A/HRC/24/41 1. The general rule: consent is required for extractive projects within indigenous territories 27. The Declaration and various other international sources of authority,13 along with practical considerations, lead to a general rule that extractive activities should not take place within the territories of indigenous peoples without their free, prior and informed consent. Indigenous peoples’ territories include lands that are in some form titled or reserved to them by the State, lands that they traditionally own or possess under customary tenure (whether officially titled or not), or other areas that are of cultural or religious significance to them or in which they traditionally have access to resources that are important to their physical well-being or cultural practices. Indigenous consent may also be required when extractive activities otherwise affect indigenous peoples, depending upon the nature of and potential impacts of the activities on the exercise of their rights. In all instances of proposed extractive projects that might affect indigenous peoples, consultations with them should take place and consent should at least be sought, even if consent is not strictly required.14 28. The general rule identified here derives from the character of free, prior and informed consent as a safeguard for the internationally recognized rights of indigenous peoples that are typically affected by extractive activities that occur within their territories. As explained previously by the Special Rapporteur (A/HRC/21/47, paras. 47-53), together, principles of consultation and consent function as instrumental to rights of participation and self-determination, and as safeguards for all those rights of indigenous peoples that may be affected by external actors, including rights that indigenous peoples have under domestic law or treaties to which they have subscribed, or rights recognized and protected by authoritative international sources like the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and various widely ratified multilateral treaties. These rights include, in addition to rights of participation and self-determination, rights to property, culture, religion and non-discrimination in relation to lands, territories and natural resources, including sacred places and objects; rights to health and physical well-being in relation to a clean and healthy environment; and the right of indigenous peoples to set and pursue their own priorities for development, including with regard to natural resources (See A/HRC/21/47, para. 50 and cited sources.) It can readily be seen that, given the invasive nature of industrial-scale extraction of natural resources, the enjoyment of these rights is invariably affected in one way or another when extractive activities occur within indigenous territories – thus the general rule that indigenous consent is required for extractive activities within indigenous territories. 29. This general rule is reinforced by practical considerations. It is increasingly understood that when proposed extractive projects might affect indigenous peoples or their territories, it is simply good practice for the States or companies that promote the projects to acquire the consent or agreement of the indigenous peoples concerned. Such consent or agreement provides needed social license and lays the groundwork for the operators of 13 14 See, for example, United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People, art. 32, para. 2; Inter-American Court of Human Rights, Saramaka People v. Suriname, judgement of 28 November 2007, paras. 129-137 (interpreting the American Convention on Human Rights); Human Rights Committee, communication No. 1457/2006, Poma v. Peru, Views adopted on 27 March 2009, paras. 7.5, 7.7 (interpreting the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights); Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, general recommendation No. 23 (1997) on indigenous peoples (interpreting the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination); Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, E/C.12/1/Add.74, para. 12 (interpreting the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights). See the Declaration, art. 19; ILO Convention No. 169, art. 6, para. 2. 9