Three decades since the ILO’s Convention 169: reflections in light of the experience of the private sector with prior consultation

ABSTRACT

Three decades have already passed since the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention 1989 (C169) came into force. It is not a short period of time and in terms of putting it into practice significant experience has been gained especially in Latin America, the region with the highest number of countries that have ratified it: a total of twenty-three (including the most recent, Luxembourg), fourteen of which are Latin American countries. As a result of this, the reflections in this chapter arise predominantly from the implementation in this region, with a special emphasis on the experiences of Chile, Colombia, Peru, Guatemala, Honduras and Costa Rica. Generally, what has occurred in the other countries in this region is that the Convention has simply been ratified, without being officially put into practice by the respective Governments, or without its implementation having been properly demanded, in particular with regard to the prior consultation of the indigenous peoples provided for in article 6 of the Convention.

KEYWORDS:

• ILO
• Convention 169
• private sector

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Roberto Suárez Santos was appointed Secretary-General of the International Organisation of Employers (IOE) on 26 October 2018, having held the post of Deputy Secretary-General since December 2012. Prior to joining the IOE, Roberto was ILO Programme Director for the promotion of youth employment in the Maghreb region. He previously worked at the Spanish Confederation of Employers' Organisations (CEOE) in various areas ranging from comparative labour policies and labour relations to youth unemployment and social and employment policy. Roberto is a trained lawyer with experience in European and international labour law, as well as in international relations. In addition to his native Spanish, he speaks French and English.