Pitfalls and Pipelines - Philippine Indigenous Peoples Links

304 Pitfalls and Pipelines: Indigenous Peoples and Extractive Industries
application of this text even more plausible as a necessary means to
comply with the demands of the Declaration as well.
Throughout this analysis the remedial character of the Convention, in
terms of indigenous rights, becomes clear. It is, precisely, the relative
demand of these rights, or the denial of them, which defines the field of
application of the regulations relative to indigenous peoples, and more
specifically, as we have been establishing, these obligations in relation
to the Convention. It is the violations of indigenous peoples’ rights, which
have summoned us to establish a connection between the proceedings
of universal justice and the Universal Declaration on Human Rights. Due
to the fact that Convention 169 constitutes the main regulatory instrument
relating directly to indigenous peoples’ rights, and given the recent
ratification of this text by the Spanish state, the author infers the necessity
of the extraterritorial application of the Convention as a remedial measure
to implement when faced with the violation of rights in indigenous
territories by Spanish corporations.
3. Lastly, a final argument which supports the thesis of the extraterritorial
application of the Convention would be the progressive integration of
human rights into the foreign policy of the Spanish state, as much in a
general sense as in relation to indigenous peoples’ rights. The efforts
made, as well as the deep compromise of the Spanish state in the policies
of cooperation with indigenous peoples has been expressed through the
Spanish Strategy for Cooperation with Indigenous Peoples (ECEPI). This
is a strategy, which although passed in 2006, was elaborated in parallel to
the process of the ratification of the Convention.
The Sectoral Strategy, as the main instrument of planning in relation to
all cooperative action aimed at working with indigenous peoples, fully
assumes the principles and rights of the Convention, including the right
of self identification of indigenous peoples; the recognition of the special
link between the indigenous cultures and indigenous land; the right to “self
development” and the right to participate in decisions which affect them,
within the framework of a “focus based…on the recognition of rights.” 79
The Strategy goes further than the Convention in recognizing as a general
principle, in line with the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous
Peoples, the right to free, prior, informed consent, which “includes the right
to reject proposals for projects and activities of development cooperation,
or of any other kind, particularly when they affect their land and territory.” 80
The Sectoral Strategy actively promotes the rights recognized in the
Convention, including the “full and effective” participation of indigenous
peoples in decision making processes; the development of capacity of the