United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: A business reference guide

The objective of this guide (the “guide”) is to help business understand, respect, and support the rights of Indigenous peoples by illustrating how these rights are relevant to business activities. The advice offered in this guide is not prescriptive and a “one-size-fits-all” approach is impracticable. The diversity of issues and contexts, as well as a business’ size, sector, ownership and structure, means that the scale and complexity of the measures necessary to ensure respect for Indigenous peoples’ rights and opportunities to support such rights will vary depending on a number of factors. These factors are likely to include the following: the particular indigenous peoples and their cultures, histories and preferences regarding development; the business and its objectives; the proposed activities and the regulatory environment; and the severity of the business’ potential adverse impact, if any. This guide encourages business to engage in meaningful consultation and partnership with Indigenous peoples on a local level and to adapt the principles discussed and practices suggested here to their distinct situations and contexts. It is important to note that as this guide specifically focuses on the interaction between business and Indigenous peoples, it does not represent a self-contained or exclusive code that encapsulates all of the responsibilities a business has towards Indigenous peoples. The actions suggested here could be considered alongside a broader set of actions business take to respect and support the human rights of all people.