The right of indigenous peoples under international human rights law to give or withhold their Free Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) to natural resource extraction in their territories is increasingly recognized by intergovernmental organizations, international bodies, and industry actors, as well as in the domestic law of some States. This book offers a comprehensive overview of the historical basis and status of the requirement for indigenous peoples’ consent under international law, examining its relationship with debates and practice pertaining to the acquisition of title to territory throughout the colonial era. Cathal Doyle examines the evolution of the contemporary concept of FPIC and the main challenges and debates associated with its recognition and implementation. Drawing on existing jurisprudence and evolving international standards, policies and practices, Doyle argues that FPIC constitutes an emerging norm of international law, which is derived from indigenous peoples’ self-determination, territorial and cultural rights, and is fundamental to their realization. This rights consistent version of FPIC guarantees that the responses to questions and challenges posed by the extractive industry’s increasingly pervasive reach will be provided by indigenous peoples themselves. The book will be of great interest and value to students and researchers of public international law, and indigenous peoples and human rights.

This book addresses the right of indigenous peoples to live, own and use their traditional territories, and analyses how international law addresses this. Through its meticulous examination of the interaction between international law and indigenous peoples’ land rights, the work explores several burning issues such as collective rights, self-determination, property rights, cultural rights and restitution of land. It delves into the notion of past violations and the role of international law in providing for remedies, reparation and restitution. It also argues that there is a new phase in the relationship between States, indigenous peoples and private actors, such as corporations, in the making of territorial agreements. The first edition of this ground-breaking book was published in 2006, at the time the negotiations for the adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) were still underway. The adoption of the Declaration in 2007 marks an important moment not only in terms of law-making, but also represents the achievement of long decades of lobbying and advocacy from indigenous peoples’ representatives. This fully revised new edition reflects on the 10 years which have followed the adoption of the UNDRIP and examines its impact regarding indigenous peoples’ land rights. Its aim is not only to assess the importance of the UNDRIP in terms of international standards, but also to reflect on the ‘maturing’ of international law in relation to indigenous peoples’ land rights. Over the last 10 years these have reached a new level of visibility and a voluminous new jurisprudence and doctrine have been developed. Praise for the first edition: "Gilbert’s passion for his subject is palpable and illuminates every page, as do his zeal to expose international law’s complicity in indigenous peoples’ loss of their territories and tentative hope that international law might now provide some protection of indigenous peoples’ lands. The choice of topic is also to be applauded. There are few texts that examine indigenous peoples’ land rights in such depth.” Claire Charters, Associate Professor, University of Auckland, New Zealand (in International and Comparative Law Quarterly (ICLQ) "Gilbert’s gaze is firmly fixed on the future and the question how international law will reflect lex ferenda on indigenous land rights. His interpretation of international law must be seen in this light. He is looking beyond the current controversies in the rights discourse towards a more conciliatory phase in state-indigenous relations. International law undoubtedly has an important role to play in his vision, but its primary function is to facilitate dialogue rather than as a combative and adversarial mechanism. (..) Gilbert’s book is a tour de force on indigenous territoriality.” Stephen Allen, Senior Lecturer in Law, Queen Mary University London, United Kingdom (in International Journal on Minority and Group Rights

Analysing how Indigenous Peoples come to be identifiable as bearers of human rights, this book considers how individuals and communities claim the right of free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) as Indigenous peoples. The basic notion of FPIC is that states should seek Indigenous peoples’ consent before taking actions that will have an impact on them, their territories or their livelihoods. FPIC is an important development for Indigenous peoples, their advocates and supporters because one might assume that, where states recognize it, Indigenous peoples will have the ability to control how non-Indigenous laws and actions will affect them. But who exactly are the Indigenous peoples that are the subjects of this discourse? This book argues that the subject status of Indigenous peoples emerged out of international law in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Then, through a series of case studies, it considers how self-identifying Indigenous peoples, scholars, UN institutions and non-government organizations (NGOs) dispersed that subject-status and associated rights discourse through international and national legal contexts. It shows that those who claim international human rights as Indigenous peoples performatively become identifiable subjects of international law – but further demonstrates that this does not, however, provide them with control over, or emancipation from, a state-based legal system. Maintaining that the discourse on Indigenous peoples and international law itself needs to be theoretically and critically re-appraised, this book problematises the subject-status of those who claim Indigenous peoples’ rights and the role of scholars, institutions, NGOs and others in producing that subject-status. Squarely addressing the limitations of international human rights law, it nevertheless goes on to provide a conceptual framework for rethinking the promise and power of Indigenous peoples’ rights. Original and sophisticated, the book will appeal to scholars, activists and lawyers involved with indigenous rights, as well as those with more general interests in the operation of international law.

Corporations have become powerful actors exerting increasing influence on society and the living conditions of individuals worldwide, including indigenous peoples. While it is recognized that corporations have a responsibility to respect indigenous peoples’ rights and the important safeguard concept of free, prior and informed consent (FPIC), it is rather unclear what such a corporate responsibility entails from a legal perspective. This doctoral thesis thoroughly analyses the regulatory framework pertaining to indigenous peoples and corporations as well as the ‘case law’ of the OECD National Contact Points (NCPs). Based on this analysis, the thesis identifies currently applied features of indigenous peoples’ rights and FPIC in relation to corporate actors, determines shortcomings in the regulatory framework and the ‘jurisprudence’ of the NCPs, and makes suggestions for possible improvements.

Natural resources and their effective management are necessary for securing the realisation of human rights. The management of natural resources is linked to broad issues of economic development, as well as to political stability, peace and security, but it is also intimately connected to the political, economic, social and cultural rights of individuals and communities relying on these resources. The management of natural resources often leads to ill-planned development, misappropriation of land, corruption, bad governance, misaligned budget priorities, lack of strong institutional reforms and weak policies coupled with a continued denial of the human rights of local communities. This book argues that human rights law can play an important role in ensuring a more effective and sustainable management of natural resources, putting forward the idea of a human rights-based normative framework for natural resource management. It offers a comprehensive analysis of the different norms, procedures, and approaches developed under human rights law that are relevant to the management of natural resources. Advocating for a less market and corporate approach to the control, ownership, and management of natural resources, this book supports the development of holistic and coherent integration of human rights law in the overall international legal framework governing the management of natural resources.

This book studies the questions of how and to what extent the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit-Sharing (ABS) can be interpreted and implemented in light of international human rights law, with a sharpened focus on Indigenous Peoples and local communities. The complementarity thesis is built upon the understanding that ABS and human rights should not and cannot be isolated from one another in order to achieve their respective objectives. A mutually supportive approach to these two bodies of international law is articulated throughout the chapters, covering a wide range of international treaties and ‘soft’ instruments, as well as the practices of the United Nations, international treaty bodies, courts, other international organizations and sometimes NGOs. Legal researchers, legislators and policymakers, human rights practitioners and indeed anyone interested in the development of a more coherent and integrated system of international ABS framework will find this book helpful, with its succinct coverage of current ABS and human rights laws and practices, their pragmatic implications and possible ways of integration forward.

The Sixth Edition of International Human Rights provides students with an accessible, problem-based pedagogy that forces them consider the fundamental human rights issues of from political and legal perspectives. Balancing practical considerations and underlying theory, this outstanding and newly expanded authorship team delivers a comprehensive text that examines the historical underpinnings and contemporary considerations that animate human rights efforts across the globe. Professors and students will benefit from: Streamlined text with contents being more intuitive; eliminating the underutilized section on International Criminal Law and reapportioning those materials elsewhere, and condensing the International Humanitarian Law section. Thoroughly updated text that includes recent scholarship, reports from International Tribunals, and changes in International Human Rights landscape. An incorporation of recent resolutions from international tribunals and decisions for international adjudicatory bodies.

In Incorporating Indigenous Rights in the International Regime on Biodiversity Protection, Federica Cittadino convincingly interprets the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and its related instruments in light of indigenous rights and the principle of self-determination. Cittadino’s harmonisation of these formally separated regimes serves at least two main purposes. First, it ensures respect for the human rights framework that protects indigenous rights whilst implementing the biodiversity regime. Second, harmonisation allows for the full operationalisation of the indigenous related provisions of the CBD framework that concern traditional knowledge, genetic resources, and protected areas. Federica Cittadino successfully demonstrates that the CBD may allow for the protection of indigenous rights in ways that are more advanced than under current human rights law.

Today human rights represent a primary concern of the international legal system. The international community’s commitment to the protection and promotion of human rights, however, does not always produce the results hoped for by the advocates of a more justice-oriented system of international law. Indeed international law is often criticised for, inter alia, its enduring imperial character, incapacity to minimize inequalities and failure to take human suffering seriously. Against this background, the central question that this book aims to answer is whether the adoption of the 2007 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples points to the existence of an international law that promises to provide valid responses to the demands for justice of disempowered and vulnerable groups. At one level, the book assesses whether international law has responded fairly and adequately to the human rights claims of indigenous peoples. At another level, it explores the relationship between this response and some distinctive features of the indigenous peoples’ struggle for justice, reflecting on the extent to which the latter have influenced and shaped the former. The book draws important conclusions as to the reasons behind international law’s positive recognition of indigenous peoples’ rights, shedding some light on the potential and limits of international law as an instrument of justice. The book will be of great interest to students and scholars of public international law, human rights and social movements.

Sovereignty in the Exercise of the Right to Self-Determination detangles the relationship between a number of principles of international law and the exercise of sovereign power. Jane Hofbauer’s assessment is conducted through an analysis of the different tiers of self-determination, ranging from the right to exercise external self-determination, the right to exercise forms of autonomy as a form of de facto independence, and the right to a type of ‘spatial’ independence, exemplified through the principles of permanent sovereignty over natural resources (PSNR), and free, prior and informed consent (FPIC). The book not only highlights the (intentional) uncertainties within each of these principles, but identifies the (non-discretionary) limits to their normative evolution. It thereby explores to what extent (indigenous) peoples can be designated as sovereign entities.