Pitfalls and Pipelines - Philippine Indigenous Peoples Links

Chapter 1.1: Overview of Impacts of Extractive Industries on Indigenous Peoples
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Chapter 1.1
Overview of Impacts of
Extractive Industries on
Indigenous Peoples
Of particular concern are the long-term devastating effects
of mining operations on the livelihood of indigenous peoples
and their environment. These activities are often carried
out without their prior, free and informed consent, as the
law stipulates. Communities resist development projects that
destroy their traditional economy, community structures and
cultural values, a process described as ‘development aggression.’
Indigenous resistance and protest are frequently countered
by military force involving numerous human rights
abuses, such as arbitrary detention, persecution, killings of
community representatives, coercion, torture, demolition of
houses, destruction of property, rape, and forced recruitment
by the armed forces, the police or the so-called paramilitaries.
- Rodolfo Stavenhagen,
Former UN Special Rapporteur
on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples 1