The Implications of the Indigenous Right of Physical and Cultural Survival for Free, Prior and Informed Consent
Natalie Oman, Assistant Professor, Legal Studies, University of Ontario Institute of Technology
Nelcy Lopez-Cuellar, Independent Legal Researcher
Published April 19,
In the Technologies of Justice Conference session Law Process and Indigenous Rights, Natalie Oman and Nelcy Lopez-Cuellar discuss the implications of the Indigenous right of physical and cultural survival for free, prior, and informed consent. The session took place on January 26, 2018, at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology.
Oman and Lopez-Cuellar spoke about atrocity crimes and access to land rights, discussing land tenure systems and property rights, rights of consent (Free Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC)), and the right to physical and cultural survival. The researchers defined the right to physical and cultural survival and explained the Indigenous concept that without land there is no life. They show the special relationship between Indigenous peoples and their territories and the need for more dynamic rights in terms of different ways of life and cultures. They described how cultural development needs to be considered, and how FPIC is only the beginning of Indigenous international legal rights in human rights and United Nations laws.
