2018 United Nations Forum on Business and Human Rights

Interpretation is provided in English, French and Spanish
 
Brief description of the session and session objectives: 

The objectives of this session are to: (1) discuss good practices from the perspective of the indigenous rights holders, lessons-learned, gaps, and challenges to strengthen the implementation of FPIC, in particular the significance of community protocols in the context of business activities and (2) identify factors for an enabling environment for respecting indigenous peoples’ rights and effective implementation of FPIC process.

Background to the discussion:

Following the adoption of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, a growing number of investors, financial institutions and businesses in a range of sectors have developed, or are in the process of developing, safeguard policies that require them to respect indigenous peoples’ rights, especially their right to free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) as part of the human rights due diligence expected of them and social license to operate. Furthermore, indigenous peoples’ rights to self-determination and to lands, territories and resources have been gaining support and attention at different levels. However, a growing body of decisions of UN human rights bodies, regional and national courts and complaint mechanisms such as the OECD National Contract Points demonstrate that indigenous peoples continue to be the victims of human rights abuses associated with business activities.
At the same time, indigenous peoples are increasingly developing their own protocols and policies, which provide guidance to States and corporations on how to consult with them and seek their FPIC in accordance with their right to self-determination and their customary decision-making practices. Communities from the Murut Tahol Community in Alutok, Ulu Tomani, Tenom, Malyasia as well as the Juruna People in the Brazilian Amazon and the Embera Chami in Colombia, are among those who have developed such protocols. These protocols reflect the community's identity, culture, ways of life and the interconnection of territories, peoples and nature. They highlight the central importance of respect for indigenous peoples’ rights, including their self-determination right to decide their own plans, priorities and visions for their futures and the related right of communities to make decisions on externally proposed projects in or near their territories.
The UN Forum on Business and Human Rights is unique in that it provides all parties involved in such projects, i.e. States, private sector actors and indigenous peoples, a space in which to dialogue and to ensure that the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights are effective for indigenous peoples, particularly in relation to their collective rights to self-determination, FPIC and lands, territories and resources.

Key discussion questions:

• What were the different contexts that community protocols have played a role (or could play a role) in facilitating meaningful FPIC processes?
• To what extent do community protocols address the role of governments in human rights due diligence and FPIC and the corresponding responsibilities of corporations?
• What are the experiences of implementing FPIC processes in different regions and are there good practices that can be replicated by other indigenous communities or adopted by States or private sectors in their policies and guidelines?

 
Format of the session: 

The event will consist of a panel discussion with brief case study presentations followed by a 50-minute interactive discussion with session participants. The focus will be on how to ensure the effective implementation of consultation and FPIC in the context of business activities and the role which indigenous peoples’ consultation and FPIC protocols can play in this regard.
Indigenous community representatives from three regions (Asia, Latin America and Africa) will present their experience with consultation and FPIC processes and their views on the importance and benefits of consultation and free prior and informed consent (FPIC) protocols that are developed by indigenous peoples themselves.
The floor will be opened to participants to raise questions and present their perspectives on and experiences with consultation and FPIC processes and on related protocols developed by indigenous peoples. This part of the session will be “talk show format”, with the participants having the opportunity to raise questions amongst each other as in a public dialogue or engage with the panel.

Interpretation is provided in English and Spanish

Organized by ENEL

Brief description of the session:
This session will explore the nexus between renewable energies and Indigenous people.  Enel Green Power will be publishing a book to give a voice to some of the indigenous communities hosting renewable plants in different countries with regard to the cultural aspects of water, earth, wind and sun,  all of which,  from the company’s point of view, are primarily energy sources. This will serve as a starting point for the session.

Session objectives:
To open a multi-stakeholders’ dialogue on the implications of Indigenous people rights and renewable energies deployment.

Key discussion questions:
Analyzing how renewable plants relate to indigenous peoples, with a focus on cultural identities and natural resources. Underlying themes of this session are both the relation between indigenous peoples' rights and the impacts of business activities, as well as the link between climate change and the transition to a green economy.

Format of the session:
Roundtable and Q&A

Background to the discussion:
On the one hand, renewable energies are key to fight climate change whose negative impacts are particularly strong on those emerging economies where indigenous communities are more concentrated;  on the other hand, the same technologies still have environmental, socio-economic and cultural impacts.
 The private sector in general, and Enel Green Power in particular, has been focusing its efforts on mitigating socio-environmental impacts, through its sustainable construction site and plant models.
The panel will concentrate on how renewable energies can be integrated in an environment, which is not only a physical entity but also a cultural landscape where, for example, “energy sources” have cultural/spiritual meanings. The discussion will be led by representatives of indigenous communities EGP is working or will be working with, institutional representatives and one artist who has been working on art as a tool for social inclusion.

Brief description of the presentation:
Indigenous women are most closely associated with the habitat in which they live as their economic, social and cultural way of nurturing their families and communities is dependent on their access to land, forests and other natural resources. When business interests enter the dynamics of resource utilization they bring drastic changes to women’s lives. The legal and customary safeguards, which traditionally ensure that women are not disenfranchised from decision-making and consultative processes or accountability mechanisms, are negatively impacted when corporate stakes violate the rights of indigenous women, especially in sectors like mining. The speakers will represent the Asia Regional Alliance on Women and Mining and will refer to human rights violations of women human rights defenders (WHRDs) by the state and business-related human rights abuse due to irresponsible mineral extraction and processing in the region. The presentation will also focus on state and corporate due diligence requirements and related commitments with respect to transparency, accountability, monitoring and safeguards mechanisms for the protection of WHRDs.

Presentation objectives: 
The snapshot presenters will make concise recommendations based on wide engagement with indigenous women and affected women workers and communities, and will present due diligence best practices that uphold human rights standards and promote sustainable development.
 

Interpretation is provided in English and Spanish

Brief description of the presentation:
When issues of resettlement or recognition of land rights are not properly managed in the context large scale infrastructure or extractives projects, this may trigger violence and abuses of individual and collective rights of indigenous peoples.
The UPR provides an international mechanism for indigenous organizations and civil society organizations to raise awareness of such impacts. They have been using UPR as a tool to raise concerns with third countries on the impact of human rights abuses caused by investments and trade, and to influence policy makers in order to improve regulatory and monitoring frameworks (with civil society participation).

Presentation objectives:
The presentation will showcase of how UPR can positively contribute to the development of national plans on business and human rights possibly leading to concrete policy and legal developments to prevent future human rights abuses. The presenters will also discuss what avenues may be taken in order to balance the legitimate right of the State to promote investment projects of national interest with the conservation of ecosystems and the respect of human rights of indigenous peoples. This includes their right to participate in the whole investment project cycle, in line with the requirement set out in the UN Guiding Principles and other international human rights instruments.

Interpretation is provided in English and Spanish

Brief description of the presentation: 
Extractive activities, such as mining projects in Honduras, have affected collective and individual rights of indigenous peoples, such as their right to prior, free and informed consent, the right to water, their access to, use and control over land, and have negatively impacted on the enjoyment of a healthy environment. In this context, the human rights impacts on indigenous communities have received little attention from the government as well as from transnational enterprises involved, while human rights defenders rasing critical voices have been facing increased risks.

Objectives of the presentation: 
Against the backdrop of these challenges, the presentation will feature a civil society perspective on what would be effective measures by government, transnational corporations, other business and investors to meet the requirements set out in the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights in such a context. It will also offer the opportunity to explore existing avenues for improvement, including through meaningful participation of affected communities in decisions affecting their rights, as well as in the context of the possible development of a National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights.

Interpretation is provided in English and Spanish

Brief description of the presentation:
Initial experiences of a growing number of indigenous communities in jurisdictions throughout the world suggests that formalizing their own engagement rules and procedures, in the form of consultation and free prior and informed consent (FPIC) protocols, policies, templates or guidelines, can be an effective way for indigenous peoples to ensure that business activities in or near their territories only proceed in a manner that respects their rights. These living documents provide companies, financial institutions and other actors seeking to operate in or near the territories of indigenous peoples with context specific indigenous-rights-based principles, rules and frameworks within which they should operate when seeking indigenous peoples’ consent.

Presentation objectives:
The speakers will address a research project involving European Network on Indigenous Peoples members from Middlesex University London School of Law, Forest Peoples Programme and INFOE that seeks to build on these experiences and contribute to the empowerment of indigenous peoples to assert their right to self-determined development by consolidating, exploring and sharing these evolving approaches and the associated lessons and resources. The Embera Chami in the Resguardo Indigena de Canamomo y Lomoprieta in Colombia are indigenous peoples who have developed consultation and consent protocols regulating natural resource governance in their territories. A former governor of this Resguardo will address their experience and the importance of company and State adherence to their protocols to guarantee business respect for their collective land, cultural and self-governance rights.

Interpretation is provided in English and Spanish

Brief description of the presentation:
This session aims to present briefly the Sonora case and related recent decision by the Mexican Supreme Court in September 2018. On 6 August 2014, 40 million liters of copper sulphate were spilled by Buenavista del Cobre, property of Grupo Mexico, into the Bácanuchi and Sonora rivers, impacting on the access to clean water, health and livelihoods of almost 25,000 people along the río Sonora watershed. Since 2014, affected peoples and communities have been seeking justice, integral remediation and guarantees of non-repetition. In the last four years, several irregularities have been committed by both the authorities and the company, including the beginning of the expansion of the mine. In September 2018, the Mexican Supreme Court ruled in favor of the community of Bacanuchi regarding the lack of consultation before granting the permits for such expansion, thus re-affirming the constitutional right to participate in environmental matters by affected communities.

Presentation objectives:
A representative of affected communities will share her testimony, and PODER will share more information on the case and the potential this ruling has in advancing the fulfilment of the right to participation in the context of business activities in Mexico and internationally.