Indigenous peoples and the right to prior consultation: scopes and limits of its implementation in Mexico

Doctoral Programme: Human Rights in Contemporary Societies

Funding: FCT

The installation of megaprojects of development -such as dams, mines, aqueducts, wind power parks, hydroelectric plants and monocultures- in the territories of indigenous peoples cause various impacts on their ways of life and violations of their human rights. Against this background, many international treaties have been stating the right to prior consultation of indigenous peoples as a fundamental human right, ensuring the obligation of prior consent by the affected communities. However, the application of this right is still far from effective, being used in most cases as a bureaucratic procedure carried out after the concerned project has been already implemented, with little guarantees of reliability. The problem with the application of this right is that in most cases, the consent and opinion of indigenous peoples is not respected, generating violations of their rights over their territory and natural resources. Against this background, this PhD project will analyze the scopes and limits of the application of the right to prior consultation of indigenous peoples by investigating three paradigmatic cases in Mexico, linked to an aqueduct (Yaqui Tribe in Sonora), a park wind (Zapotecas in Oaxaca) and soybean monoculture fields (Mayas in Campeche). Moreover, this qualitative research will rely on the analysis of legal documents about the right to prior consultation (national and international) and interviews with indigenous peoples, researchers and members of NGOs. The results of the study can be added to the generation of documents for the defense of natural resources and the rights of indigenous peoples.