CONSEJO INTERNACIONAL DE TRATADOS INDIOS

Title: Indigenous Peoples and human rights impacts of Transnational corporations  

United Nations Human Rights Council, 8th session, 2 – 18 June, 2008, Geneva

Thank you Mr. Chairman.

The International Indian Treaty Council takes note with great interest of the reports of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises. This mandate directly and profoundly affects the rights and survival of Indigenous Peoples throughout the world.  

We also express appreciation for the Human Rights Council’s resolution adopted at its last session, “Human Rights and Climate Change [A/HRC/7/L.21], calling upon the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights to undertake a study of the relationship between climate change and human rights.  We encourage the Special Representative to consider its outcomes, in particular regarding the role of transnationals in contributing to climate change through unabated fossil fuel production and use, and by promoting market-based responses such as the Clean Development Mechanism, carbon trading, and the large scale production of “agro-fuels”, which further contribute to land loss, forced relocations, destruction of ecosystems and food security for Indigenous Peoples.          

We strongly urge the Special Representative to utilize the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as a framework for assessing the impacts and providing solutions to human rights abuses by transnational corporations. In additions to Articles 19 and 32 affirming the right of Free Prior and Informed Consent, other provisions of direct relevance include Articles 3 (Self-determination), 20 (Right to be secure in subsistence and development), 26 (Right to traditional lands, territories and resources), 29 (Right to conservation and protection of the environment and productive capacity of lands); and 37 (Treaty Rights).

We also recommend that the Special Representative take into consideration the CERD’s General Recommendation No. 23 (1997) regarding Free Prior and Informed Consent, as well as its recent recommendations directed towards Canada[1] and the United States[2] calling upon these states’ to monitor compliance by transnational corporations they have licensed with the human rights of Indigenous Peoples, both within and outside of their countries.   

Noting that the mandate of the Special Representative includes ongoing consultations with stakeholders, including indigenous and other affected communities, we encourage   the Special Representative to consult with Indigenous Peoples about human rights violations resulting from the activities of Transnationals.  

In this regard, we recommend that the Office of the High Commissioner and the Special Representative conduct an expert seminar on Indigenous Peoples’ Human Rights and Transnationals, including the role and responsibility of states and remedies that can be implemented nationally and internationally. 

A comprehensive framework to assess violations and a protocol for monitoring the compliance of transnationals with recognized human rights standards starting with the right of Free Prior Informed Consent could be developed at that time, with the input of Indigenous Peoples.

Thank you, for all our relations.