Indigenous Peoples' Experiences with Business and Human Rights Cases in South Asia

DAY 1
20 March
16:30-17:45
GMT+5:45

Indigenous Peoples’ Experiences with Business and Human Rights Cases in South Asia

Background

Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP) has been observing the situation and the trend of human rights violations of IPs in Asia since 2010. AIPP along with its partners have been documenting important cases on the issue of business and human rights on Indigenous Peoples (IPs) in Asia including South Asia countries-Nepal, Bangladesh and India. The Indigenous Peoples of Asia are high up on the list of targets and victims of human rights violations. The cases of this violence are being continued, even during this COVID-19 pandemic period. In the course of implementation of 'business' related activities in IPs land and territories, Indigenous Peoples have been facing multiple forms of human rights violations and abuses including torture, displacement, rape, forced disappearance, arbitrary arrests, killings etc. Often funded by multinational corporations and business enterprises in collusion with governments at times, in the forms of development projects, extractive industries and conservation, have violated the respect for the rights of Indigenous Peoples, including their right to self-determination; land, territories and resources; free, prior and informed consent (FPIC). Moreover, Indigenous communities who stood against such projects have often been detained, tortured and injured seriously with no access to justice and remedy. States have an obligation to consult and cooperate in good faith in order to obtain FPIC before the adoption of legislation or administrative policies that affect Indigenous Peoples; and the undertaking of projects that affect Indigenous Peoples’ rights to land, territory and resources, including mining and other utilization or exploitation of resources. However, the Indigenous Peoples of South Asian countries have many negative and positive experiences in Business and Human Rights activities and the due diligence process.

This proposed session aims to particularly highlight the selected cases on business and human rights of Indigenous Peoples from three countries-Nepal, Bangladesh and India. It will possible to provide the factors and challenges of Indigenous peoples related to BHR and formulate ways forward to solve the challenges in future. The event will help to bring national and international stakeholders' attention to the BHR issues and the updates on implementing the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as well as the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights in South Asian countries. The updates on supply chains and legislative initiatives on BHR cases to IPs also will be discussed there.

Session Description

In this session, IPHRDs from India, Bangladesh and Nepal of the IPHRD Network in Asia will share their experiences on the panel. They will share their selected cases related to BHR on Indigenous Peoples and share experience on how to work with cases and provide some recommendations to the forum. AIPP will share regional overview of the situation of IPs in relation to business and human rights. The session will be for 90 minutes and it will be moderated in a “talk-show” format. Allowing for Q/A, interaction and different opinions to be heard.

Session Objectives

The key objectives of this session are to:

Sharing the selected cases of business and human rights on Indigenous Peoples in South Asia countries- Bangladesh, Nepal and India.
Sharing experiences and good practices from the perspective of the indigenous rights holders, lessons-learned, gaps, and challenges to strengthen the implementation of human rights due diligence and UNGPs in South Asia.
Identify factors for an enabling environment for respecting Indigenous Peoples’ rights and effective implementation of the FPIC and safeguard of Indigenous Peoples.

Session Partner

Speakers

Jagat Bahadur BARAM

Jagat is Executive Council Member of Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP), Chief Advisor and Former Chairperson of Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities (NEFIN). Has expertise in FPIC following up, long working experience on the rights of Indigenous Peoples & Local Communities (IPLC) and the field of Human Rights.

Frederic Wilson

Frederic is an Indigenous Dusun Putih from Sabah, Malaysia. He has worked for over 10 years with Indigenous Peoples in Malaysia, especially with his own community and at the Sabah State level. He spent 12 months working with the Assistant Minister for Law and Native Affairs of Sabah State. Frederic is currently serving Indigenous Peoples in Asia in the capacity of Human Rights Campaign and Policy Advocacy (HRCPA) Programme Officer for Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP) based in Thailand, since joining the organization in 2019. Frederic’s main focus is Indigenous Peoples’ human rights defenders and contributes as a focal person in AIPP’s engagement with ASEAN mechanisms.

Falguni Tripura

Falguni is a Coordinator of Bangladesh Indigenous Women’s Network (BIWN) and a member of Bangladesh Indigenous Peoples Forum (BIPF). She has been working for the rights of Indigenous women and girls in Bangladesh for more than 10 years. BIWN contributes to documenting and monitoring the human rights cases against Indigenous women and girls in Bangladesh. Ms. Falguni as a coordinator of this network is engaged to do advocacy campaigns at different levels and submissions the selected cases to human rights institutions to bring justice.

Elina Horo

Elina, President of Adivasi Women’s Network, has been contributing as an Indigenous woman human rights defender in Jharkhand, India for many years. She continued raising her voice against the incidents of gender-based violence faced by marginalized communities, particularly the Adivasi (Indigenous) women. She focuses strategic needs of Adivasi women to strengthen and empower them. AWN has documented more than sixty human rights cases against Indigenous Peoples in Jharkhand from 2019to 2022 and took some initiative for the justice of the cases.

Durga Mani Rai

Durga is an Indigenous Yamphu from Nepal, licensed attorney and Indigenous rights activist, is working with Lawyers' Association for Human Rights of Nepalese Indigenous Peoples (LAHURNIP), an organization established by Indigenous lawyers. He is providing legal support to the Indigenous and local communities who are harmed by development aggression and business activities. He has been involved in defending the Indigenous Peoples human rights for the past 11 years.

DAY 1 20 March 16:30-17:45 GMT+5:45