The Implementation of FPIC and its Contexts
The article’s objective is to show how the implementation of FPIC (Free, Prior and Informed Consent) is related to the satisfaction of some background conditions, particularly whether the state’s regulatory framework enables Indigenous peoples to act as full partners in their development. So a “jurisdictional” conception of FPIC is related to, and becomes possible in, contexts where their jurisdiction and rights over their lands and territories are recognized. It is in such circumstances that Indigenous peoples’ rights to self-determination and development are best realized. Where this background condition is not satisfied, FPIC must be conceptualized as a way to carve out a space for autonomous processes of voluntary consent and decision-making by the affected Indigenous communities in negotiation processes that remain deeply asymmetrical. In this far from ideal context, it becomes particularly important to integrate in the FPIC process an Indigenous right to say “no”.