Related Aricles UNDRIP PROVISIONS FOR FPIC

RIGHTS AIPP AIPP Regional Capacity Building Program - Training Manual on the UNDRIP 45

III. REALITIES ON THE GROUND; EXPERIENCES AND LESSONS LEARNED

There are several areas of concern in which the principle of free, prior, informed consent has consistently been violated. Indigenous peoples must insist on FPIC compliance in these areas. These include but might not be limited to: • the exploitation of land and other natu- ral resources within a people’s territory, especially where this may result in: » environmental damage or degrada- tion; » health and safety hazards; » the economic dislocation of the people resulting from the degradation of their traditional means of livelihood; » the relocation or removal of the people from their traditional territory; » the desecration of burial sites and other sacred places; • military occupation; • the exploitation of a people’s traditional knowledge, e.g. in food production and medicine, especially where this involves: » the taking of mineral, plant and animal materials from the area, for uses that the peo- ple can neither determine nor control; » the patenting of such materials or the registration of claims of intellectual property » rights over these, disefranchising the people who originally discovered them and de- priving other people of free access to them; • the taking of samples of human tissue for genetic studies, especially where this involves the patenting of the genetic materials, as has happened with the Human Genome and the Human Genome Diversity projects; • the exploitation of a people’s culture, especially where this involves: » the taking of human remains and other sacred and historical artifacts; » the display of sacred ceremonies and other rituals outside of their proper context; » the inappropriate portrayal of the people and their culture, particularly in themass media and for tourism. With the depletion of fossil fuel and mineral deposits, timber stands and soil fertility in parts of the world that have been intensively exploited for several decades or even hundreds of years, and frontier areas, such as those occupied by the indigenous peoples of Asia, have become tar- gets of aggressive capitalist expansion in the installation and operation of hydropower dams and geothermal power plants, the drilling and pumping of oil and natural gas, mining, logging and the development of plantations. It has been rather easy for capitalist corporations to advance their projects in areas occupied by indigenous peoples because they mostly enjoy the backing of national government, and because there are hardly any national laws that specifically require them to obtain the free, prior, informed consent of affected peoples. Where such laws exist – as in the Philippines – they are often broken. Input the following. Suggested Method Module-2 RIGHTS AIPP AIPP Regional Capacity Building Program - Training Manual on the UNDRIP 46 Gaps Analysis UNDRIP NATIONAL OR GAPS CONSIDERATIONS OPTIONS PROVISIONS ON LOCAL LAWS IMPLICATIONS RECOMMENDATIONS FREE, PRIOR OR POLICIES INFORMED CONSENT Paragraph or Specific laws, Specific laws, Can current laws, What needs to be Article number policies policies NOT policies be used to done? How? By conforming conforming support indigenous whom? Where? with UNDRIP with UNDRIP peoples’ positions When? For how or interests? Are long? there loopholes in the law that can be used for or against indigenous peoples? Should the matter be approached legally? Or politically? Module-2 First ask the participants if they know of any laws and policies in their country that provide for free, prior, informed consent or some semblance of it, and how these laws and policies are complied with or imple- mented. If such laws and policies exist, ask them to fill up a Gaps Analysis table. Suggested Method