The United Nations Environment Programme has issued landmark guidelines to combat the human rights abuses inflicted on indigenous people by conservation corporations.
The guidelines, issued by John H. Knox, a former UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment, come in the wake of repeated violations from WWF, WCS, African Parks and Conservation International.
The United Nations Environment Programme has issued landmark guidelines to combat the human rights abuses inflicted on indigenous people by conservation corporations.
The guidelines, issued by John H. Knox, a former UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment, will ensure that every conservation organisation will respect the rights of Indigenous peoples, including their right to their lands and territories.
The landmark guidelines come in the wake of various rights violations and abuses against indigenous tribes and communities by organisations such as WWF, WCS, African Parks and Conservation International.
Authored by Knox, the new list - Core Human Rights Principles for Private Conservation Organizations and Funders - lists minimum standards corporations such as WWF and WCS should abide by. These include -
"Every conservation organization and funder should ensure that it respects the rights of Indigenous Peoples, including their right to self-determination, their right to the lands, territories, and resources that they have traditionally owned, occupied, or otherwise used or acquired."
"Conservation organizations and funders should never undertake or support actions that adversely affect the rights of Indigenous Peoples without first consulting and cooperating with them in good faith, obtaining and maintaining their free, prior, and informed consent."
"Every conservation organization and funder should prevent potential adverse human rights impacts that it may cause or to which it may contribute and immediately cease any actual adverse impacts that it causes or to which it contributes."
"Every conservation organization and funder should condition its support for anti-poaching and other law enforcement activities… on compliance by those activities with international human rights norms and standards. If the activities fail to comply with such human rights norms and standards, the conservation organization or funder should restrict or terminate the support."
As per Caroline Pearce, the director of Survival International, the guidelines should "serve as a powerful indictment of the current state of conservation that these guidelines, setting out the most basic human rights principles, are necessary in 2024."