Consultation and participation in ILO Convention No. 169
WHAT IS THE LINK BETWEEN CONSULTATION AND PARTICIPATION?
The right to consultation of indigenous peoples is not limited to the right to react to externally
initiated or imposed measures. The ILO supervisory bodies have underlined the interconnectedness of the concepts of consultation and participation. This implies that indigenous
peoples should not only respond and be able to influence externally initiated proposals, but
should actively participate and propose measures, programmes and activities that shape
their development. Participation implies going further than mere consultation and should
lead to concrete ownership of initiatives by indigenous peoples. In this sense, the intertwined
concepts of consultation and participation are the mechanisms to ensure that indigenous
peoples can decide their own priorities for the process of development and exercise control
over their own economic, social and cultural development, as stipulated in Article 7(1) of the
Convention.
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