Search

This paper assesses the impact of the International Labour Organization's 1989 Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention (ILO C-169) since it entered into effect in 1991. It compares advances on Indigenous Peoples' rights in key Latin American states that have ratified the convention (Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru) with two which have not (Australia and Canada). It analyzes each country's constitutional order, legislative and jurisprudential developments, as well as policy developments concerning Indigenous Peoples and their rights. In particular, the paper examines the Indigenous right to political participation and autonomy or self-government, as well as the right to land, territories and natural resources in each context. It also assesses the right of Indigenous Peoples to prior consultation and to free, prior and informed consent, as well as to participating in the benefits provided by resource extraction on their lands and territories. While important gaps and substantial differences in the implementation and current status of these rights can be identified among the states analyzed, all of them have made progresses since ILO C-169 came into effect. While ILO C-169 has directly and deeply influenced relations between Indigenous Peoples and states in Latin American countries that have ratified it, it has also had an indirect but nevertheless decisive impact in Australia and Canada. This can be seen in legal developments, jurisprudence and policies that concern Indigenous Peoples in these two countries. In this sense, ILO C-169 cannot be understood in isolation. Rather, it is part of a broader international legal corpus that has emerged in recent decades, and which has strongly influenced legal and jurisprudential transformations concerning Indigenous peoples' rights in both signatory and non-signatory countries, including Australia and Canada. This legal corpus has expanded in recent years, especially through the 2007 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), which Canada and Australia initially did not adopt, but later endorsed. In addition, the convention has not only influenced states, but also discourses and strategies of Indigenous Peoples and the business community in these two countries, which have in turn also shaped their legal and policy developments concerning Indigenous rights. ILO C-169 represents a key step in the recognition and protection of Indigenous Peoples' rights. Whether directly or indirectly, and notwithstanding the many gaps still left to address, its impact demonstrates that there is no going back on Indigenous Peoples' rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]