E/CN.4/2003/90 page 7 12. To the extent that many of these projects are located on the ancestral territories of indigenous peoples, it is not surprising that they should raise the issue of the rights to land, the right to prior consent about use of this land, the right to participation in the decision-making process regarding the implementation of such projects, the right to share in the potential benefits and, beyond this, the right of indigenous peoples to self-determination. Thus, at the twentieth session of the Working Group on Indigenous Populations (WGIP) “… virtually every indigenous participant stated that their right to self-determination is a precondition for the realization of all other human rights, and must be considered as the bedrock that ensures their self-governance, whereby they can participate in decision-making processes in policies that directly affect them. They therefore reiterated the intrinsic link of the right to self-determination to various other indigenous human rights issues such as the right to land and natural resources, the preservation of cultural identity, and the rights to language and education”.4 13. The right to free, informed and prior consent by indigenous peoples continues to be of crucial concern, inasmuch as too many major decisions concerning large-scale development projects in indigenous territories do not comply with this stipulation, clearly set out in paragraph 6 of ILO Convention No. 169, which provides that governments shall: “(a) consult the peoples concerned, through appropriate procedures and in particular through their representative institutions, whenever consideration is being given to legislative or administrative measures which may affect them directly; “(b) establish means by which these peoples can freely participate, to at least the same extent as other sectors of the population, at all levels of decision-making in elective institutions and administrative and other bodies responsible for policies and programmes which concern them …”. 14. Likewise, article 30 of the draft United Nations declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples also provides that States shall obtain free and informed consent prior to the approval of any project affecting their lands, territories and other resources, particularly in connection with the development, utilization or exploitation of mineral, water or other resources.5 The proposed American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (art. 21[2]) contains a similar provision. The importance of the principle of free, prior and informed consent was also highlighted in the recommendation of the Workshop on Indigenous Peoples, Private Sector Natural Resource, Energy and Mining Companies and Human Rights (Geneva, 5-7 December 2001).6 15. In some States legislation has progressed in this direction. The Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976 (amended in 1987) of Australia not only recognizes the right of Aborigines to own the land, but also provides in effect the right to veto over mining for a five-year period. Furthermore, a land council with the mandate to represent the interests of Aboriginal landowners may not consent to the grant of a mining interest or construction of a road unless the traditional owners of the land understand the nature and purpose of the proposed mining or road construction proposals as a group and consent to them.7 16. The Indigenous Peoples Rights Act 1997 of the Philippines recognizes the indigenous right to ancestral domain and the land title to traditional lands. Philippine law also requires a