Download This PaperResources Grabbing and Human Rights: Building a Triangular Relationship between States, Indigenous Peoples and Corporations
Angelica Bonfanti, Francesca Romanin Jacur, Francesco Seatzu (eds), Natural Resources Grabbing: an International Law Perspective (Brill), 2015
16 Pages Posted: 27 May 2020
Date Written: March 1, 2015
Abstract
The chapter examines how international human rights law and soft law standards on business and human rights may influence the way natural resources are exploited, and notably how the rights of local communities could be better protected in that context. The first section of the chapter explores how the issue of ownership of natural resources has been approached under international law. The main question here is whether it is a State right or a right of the peoples. Permanent sovereignty over natural resources is defined both as a State and peoples’ right, turning it into a multifaceted and even ambiguous legal concept. Building upon this discussion, the second section focuses on recent developments regarding indigenous peoples’ human rights. In the last two decades the rights of indigenous peoples have become an important segment of the human rights agenda culminating with the adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) in 2007. The issue of control over natural resources is at the heart of such developments. The third section turns to the issue of the human rights responsibilities of private corporations. When it comes to the extraction, exploitation and trade of natural resources, multinational corporations, primarily the extractive sector, are key actors. The corporate responsibility to respect human rights (including the rights of local communities), as defined in the 2011 UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, has become a central aspect of the international human rights framework. In this context, the third section examines how recent developments regarding the corporate responsibility to respect human rights may help address existing and long-standing issues around control and use of natural resources. Ultimately, by examining the role of the State (section 1), the rights of indigenous peoples (section 2), and the responsibilities of corporations (section 3), this chapter aims at exploring the extent to which the international human rights legal framework encourages the consolidation of a triangular relationship between States, indigenous peoples and corporations when it comes to the exploitation of natural resources.
Keywords: Indigenous Peoples, Natural Resources, Business and Human Rights, UNGPs, UNDRIP, Sovereignty
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