"The UN Guiding Principles on Business & Human Rights and Indigenous Peoples Progress achieved, the implementation gap and challenges for the next Decade", June 2021

[T]he UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights ... do not create new legal obligations but rather attempt to clarify the obligations of states that flow from existing international human rights law and the responsibilities of business enterprises; They further provide guidance on how to comply with these obligations and responsibilities in the business context...

Besides identifying positive developments that have occurred over the last decade, we also list new and emerging threats, such as increasing violence and killings on indigenous land and of environmental defenders and the growing trend towards criminalisation through “anti-terror” laws... One of our key findings is that that there is a vast gap between policies and declarations, on the one hand, and practice on the ground, on the other. According to our analysis, one central reason for this difference lies in the voluntary nature of most frameworks...

[...]

Extractive industries: ... the International Council on Metals and Mining (ICMM) on indigenous peoples ... bases the engagement of ICMM members with indigenous peoples firmly on the principle of FPIC... The next step would be for ICMM member companies to include this commitment in their policies and then to ensure that such policies are enforced throughout all levels of the company and throughout its supply chain. The language found in the policy of member companies, where it mentions FPIC, tends to be ambiguous. For example, BHP ... doesn’t say what happens if indigenous peoples are unwilling to enter an FPIC process or ultimately withhold their consent. Freeport McMoran’s human rights policy mentions indigenous peoples once but does not mention FPIC... Rio Tinto’s 2017 ‘Statement of Commitment for Indigenous Peoples’ contains neither the expression ‘Free, Prior and Informed Consent’, nor the word ‘consent’... large transnational oil companies, including Shell, ExxonMobile, Chevron, ConocoPhilipps, BP had not committed to FPIC... In 2016, Shell was the first company to commit to FPIC “as interpreted by the IFC”. The reason why the oil industry appears to be trailing behind is unclear...

[...]

In the food and beverage sector, two of the best known MSIs are the Round Table for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) and Bonsucro for the sugar sector... Despite its detailed guidelines, the RSPO has been criticised for its insufficient verification mechanisms and its failure to emphasise rights-compatible outcomes... Another commodity that is universal is sugar, whose leading MSI is Bonsucro, established in 2008. It refers to FPIC only in its non-mandatory guidance and only in a very limited fashion... Bonsucro has been sharply criticised by civil society groups for failing rights-holders in their attempts to seek justice...

[...]

The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is the most important MSI in the forestry sector globally and the one in which most businesses of this sector are involved... In line with the UNGP, the right of indigenous peoples to FPIC prior to forest management activities that may affect them was included in these Principles. Subsequently, International Generic Indicators were developed by the FSC in 2018 to provide guidance to FSC National Standards Development Groups on essential elements to include in new national standards. The implementation of FPIC in the context of FSC-certified companies, however, varies greatly from context to context...

[...]

The IRMA (Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance) standard is currently the most advanced standard in the extractive sector with regard to indigenous peoples’ rights... It will be crucial to see whether the IRMA standard and certification scheme are robust enough to prevent bad actors from gaming the system by exploiting loopholes, such as the fact that no FPIC is required to certify existing mines.

[...]

Bettercoal is an MSI launched in 2013 for the coal sector. In its current version 1.1, the Bettercoal code does not adequately reflect the rights of indigenous peoples as set out in the UNDRIP...

[...]