Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC): A framework for corporate engagement with indigenous peoples and the sustainable development of natural resources
- Autores: Laurence Klein
- Directores de la Tesis: María Jesús Muñoz Torres (dir. tes.), María Angeles Fernández Izquierdo (codir. tes.)
- Lectura: En la Universitat Jaume I ( España ) en 2024
- Idioma: inglés
- Número de páginas: 226
- Tribunal Calificador de la Tesis: José Luis Fernández Fernández (presid.), Maria Chiara Marullo (secret.), Susana Borràs Pentinat (voc.)
- Programa de doctorado: Programa de Doctorado en Estudios Internacionales en Paz, Conflictos y Desarrollo por la Universidad Jaume I de Castellón
- Materias:
- Enlaces
- Tesis en acceso abierto en: TDX
- Resumen
Indigenous peoples are currently not fully participating in processes connected to national resource governance, despite having sustainably managed their natural resources for millennia. What is more, they are sustaining considerable adverse impacts on their human rights and livelihoods due to the increasing activities of extractive industries operating on their lands, oftentimes without their Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC). That said, the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGP) approved by United Nations Human Rights Council in 2011 require companies to respect human rights and urge them to consult with affected rights-holders prior to starting their projects. The UNGP have certainly contributed to an increase in the relevance of FPIC amongst companies, but there is still a huge disconnect between corporate policies and corporate practices at the local level.
Despite the growing number of industry norms and corporate policies guiding companies in their engagement with indigenous peoples, which oftentimes mention FPIC, its interpretation as an engagement principle, instead of a human rights norm, and the weak formulation of the UNGP, do not allow for these initiatives to have the desired impact on indigenous peoples social and political agency during negotiations on resource development. At the same time, some companies are already assuming public human rights duties, especially in developing countries, where governments often outsource FPIC processes and prior consultations to project proponents. Thus, there is an urgent need to support companies in their new role to ensure that they do not replace the moral and normative basis of FPIC with their technical understanding of community engagement.
Under these circumstances, this thesis connects the FPIC narrative with the debate on corporate human rights obligations that should lead companies to assume positive corporate human rights obligations, which includes a proactive contribution to the implementation of FPIC during their projects. Operationally, it implies that for the industrial-scale extraction of natural resources with considerable impacts on indigenous peoples, companies must seek and obtain the consent of indigenous peoples before implementing their projects, and if consent is not forthcoming, they must be prepared to pull out of projects, as co-guarantors of human rights.
Human Rights Impact Assessments (HRIA) represent the ideal tool for companies to act on their obligations under the Human Rights Due Diligence (HRDD) paradigm and to operationalise the right to FPIC of indigenous peoples because they tend to be collaborative, ongoing, as well as consent and rights-based. This is demonstrated based on empirical evidence from Repsol's engagement with Wayuu communities in La Guajira, Colombia. HRIA are thus defined as the most appropriate tool to be used by companies when their activities impact the rights of indigenous peoples and contribute to the operationalisation of FPIC.
