exposure to mining projects should learn from these and other experiences. The establishment
of a database to share such experiences could be of value to indigenous peoples globally.
4. In order to strengthen community capacity to consider and evaluate project proposals, to conduct
effective negotiations, and to assert their decision-making rights, indigenous peoples should
insist on improved education on their rights. This should include education on relevant national
processes and structures and possible avenues of complaint and redress at local, national and
international levels. Indigenous peoples should also seek to better understand corporations,
addressing issues such as their processes of decision-making, relationships with other
companies, financial resources and investment sources, policies, and track record, particularly
in relation to FPIC and benefit-sharing agreements.
5. Communities need to develop their own analytical skills, or have guaranteed access to
independent experts with such skills, so that they are in a position to understand the legal and
technical documentation provided by companies. In the spirit of FPIC the absence of the capacity
to engage with the information provided could be viewed by communities as sufficient grounds to
reject any proposal until these conditions are in place.
6. Indigenous communities should insist that they decide where and under what conditions
negotiations will be held. If this choice of location is denied, or access is denied to some concerned
parties, or consultations and negotiations are tainted by military or police threat or duress this
would constitute sufficient grounds to reject any proposal until the appropriate conditions are in
place.
7. Learning from communities who have direct experience including similar projects to those proposed
can serve to inform local decision-making. Communities should ensure information excursions
organised by corporations are directly comparable to the proposed project, and are not seen as a
form of personal inducement which could isolate those attending from their community.
8. Participation in or the building of alliances between indigenous peoples or with broader networks
may provide communities with better access to support in the context of ensuring that FPIC
processes are conducted under the appropriate conditions.
9. In all consent-seeking consultations the indigenous organisers should ensure that all appropriate
bodies and groups are invited, including representatives of the directly or indirectly affected
peoples and any advisers or observers chosen by them.
10. When defining their position, strategies and demands in the course of negotiating and
engaging in FPIC processes, indigenous organizations should familiarise themselves with their
internationally recognised rights and align their demands with recognised international standards
and instruments. These include ILO Convention 169, the UN Declaration, and other international
human rights standards and jurisprudence. Good examples of laws, policies and court ruling in
other States could also be drawn on.
Recommendations to States
1. Ratify International Labour Organization Convention 169 and ensure the genuine implementation
of the UN Declaration and other relevant human rights obligations as members of the international
community. Securing indigenous peoples’ right to self-determination and their inherent rights
to ancestral territories is an essential prerequisite for any negotiation on corporate access to
indigenous lands.
2. Where applicable the home States of mining corporations should enact extraterritorial legislation
to hold their companies better to account for violations of indigenous peoples’ rights overseas
and establish affordable, accessible and responsive fora where indigenous peoples can bring
allegations of abuses and complaints.
3. In order to ensure that the enabling conditions necessary to secure respect for indigenous
peoples’ rights are in place States must enact legislation and take appropriate administrative
measures to:
Making Free, Prior and Informed Consent a Reality
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