Promoting positive human rights outcomes for Indigenous Peoples: Key considerations for UK policymakers

This briefing sets out key opportunities for the UK to fulfil its existing obligations under international human rights law, as repeatedly urged by human rights treaty bodies, to recognise, protect and promote the collective and individual human rights of indigenous peoples.

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 Adopting and embedding a human rights-based approach across all UK policy, legislation, official development aid and foreign policy engagement that could affect indigenous peoples is a prerequisite to achieving positive human rights and environmental outcomes beyond Britain’s borders. Such actions are urgently needed for the UK to demonstrate leadership in ensuring longer-term global prosperity and equity.

Key Recommendations

1. Publicly endorse the collective human rights of indigenous peoples as required by the UK’s existing international human rights law obligations and treaty body recommendations, revising past statements that run counter to collective rights such as indigenous peoples’ rights to self-determination, means of subsistence (their lands, territories and resources), and non-discrimination.
2. Ensure all UK policies, laws and funded programmes are premised on a human rights-based approach that includes respect for indigenous peoples’ collective rights, including those related to sustainable production and trade, conservation, infrastructure development, deforestation, critical minerals, green energy, climate change and biodiversity.
3. Enact a ‘Business, Human Rights and Environment Act’, making it mandatory for business and financial institutions to respect human rights and protect the environment as recommended by the Joint Committee on Human Rights in 2017. Such a law must ensure legal liability, include robust enforcement and provide effective and accessible extraterritorial remedies that minimise the burden of proof on indigenous peoples.
4. Increase direct funding to indigenous organisations in official development aid, and climate and biodiversity financing, as a means of supporting indigenous peoples to secure their customary land tenure and to govern their territories and forests in an equitable, culturally appropriate and sustainable manner.
5. Promote the individual and collective rights of indigenous women (as articulated in international human rights law) in international development aid, regulation of UK business and financial institutions, and international trade. This is essential as the violation of any of these rights constitutes discrimination against indigenous women and girls and is reflected in the denial of their rights over their territories, natural and economic resources, and their lack of access to land use and ownership.
6. Publicly recognise, apologise and make reparations for the historical wrongs committed by the UK against indigenous peoples through its colonial and post-colonial activities and related on-going violations of their human rights stemming from lack of remedy and the absence of UK laws and policies to recognise and protect indigenous peoples’ collective human rights.
7. Proactively support indigenous, land and human rights defenders, including by providing dedicated and rapidly accessible funding to investigate and secure access to remedy when they experience attacks, threats and criminalization.
8. Place human rights clauses and conditionalities in trade and investment agreements, official development assistance and official development finance. This must include the requirement to undertake human rights impact assessments and ensure indigenous peoples’ free prior and informed consent has been sought, granted and maintained for any projects affecting them that are funded by the UK government, including those funded by the British International Investment.