2004GIR Government Business Relations

Lecture 10 – Globalisation, Development and First Peoples

WHO ARE INDIGENOUS (FIRST) PEOPLES?

Indigenous People
(Aboriginals, Native People, First Peoples, First Nations)
‘… distinctive groups protected in international or national legislation as having a set of specific rights
based on their linguistic and historical ties to a particular territory, prior to later settlement,
development, and/or occupation of a region.”
May 2016, the Fifteenth Session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues
(UNPFII)

EXAMPLES OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES

- Australia: Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders
- New Zealand (Aotearoa): Maori
- Canada: Inuit, First Peoples
- United States: Navajo, Cherokee, Sioux, Pueblo, etc
- South America: Andean, Mapuche, Inca etc
- Norway, Sweden, Finland: Sami
- Japan: Ainu

GLOBALISATION & FIRST PEOPLES 1

European exploration, colonisation and empire formation 15th to 20th Centuries
- Main actors: Spain, Portugal, United Kingdom, France, Netherlands, Belgium also Germany,
Belgium and Italy to lesser extent
- Encountered and subjugated “traditional societies” mainly in North and South America,
Australasia, Sub-Saharan Africa, Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans.
- Impacts also also encountered and subjugated cultures in China, Indian sub-continent, parts of
Middle East and North Africa.
Also outcome of Nation building.

MAJOR ‘EMPIRES’ 1914

GLOBALISATION & FIRST PEOPLES 2

Exploitation and usurpation facilitated by ‘Dominion Capitalism’
Characterized by:
- Heavy reliance on primary sector (agriculture, mining) for export
- Funded by global capital, multinational operators
- Relies on access to land
- Ongoing conflicts over natural resources and encroachment on FPs’ lands as globalisation
expands development worldwide (‘the last frontier’)

CONSEQUENCES
Loss of land and freedom (economic, social, political) led to …
- Poverty, ill health
- Discrimination
- Challenges in maintaining cultural and linguistic identity
- Lack of self-determination and autonomy
- Environmental degradation and incursion
GLOBALISATION AND FIRST PEOPLES 3
BUT Globalisation also:
- Provides international forum for raising issues
- Facilitates formation of global alliances
- Allows for greater scrutiny
- Characterised by international organisations & expectations of Corporate Social Responsibility.

UN DECLARATION ON THE RIGHTS OF FREE, PRIOR AND INFORMED CONSENT: ARTICLE 32

INDIGENOUS PEOPLE (UNDRIP) 2007
(UNDRIP)
1. Indigenous peoples have the right to determine and
develop priorities and strategies for the development or use
of their lands or territories and other resources.
2. States shall consult and cooperate in good faith with the
indigenous peoples concerned through their own
representative institutions in order to obtain their free and
informed consent prior to the approval of any project
affecting their lands or territories and other resources,
particularly in connection with the development, utilization or
exploitation of mineral, water or other resources.
3. States shall provide effective mechanisms for just and
fair redress for any such activities, and appropriate
measures shall be taken to mitigate adverse environmental,
economic, social, cultural or spiritual impact.

APPLICATION OF FPIC
Recognition of Indigenous rights and FPIC is most prominent in Latin America, eg
- The Constitution of Venezuela contains a provision requiring that Indigenous groups be consulted
before developments or exploitation of natural habitats
- The Constitutional Court of Colombia, has issued numerous orders to suspend intrusive
development projects, or struck down legislation deemed unconstitutional for failing to consult
with Indigenous peoples
However, these measures have not always prevented the state or mining companies from
exploiting Indigenous lands

BRAZIL
1988 Constitution recognizes indigenous people’s …
1. Right to be different
2. Right to land
https://pib.socioambiental.org/en/Constitution
BUT not necessarily respected or enforced.
Amazon Fires 2019

LAND EXPROPRIATION IN AUSTRALIA AUSTRALIA’S FIRST PEOPLES

- Australian model of development: Heavy Aborigines and Torres Strait Islander nations
reliance on agriculture, pastoralism, mining,
resource extraction.
- All occur on, or under, Aboriginal land. Seizure
legal under doctrine of ‘Terra Nulius’ &
legislation
- Pressure for change
1966 Gurindji
NORTHEN TERRITORY NATIVE TITLE ACT 1976
A handful of sand
- Provisions
- Establishment of land councils to represent original owners
- Freehold title for all existing reserves
- Provision for traditional owners to control mining ‘except where it is in the national
national interest to explore or conduct mining
- Payment and distribution of royalties
- Ranger Unranium Mine & Noonkambah

LAND COUNCILS - WHAT ABORIGINAL LAND COUNCILS DO

Among the many task of aboriginal land councils are to –
- Provide a strong voice for the people they represent
- Help aboriginal people get back their country by land claim or purchase
- Help aboriginal people manage their land
- Consult with landowners on mining activity, employment development and other land use
proposals
- Protect aboriginal culture and sacred sites
- Assist with economic project on aboriginal land
- Promote community development and improve service delivery
- Fight for legal recognition of aboriginal people’s rights
- Help resolve land disputes, native title claims and compensation cases
- Run the permit system for victors to aboriginal land and deal with illegal entry to lands
- Purse cultural, social and economic independence for aboriginal people
- Maintain and enhance aboriginal culture, identity and heritage.

STATE LAND RIGHTS ACTS

- 1978 Qld – transferred leases over communities in Aurukun and Mornington
- 1966, 1981, 1984 SA – Pitjantjatjara & Maralinga Tjarutja lands
- 1983 – NSW
- 1989-92 – Victoria
- 1991 - Qld
- 1995 – Tas
- Opposition to Land Rights particularly fierce in WA

NATIVE TITLE IN AUSTRALIA

- 1992 – Mabo decision in High Court recognised:
- inherent indigenous rights in land predating European settlement in 1788;
- that such rights can survive as Native Title if not extinguished and if indigenous owners maintain
connection with land.
- Regularised in 1993 Native Title Act despite intense opposition
- Act creates system for Indigenous people to claim Native Title and courts to determine claims.

AGREEMENTS UNDER ACT

Can include:
- sharing project revenue;
- employment and business programs to benefit traditional owners;
- measures to protect cultural heritage and environment.
- Creates “Right to Negotiate” but not IFPIC

CHALLENGES
Significant on-going opposition to Native Title
- Scaremongering
Power of respective parties and outcomes vary
- LNG Processing, James Price Point (WA) 2012 Kimberley Hub
- Adani No means no
Corporate commitment to FPIC
- <25% of 53 ASX 200 Extractive companies publicly committed to respecting rights
- Only 2 publicly committed to UNDRIP
- Only 10 disclosed details of mandatory heritage surveys
 - 25% have had allegations of damage made against them
- < 5% gave examples of how they had engaged meaningfully with Indigenous people
CAER & Oxfam The Right to Decide Company Commitments and Community Consent 2013

RECOGNITION AND SELF DETERMINATION

Australian Human Rights Commission 2012 – Key to
overcoming disadvantage (closing the gap)
Importance of self-determination and recognition
- Demonstrated that control over decisions (self-
determination) results in better outcomes across the board
for First Peoples.
Vic health - self determinatio

POLITICAL MOBILATION
‘Indigenous control of development can only be achieved by
Indigenous mobilisation in the domestic political sphere,
targeting both the state and resource corporations’
(O’Faircheallaigh 2012, 531).
Aims:
- assert control over development and decision-making
- maximise benefits and eliminate adverse impacts
- sometimes to oppose developments
Targeted at:
- governments
- corporations
- potential allies/alliances
- public opinion
- international forums

CONDITIONS FOR SUCCESSFUL POLITICAL MOBILISATION

- Political organisation: e.g. Indigenous Land Councils
- Investment in negotiation training and using broad range of expertise
- Capacity to use the media more effectively
Strategic matters:
- Forming strong alliances with other groups e.g. Greens,
- Direct targeting of corporations and corporate brands
- Targeting corporations through CSR principles

- National prosperity built on land expropriation

- Recognition has been a long process
- Realization of rights is still incomplete
- Corporate commitment still partial
- Full realization of national potential relies on reconciliation.