"Civil society space in renewable energy projects A case study of the Unión Hidalgo community in Mexico", December 2019

…This policy paper examines the case of the Gunaa Sicarú wind park project of the French corporate group Électricité de France (EDF) in the territories of the indigenous Zapotec community of Unión Hidalgo in Oaxaca, Mexico. As a result of the Mexican state’s failure to implement and enforce the community’s right to free, prior and informed consent, and the company’s failure to fulfil its obligation to respect this right, the community has suffered internal divisions and escalating, even violent, conflict.

It…develops specific guidance on how corporate responsibilities in relation to the right to free, prior and informed consent exist independent of and distinct from state obligations to protect and guarantee this right.

In relation to the state, it concludes that as long as the state fails to fully comply with its obligation to implement and enforce the right to free, prior and informed consent, civil society action at the national and international levels is needed to accomplish such enforcement…

The European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR), through expertise and consultation, supports the Unión Hidalgo community and the Mexican organization ProDESC in their efforts to enforce indigenous rights and defend civil society spaces…