FPIC, international law, social space, and indigenous territories in FPIC during extractive projects in Latin America. A romantic or tragic story?

Abstract

The development and implementation of the free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC) can be understood both as a “romantic” and “tragic” story, using a sharp reflection made by Susan Marks (2012) regarding Human Rights. Following this idea, this essay intends to analyse the main developments of FPIC international human rights in the last three decades (the successful story) and the clear and strong limitations of its use in Latin America (the tragic side to it).  Despite the fact that the romantic narrative tells us about a progressive recognition and protection of indigenous rights in international law, especially with instruments such as the ILO Convention 169 (ILO-C169) and the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), these advances have been and are currently deactivated. Through the revision of postcolonial literature and an analysis of relevant research in Latin America, this essay explains how the supposed progress is clearly limited by imbalances in the history of international law itself and in the territorial governance system that is configured in large-scale extractive projects, where FPIC is applied or not. In this manner, despite apparently overcoming colonial times against indigenous peoples, the permanent structure of neo-colonization of indigenous territory prevails for an ever-growing global market.