Extractive industries and indigenous peoples 2013, para. 35

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The Special Rapporteur observes that in a number of cases States have asserted the power to expropriate indigenous property interests in land or surface resources in order to have or permit access to the subsurface resources to which the State claims ownership. Such an expropriation being a limitation of indigenous property rights, even if just compensation is provided, a threshold question in such cases is whether the limitation is pursuant to a valid public purpose. The Special Rapporteur cautions that such a valid public purpose is not found in mere commercial interests or revenue-raising objectives, and certainly not when benefits from the extractive activities are primarily for private gain. It should be recalled that under various sources of international law, indigenous peoples have property, cultural and other rights in relation to their traditional territories, even if those rights are not held under a title deed or other form of official recognition. Limitations of all those rights of indigenous peoples must, at a minimum, be backed by a valid public purpose within a human rights framework, just as with limitations on rights formally recognized by the State.
Legal status
Non-negotiated soft law
Body
Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples
Document type
Special Procedures' report
Means of adoption
N.A.
Topic(s)
  • Economic Rights
  • Environment
  • Governance & Rule of Law
  • Social & Cultural Rights
Person(s) affected
  • Ethnic minorities
Year
2013
Paragraph type
Other
Reference
SR Indigenous Peoples, Report to the HRC (2013), A/HRC/24/41, para. 35.
Paragraph number
35