous Land Rights ◽  
International Instruments ◽  
Indigenous Land

International law on the rights of Indigenous peoples has developed rapidly in recent decades. In the latest phase of this development, international instruments on the rights of Indigenous peoples have increasingly offered universalized statements. However, the reality remains that the implementation of Indigenous rights must take place in particular circumstances in particular states. The form of domestic implementation of Indigenous rights may or may not connect closely to international law statements on these rights, and there may be good reasons for that. This essay takes up a particular example of Indigenous land rights and a significant recent development on land rights in the Supreme Court of Canada.

Global Indigenous Rights and Responses

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pat Lauderdale ◽  
Nicholas D. Natividad
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
International System ◽  
Indigenous Rights ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
Cultural Economic ◽  
Real Change ◽  
The Individual

The United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues estimates that there are over 370 million indigenous people spread across 70 countries worldwide. Practicing unique traditions, they retain social, cultural, economic, and political characteristics that are distinct from those of the dominant societies in which they live. Dialogue and political negotiations with indigenous peoples has a long history that began at least a half a millennium ago when the notion of an inter-national” community and the concept of the nation-state became dominant. Since that time, the concepts of sovereignty, self-determination, rule of law, and human rights have led to the establishment of the frameworks and structures of organization that are now referred to collectively as modern international law. But unlike most modern international human rights law, which emphasizes rights of the individual, indigenous peoples generally think in terms of collective rather than individual rights. Because indigenous peoples’ “law” suggests the importance of collective rights, it renders a culture of responsibility and accountability to the collective. At present, international indigenous rights are a type of superficial bandage, giving the appearance of propriety to the crisis faced by the hegemonic “international system of states.” Therefore, indigenous rights standards propagated by organizations such as the UN currently are largely symbolic. However, they could potentially lead to real change if they are coupled with widespread acknowledgment of the fact that diverse societies exist throughout the world with different forms of social organization and diverse conceptions of law.

scholarly journals Human Rights and Indigenous Peoples

2009 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 129-141
Author(s):  
Garth Nettheim
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Indigenous Rights ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
Indigenous Australians ◽  
Unfinished Business ◽  
Marked Contrast ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Reconciliation Process

The paper begins by noting the low level of reference to Indigenous Australians in the Commonwealth Constitution at the start of Federation, and goes on to discuss the limits to what was achieved by the 1967 amendments. The situation represents a marked contrast with the USA and Canada in terms of treaties and constitutional recognition. In Australia, particularly during the period of the ‘Reconciliation’ process in the 1990s, important steps were taken by Indigenous Australians to identify items of ‘unfinished business’ in a ‘Statement of Indigenous Rights’. But there has been limited progress to meet these aspirations. And Australian law still lacks a tradition of recognition of human rights generally, let alone Indigenous rights. International law, too, largely lacked recognition of human rights, generally prior to the adoption in 1945 of the Charter of the United Nations. The brief references in the Charter were subsequently developed in a range of declarations and of treaties. These applied to people generally, with scant reference to Indigenous peoples. But, since the 1970s, there has been growing international recognition of the rights of Indigenous peoples under existing declarations and treaties. Since the 1990s, in particular, the UN system has established specific mechanisms for addressing such issues. On 13 September 2007, the General Assembly finally adopted a Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

scholarly journals Articulating ‘free, prior and informed consent’ (FPIC) for engineered gene drives

2019 ◽  
Vol 286 (1917) ◽  
pp. 20191484 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dalton R. George ◽  
Todd Kuiken ◽  
Jason A. Delborne
Keyword(s):  
Informed Consent ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Land Development ◽  
Indigenous Rights ◽  
Local Communities ◽  
Gene Drive ◽  
Design Development ◽  
Development Scenarios ◽  
The Social ◽  
Gene Drives

Recent statements by United Nations bodies point to free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) as a potential requirement in the development of engineered gene drive applications. As a concept developed in the context of protecting Indigenous rights to self-determination in land development scenarios, FPIC would need to be extended to apply to the context of ecological editing. Without an explicit framework of application, FPIC could be interpreted as a narrowly framed process of community consultation focused on the social implications of technology, and award little formal or advisory power in decision-making to Indigenous peoples and local communities. In this paper, we argue for an articulation of FPIC that attends to issues of transparency, iterative community-scale consent, and shared power through co-development among Indigenous peoples, local communities, researchers and technology developers. In realizing a comprehensive FPIC process, researchers and developers have an opportunity to incorporate enhanced participation and social guidance mechanisms into the design, development and implementation of engineered gene drive applications.

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