A/HRC/39/17 mineral, water or other resources (arts. 27 and 32). In its jurisprudence, the Human Rights Committee has underlined that indigenous peoples’ right to participate goes beyond consultation: “participation in the decision-making process must be effective, which requires not mere consultation but the free, prior and informed consent of the members of the community”.3 19. The rights to peaceful assembly and to freedom of association are set out in articles 21 and 22 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights while the right to participation in the conduct of public affairs and decision-making is enshrined in article 25. The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples furthermore affirms that indigenous peoples have the right to participate in decision-making in matters which would affect their rights, through representatives chosen by themselves in accordance with their own procedures, as well as to maintain and develop their own indigenous decisionmaking institutions (arts. 5, 18, 20, 27 and 34). 20. The provision of and access to information are prerequisites to ensuring that indigenous peoples can participate in consultation processes. Article 19 (2) of the Covenant guarantees the right to “seek, receive and impart information” as part of the right to freedom of expression. 21. Before consultations can be carried out in relation to any proposed projects, States must ensure that human rights and environmental impact assessments have been undertaken. Binding legal obligations in this regard exist in the Convention on Biological Diversity (art. 14 (1) (a)), which requires States to undertake “environmental impact assessment of [their] proposed projects that are likely to have significant adverse effects on biological diversity with a view to avoiding or minimizing such effects and … allow for public participation in such procedures”. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (art. 4 (1) (f)) similarly affirms the obligation for States to employ impact assessments of projects or of measures undertaken by them to mitigate or adapt to climate change, with a view to minimizing adverse effects on public health and on the quality of the environment. Both these treaties have almost universal adherence, with 196 and 197 parties, respectively. 22. The Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, adopted in 1992, sets out in principle 10 that everyone shall have access to information, including on activities in their communities, that States shall facilitate the opportunity to participate in the decisionmaking process and that effective access to justice, including redress and remedy in environmental matters, shall be provided. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has underlined the importance of these “access rights” in promoting transparent, inclusive and accountable environmental governance.4 23. The Special Rapporteur on the issue of human rights obligations relating to the enjoyment of a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment has emphasized that in order to protect human rights, assessments of environmental impacts should also examine the possible impacts of proposed projects and policies on the enjoyment of all relevant rights, including the rights to life, health, food, water, housing and culture. Such assessments should provide meaningful opportunities for the public to participate, should consider alternatives to the proposal and should address all potential environmental impacts, including transboundary effects and cumulative effects that may occur as a result of the interaction of the proposal with other activities; the assessment should result in a written report that clearly describes the impacts; and the assessment and the final decision should be subject to review by an independent body (A/HRC/37/59). For indigenous peoples, this obligation requires that the information contained in the human rights impact assessment be available in their languages and in a culturally appropriate form. 24. The State’s obligation to provide an effective remedy for human rights violations is enshrined in article 2 (3) (a) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. This requires that perpetrators be brought to justice and that victims be provided with 3 4 6 Poma Poma v. Peru (CCPR/C/95/D/1457/2006), para. 7.6. “UNEP: implementing principle 10 of the Rio Declaration”, UN Environment, 19 August 2016.