Environmental Peacebuilding and Indigenous Peoples Rights to Lands and Resources (chapter in "Research Handbook on International Law and Environmental Peacebuilding")
Publisher: Edward Elgar
Author(s): Bas Rombouts
Date: 2023
Topics: Conflict Prevention, Governance, Land, Renewable Resources
Countries: Ecuador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Suriname
This chapter examines the contemporary status of the normative framework of consultation and free, prior and informed consent rights for indigenous peoples under the UN and OAS human rights systems and reviews how this framework is reflected in the Guatemalan peace agreement on indigenous rights of 1995. Under current international human rights law, community participation, consultation, and especially the principle of free, prior and informed consent are regarded as key human rights norms for solving conflicts about indigenous lands and resources by promoting - environmentally and socially - sustainable and peaceful settlement processes. It is argued that these decision-making processes can promote environmental peacebuilding and have the capacity to bring solutions to long lasting conflicts over lands and resources. Conducted successfully, the resulting agreements have the potential to serve as long-term social and environmental licenses to operate.