Tag Archives: FPIC

Agricultural sector companies, and companies with large agricultural supply chains, face new scrutiny from investors and other stakeholders concerning human rights-related risks in their corporate supply chains. Key issues for this sector include the risks of human trafficking and forced labor and the potential for suppliers to be complicit in land grabs which displace vulnerable populations.

In early December, a group of faith-based and socially responsible investors announced that they would launch a campaign in January 2014 urging fifteen companies in the food-agricultural and hospitality sectors to take steps to address risks of human rights abuses in their corporate supply chains.… More

Barrick Gold Corporation (“Barrick”) recently published an interview with Gare Smith, Chair of Foley Hoag’s CSR practice and a member of Barrick’s CSR Advisory Board.

Gare founded the CSR practice in 2000 after serving as Senior Foreign Policy Advisor and Counsel to U.S. Senator Edward M. Kennedy and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Democracy,… More

Two important new reports focus on land tenure conflicts between companies and communities.

In September, the Rights and Resources Initiative released a report entitled, “Global Capital, Local Concessions: A Data-Driven Examination of Land Tenure Risk and Industrial Concessions in Emerging Market Economies.” The report, drafted by the Munden Project, attempts to quantify the percentage of company land concessions that overlap community (particularly indigenous) claims,… More

The International Council of Mining & Metals (“ICMM”) recently released a position statement on indigenous peoples and mining that explicitly requires its 22 member companies to work to obtain the free, prior, and informed consent (“FPIC”) of indigenous communities for new projects (and changes to existing projects).

Specifically, ICMM member companies commit to:

Work to obtain the consent of indigenous communities for new projects (and changes to existing projects) that are located on lands traditionally owned by or under customary use of Indigenous Peoples and are likely to have significant adverse impacts on Indigenous Peoples[.]

The position statement replaces an earlier statement,… More

The new draft Equator Principles reflect and build upon the IFC Performance Standards’ requirement that companies obtain the free, prior, and informed consent (“FPIC”) of indigenous peoples for development projects. This language reflects the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (“UNDRIP”), which was supported by all but four countries in the UN General Assembly in 2007. The four countries that originally voted against the Declaration – the United States,… More

The proposed draft of the revised Equator Principles, released on August 13, reflects a greater focus on human rights, with explicit mention of the expectation of human rights due diligence as set forth in the U.N. Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. The revised Principles also cover a wider range of project financing structures in recognition of the fact that the project finance market has diversified significantly since the Principles were first released in 2003.… More

The new IFC Environmental and Social Performance Standards — in particular, Performance Standard 7 on indigenous peoples — present a range of management and operational challenges for certain companies. For the first time, the Performance Standard includes a requirement of free, prior, and informed consent (“FPIC”) from indigenous peoples.

The new Performance Standards went into effect in January 2012 and are applicable to a greater number of the IFC’s investments than the 2006 Performance Standards,… More

As discussed in an earlier post, the International Finance Corporation ("IFC") recently released an updated version of its Performance Standards on Environmental and Social Sustainability.  The IFC uses the Performance Standards to manage the social and environmental risks and impacts associated with projects receiving IFC financing.  The revised Standards reflect a number of important changes, particularly on the topic of engaging with communities, with special guidance related to indigenous peoples. … More

The International Finance Corporation ("IFC") released its updated Sustainability Framework today, reflecting changes adopted by the IFC’s Board of Directors in May 2011. The Framework includes the IFC’s Policy and Performance Standards on Environmental and Social Sustainability.  The updates reflect a number of important changes, including both the scope of Framework’s application and the nature of the substantive requirements for borrowers. The new Framework will be effective on January 1, 2012.

Notably,… More

2010 was a big year for indigenous rights. By the end of the year, the four countries that had voted against the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (“UNDRIP”) in 2007 – the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand – had reversed their positions and declared their support for the Declaration. This development reflects the rising importance of indigenous rights on the international stage,… More