1.3 Free, Prior and Informed Consent in international law
Protection for Indigenous rights is usually strongest in international law. This law comes from different types of
agreements that governments sign and agree to follow, such as conventions, treaties and declarations.
Even after signing, some governments do not respect or protect the rights set out in these agreements. They may
try to argue that certain agreements are “legally binding” (meaning the government has a duty, under law, to follow
them) and others are not. This can be hard to make sense of.
Treaties (conventions and covenants) are generally legally binding. This is especially true if a country ratifies a treaty
by adding it in writing to national laws. See Box 1 and Section 1.5 for a list of some treaties that have been ratified by
Guyana.
Declarations are usually not legally binding. But once a government signs them, it signals its commitment to follow
what is contained in the declarations. International courts and the human rights committees that monitor treaties
have ruled that declarations are “indirectly binding.” They also have made it clear that Indigenous Peoples have the
right to Free, Prior and Informed Consent. See Section 1.5 for more information.
Key international treaties and declarations that support the right to Free, Prior and Informed Consent are listed in
Box 1.
One of the most important is the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). It
specifically sets out our right to FPIC in six different articles — Articles
10, 11.2, 19, 28, 29.2 and 32.2.2
Not all of the treaties listed use the words “Free, Prior and
Informed Consent;” But they all include other rights that we can use
to support our right to say, “Yes” or No.” Among these rights are:
2
4
Box 1: Some international treaties
that support the right to
Free, Prior and Informed Consent
United Nations Declaration on the
Rights of Indigenous Peoples
•
The right to self-determination and to determine our own
development priorities;
•
The right to our own political, economic, legal, social and
cultural institutions;
*International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights
•
The right to own property, as individuals and collectively as a
people;
*International Covenant on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights
•
The right to the lands, territories and resources we have
traditionally used or occupied;
*Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Racial Discrimination
•
The right to freely dispose of our natural wealth and
resources;
The American Declaration on
the Rights and Duties of Man
•
The rights to livelihood and subsistence;
•
The right to protect our culture;
*The Convention on Biological
Diversity
•
The right to security;
•
The right to be free from forced displacement (that is, to be
made to leave our land); and
•
The rights to life and health.
Remember: The Government of
Guyana has signed all of these treaties.
The ones that have an * beside their
name are also legally binding under
Guyana’s laws.
Copies of UNDRIP are available on the Internet at http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/documents/DRIPS_en.pdf
The Declaration has also been translated into some Indigenous languages, such as Arawak, Carib, and others. They can be downloaded
from the following website: http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/en/declaration.html
Free, Prior and Informed Consent