Reaffirming that indigenous peoples do not accept the World Bank’s March 2001 revised Draft Indigenous Peoples Policy (OP/BP4.10) as an effective instrument for safeguarding the rights and interests of indigenous peoples affected by its development projects and programmes;

Recalling that we as indigenous peoples consider that we have so far been denied the opportunity to significantly shape the outcome of the policy revision and that the Bank has not addressed our principal concerns and our proposals on how to improve the existing policy;

Stressing that, as it stands, we as indigenous peoples do not feel empowered by Draft OP/BP 4.10 because our rights are not recognised and for this reason we reject this draft revised policy because it does not respect our rights guaranteed under international law;

Emphasising that the Bank’s mission of poverty reduction and sustainable development cannot be achieved without respecting and recognising our fundamental rights as indigenous peoples;

Reiterating that the World Bank has a duty to respect international human rights law and should ensure that the standards it sets in its guidelines for its loan operations are consistent with its obligations under such law;

We, the undersigned representatives and members of indigenous peoples’ organisations and indigenous experts who have come from different regions of the world to participate in a roundtable discussion with the World Bank regarding the revision of its Indigenous Peoples Policy, welcome the willingness of the Bank to engage in dialogue with indigenous peoples on ways to address our priorities and our concerns relating to the policy revision.

We wish to contribute to this dialogue by presenting several minimum principles that we consider must be applied in the final revised policy in order to ensure that the Bank adopts an effective safeguard policy that will respect, promote and protect the rights of indigenous peoples in World Bank-assisted development operations. The following points do not comprise the full set of standards upon which we insist, but express some of our central concerns and priorities. We maintain that, to be effective, any revised safeguard policy must contain clear mandatory provisions that:

Rights of indigenous peoples recognised at the international level:

·         Are consistent with existing international human rights standards, including, for example, the UN Charter, the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, CERD, Convention on the Rights of the Child, the ILO Convention 169, the Draft UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the Draft American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, as well as principles in other relevant international standards on indigenous rights such as those contained in the Convention on Biological Diversity;

·         prohibit World Bank funding of projects or programmes that risk contravening the borrowers’ international obligations on human rights and the environment;

·         uphold the Bank’s obligations under international law to recognise, protect and reinforce the human rights of indigenous peoples;

Policy coverage:

·         Apply the principle of self-identification as a fundamental element in determining the scope and coverage of the policy;

·         Extend the coverage of the policy to address structural adjustment and programmatic lending;

Participation and accountability:

·         require prior and participatory baseline studies in all instances in which a Bank project or program will affect indigenous peoples, our territories or our communities;

·         include requirements for involving local, national and regional indigenous organisations in active tracking and monitoring of World Bank operations through the whole project cycle;

·         require enforceable legal covenants in loan agreements between the World Bank, borrower governments and affected indigenous peoples;

·         require the effective collective participation by indigenous peoples affected by Bank loan operations throughout the project cycle (design, preparation and implementation);

·         recognise the right of indigenous peoples to free, prior and informed consent, including our right to say “no”, to any developments proposals that may affect our territories and lands;

·         ensure the equitable and effective participation of indigenous representatives in the governance of projects and programmes to which they have given their prior consent;

·         establish accessible and responsive accountability mechanisms on the ground;

Land and natural resources:

·         recognise and protect indigenous peoples’ ownership and property rights over their territories, lands and resources in accordance with the customary law, values, usage, and customs of  affected communities;

·         require Bank staff and Borrowers to take action to safeguard and guarantee the rights of indigenous peoples to our territories, lands and resources;

·         prohibit involuntary resettlement of indigenous peoples and stipulate that resettlement may only take place with the full, prior, free and informed consent of affected indigenous communities;

We value this Roundtable discussion as an important step in our continuing efforts to ensure that the international development system upholds and protects indigenous peoples’ rights.

However, we reiterate that this meeting is only the beginning of a dialogue between indigenous peoples and the World Bank. We therefore request that the adoption of the revised policy be postponed until and unless there is a clear understanding and consensus on this issue that reflects the views and priorities of indigenous peoples from all parts of the world.

Signed by the Indigenous Delegates present at the Round Table

(delegates were self-selected through a global process facilitated by the International Alliance of Indigenous-Tribal Peoples of the Tropical Forests)

Latin America:

North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa

Central, South and South East Asia