Indigenous Peoples Issues - Mining and the Environment: From Ore to Metal - page 665

may exaggerate problems and repeat allegations without checking their veracity. There
have been many cases where NGOs have overstated social problems between mining oper-
ations and indigenous communities, and in some of these cases, the overstatements aggra-
vated the problems.
NGOs, as well as politically aligned or unaligned indigenous communities, have increas-
ingly well-developed national and international networks. This has been facilitated by the
rapid improvement and efi ciency of international communications, particularly global
email and the Internet. Important and inl uential information including photographs of,
for example, claimed pollution or substandard living conditions is now transmitted and
received in real-time throughout the world. Protest action or distribution of adverse claims
can be organized to take place almost globally within a matter of days.
It is therefore in the interests of mining companies or governments to avoid local dis-
putes involving Indigenous Peoples which could generate an international issue; interest
on the part of outside parties in disputes can now be taken up extremely quickly.
The key rights that are now generally accorded to Indigenous Peoples are discussed
separately below:
Self-determination - Indigenous Peoples have the basic right to protect and maintain
their traditional ways of life. Although the right of self-determination has yet to be fully
explored by many Indigenous Peoples, this is likely to be a matter of increasing conl ict
against the interests of nation, state, and capital interests.
The International Court of Justice has declared that self-determination is a right of peo-
ple, not nation states. This is off-set by the role of nation states in imposing constraints on
self-determination for Indigenous Peoples, and in determining the extent of the negotiat-
ing power of Indigenous Peoples.
In international law, self-determination implies that Indigenous Peoples have the right
to independent sovereignty and hence the right of succession. In so far as Indigenous
Peoples constitute identii able communities with collective rights, they also have some
rights of appeal to the United Nations Human Rights Committee.
Intellectual property rights - Indigenous Peoples' cultures invariably hold signii cant tra-
ditional knowledge of the natural resources on which they depend; and of specii c resource
values, such as medicinal values of herbs and plants, and natural processes that occur in the
environment around them. Such knowledge is of great value, with signii cant potential com-
mercial value. Such knowledge belongs to the traditional holders of that knowledge.
Control over and management of local resources - Clearly, if Indigenous Peoples have
rights to exist and maintain their traditional culture and practices, then they must have
a corresponding right to protect, maintain, and have control over those natural resources
that are an integral part of their culture and support their way of life.
Preservation of cultural traditions and languages - If Indigenous Peoples are to be pro-
tected and their way of life maintained, then their cultural traditions and languages need
to be preserved. Language is the most critical aspect of culture, and, throughout history,
denying Indigenous Peoples the right to use their own language (or dialect) has helped
destroy the independence and identity of minority cultural groups.
Compensation for the removal of rights to access and/or use - Under the provisions of
various legislation, governments will from time to time arrange to acquire lands in the
interests of achieving an over-arching benei t for the wider society. Land use planning leg-
islation allows for this potential in most, if not all, countries. The application of such pow-
ers will at times affect the traditional lands of Indigenous Peoples.
In the past, Indigenous Peoples and their interests and afi liations to the land have been
considered as separate from the concerns of regional development and resource manage-
ment. In Australia, the Philippines and many other countries, there is now a legislative

Indigenous Peoples have the
basic right to protect and
maintain their traditional ways
of life.

In Australia, the Philippines and
many other countries, there is
now a legislative framework
which compels a serious
consideration of Indigenous
Peoples' rights over land and
resources.