Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC)

The legal principle of free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) provides the culturally appropriate rights-based framework within which indigenous peoples can exercise the right to give or withhold their consent to activities that may affect their lands, territories, and resources. Compliance with FPIC means that those who wish to implement projects using these lands and resources – whether governments, private investors, or others – must consult the concerned peoples through their own representative institutions, negotiate with them in good faith, and respect their decision-making processes and their decisions to give or withhold consent based on a full and accurate understanding of the potential impacts on their collective rights.

FPIC is arguably the most important safeguard under international law from the perspective of ensuring self-determined decision-making in the context of regulating externally initiated activities. The right to give or withhold FPIC also applies to peoples who do not self-identify as indigenous but who have a strong cultural and physical connection to, and reliance on, the lands, territories and resources held under collective customary tenure. FPIC also features in the national laws of some countries. A growing number of indigenous peoples and forest peoples are articulating how their FPIC is to be sought and consensus decisions taken in accordance with their customary laws, by developing their own FPIC Protocols and customary laws. FPP supports indigenous peoples and forest peoples to demand respect for their right to FPIC, to develop their own FPIC protocols and laws and to insist on their implementation, and to seek redress from state and corporate actors where FPIC is not obtained.