Right to Prior Consultation in Perú: Progress to 2016

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This week the Americas Society published a new paper in English that I co-authored with UP colleagues Veronica Hurtado and Tania Ramirez, on the implementation of the right to prior consulation for indigenous peoples in Peru.  This is part of a series that also includes studies of Colombia and Chile.

The paper analyzes the implementation of this right since 2011, when the Humala Administration promulgated a national law designed to put into practice Peru´s constitutional commitment to ILO 169.   It updates information in a prior paper by Sanborn and Paredes (2015) and has a somewhat more optimistic tone, not just because there have been 24 consultations carried out in this period with numerous indigenous peoples, on a wide array of issues that affect their lives, but also because this measure — despite numerous problems — has helped to make visible and empower communities long excluded in Peruvian politics.  It has forced the State to try and communicate better with large numbers of indigenous citizens, and has encouraged at least some corporate leaders to do the same.

The paper will be published in Spanish later this year by the Universidad del Pacificio Press.   This recent interview in El Comercio is related.