"Open Letter on the adoption of the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) Indigenous Peoples and Mining Position Statement" 20 August 2024

The Indigenous Peoples Rights International (IPRI) and the undersigned organizations express our profound concern regarding ICMM’s recently adopted Indigenous Peoples and Mining Position Statement (MPS). While there are improvements in the final MPS from the draft, it remains fundamentally inconsistent with what it rhetorically states several times as clear commitments to respect the rights of Indigenous Peoples...

IPRI and other Indigenous organizations engaged with ICMM in good faith, providing written comments, inputs, and participating in both face-to-face and virtual meetings relating to the MPS. During these discussions, IPRI, alongside other Indigenous organizations and leaders, clearly emphasized that the MPS must fully respect the rights of Indigenous Peoples, regardless of state recognition. A key aspect of this respect is the implementation of free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC), ensuring that Indigenous communities have the unequivocal right to say no to mining projects that affect their lands and resources, as well as cultural heritage which shall be respected by states and companies...

Despite these clear and firm demands from Indigenous representatives, the final MPS allows for a process where the decision of Indigenous communities to withhold consent can be overridden by the company or authorized by the state. This is deeply concerning, as it permits mining activities to proceed in violation of Indigenous Peoples' rights to our lands, resources, to our cultural heritage and self-determination. The MPS, therefore, appears to redefine FPIC not as a true consent process but as a mechanism to pressure Indigenous communities into agreement, knowing that the project may continue regardless of their opposition. The MPS thereby serves as a tool for mining companies to assert their power to undermine the rights of Indigenous Peoples when they do not give their consent, instead of what they claim as respecting Indigenous Peoples rights...

This treatment of FPIC is unjust and incompatible with the rights of Indigenous Peoples as affirmed in international human rights standards. The ICMM and its members, through this position statement, have clearly decided to continue the gross rights violations and injustices that have historically plagued Indigenous Peoples' interactions with the mining industry. The MPS, as it stands, reduces the ICMM’s purported commitment to respect Indigenous rights to mere rhetoric, as it allows for the selective disregard of those rights when they conflict with corporate or state interests. Indigenous Peoples’ rights are inherent, interdependent, and must be respected in their entirety—no entity, whether state or corporate, has the authority to choose which of these rights they will honor or disregard...