The Gunaa Sicarú wind farm owned by the French company Électricité de France (EDF) in the indigenous Zapotec community, Unión Hidalgo in Oaxaca, has been accused on several occasions of not adhering to international human rights standards with regards to the indigenous right to free, prior, informed and culturally appropriate consultation.

Since 2015, EDF began to construct the wind farm, signing contracts and embarking on the social impact assessment required for the project as well as seeking agreements and permission from government authorities.  The indigenous community in Unión Hidalgo has expressed that the process should have included a consultation.  The community has used different legal tools to defend their rights, including seeking support from the National Contact Point in France.

A judicial resolution in May 2018 ordered the suspension of the project upon finding that a consultation was not carried out as per Convention 169 of the ILO.  The consultation that was later carried out in 2019 has been dismissed by the community as being illegitimate.

For more information about the allegations in Spanish, please see our website.

The Business and Human Rights Resource Centre contacted the company; the response can be found below.