A/HRC/15/37
set out in the relevant international instruments (Declaration, arts. 20.2, 32.3; ILO
Convention No. 169, art. 15.2).
75.
As may be clearly deduced from international standards, compensation must be
aimed at repairing all possible adverse impacts of corporate activity on the daily life of
indigenous peoples, including not only the impact on their environment or productive
capacity, but also the impact on the social, cultural and spiritual aspects of their life. The
practice of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights offers in that regard a series of
highly pertinent examples of compensation and reparation in cases of damage to indigenous
peoples’ social and cultural practices.56
5.
Benefit sharing
76.
Aside from their entitlement to compensation for damages, indigenous peoples have
the right to share in the benefits arising from activities taking place on their traditional
territories, especially in relation to natural resource exploitation. The duty to establish
benefit sharing mechanisms for peoples affected by such activities is set out explicitly in
article 15.2 of ILO Convention No. 169 and has been reiterated by, inter alia, the
jurisprudence of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights57 and the Committee on the
Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD).58
77.
Indigenous peoples’ right to share in the benefits arising from activities affecting
their traditional territories reflects the broad international recognition of the right to
indigenous communal ownership, which includes recognition of rights relating to the use,
administration and conservation of the natural resources existing in indigenous territories,
independent of private or State ownership of those resources59 In that regard, the previous
Special Rapporteur has observed that “mutually acceptable benefit sharing” is a means of
guaranteeing the human rights of indigenous peoples “in relation to major development
projects”.60 Likewise, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights has ruled that benefit
sharing is one of the guarantees required in any case involving limitations on the rights of
indigenous communal ownership; benefit sharing must be understood as equivalent to the
right to fair compensation for limitation or deprivation of property, as recognized in various
international instruments.
78.
There is no specific international rule that guarantees benefit sharing for indigenous
peoples, aside from the consideration that such sharing must be “fair and equitable”.61
Domestic law still presents serious limitations in this sphere. States rarely guarantee a share
in the benefits arising from natural resource exploitation, and when such benefit sharing is
established by law, a distinction is usually not made between the local population and
indigenous communities per se. Moreover, the share in project-generated benefits is often
trivial in comparison with the company’s share, and there are often no clear and transparent
criteria for apportioning such benefits.
79.
When domestic law offers limited responses to this question, or no responses at all,
due diligence with respect to indigenous rights may require companies to set up specific
benefit-sharing mechanisms, based on international standards. It should be kept in mind
56
57
58
59
60
61
GE.10-15075
See, in particular, Masacre de Paz de Sánchez v. Guatemala, Inter-American Court of Human Rights,
Series C, No. 116 (2004).
Loc. cit. (footnote 54 above).
CERD/C/ECU/CO/19, para. 16.
See United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, arts. 25 and 26 (1); and ILO
Convention No. 169, art. 15 (1).
E/CN.4/2003/90, para. 66.
Loc. cit. (footnote 54 above), paras. 133, 134 and 140.
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