22 June 2004
June 18, 2004
Dear Executive Directors:
Thank you for organizing and attending our briefing on the EIR recommendation for Free, Prior and Informed Consent for Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities. We hope you found the meeting to be informative.
We understand that CODE will be meeting to discuss management’s response to the EIR on Monday June 21. As Board members deliberate, we encourage you and your colleagues to keep in mind the main issues we discussed regarding Free Prior and Informed Consent.
1. Development Effectiveness: In order to eliminate poverty, rather than exacerbate it, FPIC must be an integral part of any natural resource development. Projects pursued without consent can threaten peace and project sustainability.
2. Cost Effectiveness: determining early whether affected communities support a development project helps to avoid litigation and civil unrest. An early response to local concerns and needs is easier and more cost effective than attempting to respond to concerns later in the development process.
3. Operations: Feasible changes to the existing framework at the World Bank can ensure implementation of FPIC. FPIC requires that consent is a collective decision and therefore does not permit individuals to block the decision or require that any one individual must consent.
4. Human Rights and Social License: FPIC is an internationally recognized human right for indigenous peoples and part of obtaining social license in the case of local communities.