Free, Prior and Informed Consent: Protecting Indigenous Peoples’ rights to self-determination, participation, and decision-making

Taken from Cultural Survival, in http://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/free-prior-and-informed-consent-protecting-indigenous

“Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) is one of the most important principles that Indigenous Peoples believe can protect their right to participation. It is embedded in the right to self-determination. The duty of States to obtain Indigenous Peoples’ FPIC entitles Indigenous people to effectively determine the outcome of decision-making that affects them, not merely a right to be involved.” --UN Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) is an emerging standard in the dialogue on Indigenous Peoples rights; some argue that it is becoming part of customary international law. At Cultural Survival’s recent board meeting in October, Stella Tamang (Tamang) from Nepal, Grand Chief Edward John (Tl’azt’en) from Canada, Vincent Nmehielle (Ikwerre) from Nigeria, and Nicole Friederichs weighed in on what this concept actually means in practice. They see FPIC as an important standard Indigenous people can use to claim their rights to self-determination, consultation, and participation in decision-making. Governments and corporations can no longer ignore these principles.

The community that dies from thirst

A three year old child died of malnutrition last Friday in Uribia, a town of Colombia located in the department of La Guajira, mostly inhabited by the indigenous population Wayuu. The lack of water in recent years has taken the lives of nearly 5,000 children, according to Javier Rojas, leader of the Association of Traditional Indigenous Authorities Shipia Wayuu Wayuu. The more than 400,000 people who make up this community live 365 days a year with temperatures between 35 and 42 degrees, without water. Since a mining company was installed more than 10 years in the region, there has been a decline in the possibilities to access the liquid. The deaths make clear the drama that is lived.

The case has already reached the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), which called on Wednesday the Colombian Government to explain what measures it has taken to address this community and follow up to any attempts they have made to solve the food crisis that also affects those indigenous peoples. At the end of the process, according to Carolina Sáchica, the lawyer handling the case on behalf of the Wayuu, they expect to recover the water from the largest water resource in the area, the Rancheria River, which was dammed for the exclusive use of companies expected engaged in coal mining.

Book exposing Glencore (one of the owners of Cerrejon)! and its human right, labor, and environmental violations

Swiss-registered Glencore is one of the world's largest companies in  the extractive industry. Glencore's many mines and mining projects have  violated human rights and labour and environmental legislation on  countless occasions. In May 2014, MultiWatch published "Milliarden mit Rohstoffen – Der  Schweizer Konzern Glencore Xstrata", a survey of Glencore's  controversial business practices and of the negative impacts of its  mining projects. MultiWatch now present the English and Spanish version of the book.
Download here:
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