Description
Across Latin America, indigenous peoples inhabit areas that are often environmentally protected and extraordinarily rich in terms of biodiversity and both renewable and non-renewable resources. In recent years, these areas have acquired new strategic value in the framework of political economic models that increasingly rely on commodity exploitation to sustain economic growth and welfare investments. This has resulted in growing pressures and drastic changes on local communities, which have often fuelled new social tensions. In this context, the need for new rights and participatory spaces became a priority as mechanisms called Free Prior and Informed Consent/Consultation (FPIC) - regulated by the International Labour Organization’s Convention 169 - suddently catalized the attention of both governements and social movements. This paper offers a comparative analysis of the national debates that led to the regulation of FPIC in Bolivia, Peru and Colombia. It discusses how the three countries have offered quite different models of consultation, with important implications in terms of inclusion and exclusion of considerable parts of the rural population from new human rights mechanisms. These models also reflect the ideals of citizenship and democracy that these countries are committed to build though the redefinition of social boundaries and collective identities.
