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Addressee: Member States
Full Text
The Permanent Forum recommends that all States Parties to International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention No. 169 implement it by training their leading public officials/civil servants to respect and fulfil its provisions. It is crucial that indigenous peoples be fully informed of the consequences of the use and exploitation of natural resources in their lands and territories through consultations, under the principle of free, prior and informed consent, with indigenous peoples concerned. Through free, prior and informed consent, future conflicts can be avoided and the full participation of indigenous peoples in consultation mechanisms, environmental impact assessments and sociocultural impact assessments can be ensured.
Responses
Spain ratified ILO Convention No. 169 in February 2007, thereby adopting it as a frame of reference for all interventions which affect indigenous peoples. Activities have therefore been carried out with a view to disseminating and implementing the Convention. With respect to the training of public officials/civil servants in this area, AECID technicians in Madrid were informed about Convention No. 169 and its practical implications for the Agency at a workshop held for the dissemination of ECEPI in July 2007. Furthermore, the practical implications of the recently ratified Convention were also explained at a workshop held in April in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, where officials from the Technical Cooperation Offices were introduced to ECEPI. Some of the participants reported on the activities carried out for the dissemination of the Convention, such as those by the Argentina Office, which had made progress on the translation and interpretation of the Convention.
It can safely be said that there has never been in Bolivia’s history a Constitution providing clearly for indigenous peoples’ rights. The new Constitution has included the rights established both in ILO Convention No. 169 and in the Declaration on Indigenous Peoples’ Rights. It can even be stated that the Constitution goes well beyond the scope of those international instruments. Once the Constitution is adopted through referendum, there will be a need to enact implementing legislation (communal justice, autonomy for indigenous peoples, cross-cultural approach to government, etc).
Final Report of UNPFII Session 6 (2007)
Area of Work
