Regular dialogue with local community members on a business operation’s impacts directly implicates a host of environmental, health and livelihood rights including those related to land ownership and land use. There may also be collective aspect to the rights impact when operations impact lands and resources that concern entire communities rather than individuals. Recognizing this, the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples requires the consultation and cooperation in good faith with Indigenous Peoples to obtain their free, prior and informed consent particularly around the undertaking of projects that affect indigenous peoples’ rights to land, territory and resources, including mining and other utilization or exploitation of resources.
Convention concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries,
1989 (No. 169)
Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, 2007 (A/61/295)
Framework Principles on Human Rights and the Environment, 2018 (A/HRC/37/59)