Pitfalls and Pipelines - Philippine Indigenous Peoples Links

134 Pitfalls and Pipelines: Indigenous Peoples and Extractive Industries
At the national level, advocacy is likely to focus on either
the issue of indigenous peoples’ rights (which would have a
wider impact beyond relations to extractive industries, but
would still have relevance to that subject) or advocating on
issues around the extractive industries themselves. Sometimes
the two will be the same, i.e., when there is legislation on free,
prior, informed consent (FPIC), which is an issue both of selfdetermination
but also affects the function of access to mineral
resources. Indigenous peoples also have to deal at a national
level with the issue of state-sanctioned violence, and the risk of
criminalizing legitimate protest.
2.2.1 Advocating for Indigenous Rights and
Land
As will be discussed in Chapters 2.7 to 2.9, there have been
major advances with regard to indigenous rights in international
norms and international or regional court decisions,
generally flowing from the UN Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). It is, however, how these advances
are implemented—or not—at the national level, which
tends to most directly impact upon indigenous peoples. There
is frequently a great deal of disparity in that implementation
between countries, or indeed even within global regions.
There are a number of states who are often quoted as having
a more progressive framework for indigenous peoples. These
states include the Philippines, through its 1997 Indigenous
Peoples Rights Act (IPRA), which was based on the provisions
of the Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
The Act recognizes the right of FPIC for indigenous peoples
for all activities affecting their lands and territories, specifically
including the exploration, development and use of natural
resources. 1 Greenland, which is increasingly viewed as an
example of an indigenous self-governing state, had “a mutual
right of veto” over mining projects in its 1978 Home Rule
Act. This Act has been superseded by the Act on Greenland
Self-Government, adopted 19 May 2009. This Act transfers