2.4 c Community consent protocols
Many Indigenous communities facing pressure from mining, conservation, or other projects are creating their own
“consent protocols.” A “protocol” is a set of rules or procedures. These protocols set out how decisions will be made
and how outsiders should deal with the community to get their consent for a project or policy.
For example, the Akaitcho People and the people of the Taku River Tlingit First Nation in Canada have both written
guidelines for exploration or mining on their territories. The Lokono People of West Suriname have also made their
draft consultation and consent protocol available to the public.16
Each protocol is different but might include explanations of:
•
The vision and rights of the community;
•
Maps and information on land and resource boundaries;
•
How outsiders are expected to act while seeking the consent of the people;
•
Information on how to contact negotiators;
•
What steps they must take to submit requests for meetings, information etc.;
•
What steps the community will take in considering and responding to proposals;
•
How the community expects to participate, such as by being involved in assessing and monitoring impacts;
•
How final decisions will be made and agreements made legal;
•
How the community’s consent or refusal to consent is to be determined and verified; and
•
What benefits the community expects.
Whatever we decide to include in our own consent protocol, we should
be sure to make it available to outsiders only after it has been fully
reviewed and approved by our community. If we find we need to change
or strengthen it in the future, that is our right. It should be a “living
document.”
“Our communities are
empowered to develop our own
rules and regulations. They can
be safeguards as well and could
include safeguarding how an
extractive activity can take place”
— Amerindian trainer, Region 9
Key FPIC Tip: Under international law, it is the right of Indigenous Peoples
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to make laws to govern our traditional territories. And under Guyanese
law, village councils have the right to make and enforce village rules.
These rules may govern things like: “the conduct of non-residents when
within Village lands” and “the management, use, preservation, protection
and conservation of Village lands and resources” (Amerindian Act – Section 14). These regulations are then supposed
to be approved by the Minister for Amerindian Affairs (Section 15). However the United Nations Committee that
monitors how well Guyana is meeting its obligations under the Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
has expressed “deep concern” about this condition. CERD has urged Guyana to recognise that village councils have to
have “the powers necessary for the self-administration and the control of the use, management and conservation of
traditional lands and resources.”18 That means the United Nations supports our right to make rules for our community
whether or not the Government of Guyana agrees or not. We need to make sure that outsiders know that it is our
right, and we have to insist that they respect the processes set out in our consent protcols!
16 The Taku River Mining Policy can be downloaded from the Internet at http://www.trtfn.yikesite.com/downloads/mining-policy.pdf.
17 Article 5 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples states: “Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain and
strengthen their distinct political, legal, economic, social and cultural institutions, while retaining their right to participate fully, if they so
choose, in the political, economic, social and cultural life of the State.” Article 27 says that states shall give “due recognition to indigenous
peoples’ laws, traditions, customs and land tenure systems, to recognize and adjudicate the rights of indigenous peoples pertaining to their
lands, territories and resources.”
18 See Article 15. CERD. Concluding observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination: GUYANA. April 4, 2006. The
full text is available on the Internet at http://www.unhchr.ch/tbs/doc.nsf/898586b1dc7b4043c1256a450044f331/c7d1cd668afb4a0ec1257
14c00311bbb/$FILE/G0641177.pdf
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Free, Prior and Informed Consent