36/53 Good practices and challenges, including discrimination, in business and in access to financial services by indigenous peoples, in particular indigenous women and indigenous persons with disabilities - Study of the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
Document Type: Final Report
Date: 2017 Aug
Session: 36th Regular Session (2017 Sep)
Agenda Item: Item3: Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development, Item5: Human rights bodies and mechanisms
GE.17-13466(E)
Human Rights Council Thirty- sixth session
11-29 September 2017
Agenda items 3 and 5
Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil,
political, economic, social and cultural rights,
including the right to development
Human rights bodies and mechanisms
Good practices and challenges, including discrimination, in business and in access to financial services by indigenous peoples, in particular indigenous women and indigenous persons with disabilities
Study of the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
Summary
The Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples has carried out the
present study pursuant to the request made by the Human Rights Council in its resolution
33/13. In the study, the Expert Mechanism proposes a human rights-based understanding of
indigenous peoples’ businesses and access to financial services and identifies encouraging
practices and challenges in that area. Expert Mechanism advice No. 10 on indigenous
peoples’ businesses and access to financial services is contained in the annex.
United Nations A/HRC/36/53
Contents
Page
I. Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 3
II. A human rights-based understanding of indigenous peoples’ businesses ..................................... 3
A. Grounding indigenous peoples’ business and access to financial services
within a human rights framework ......................................................................................... 3
B. Indigenous peoples’ rights-based approaches to business .................................................... 5
C. Discrimination-free appreciation of the contribution indigenous peoples’ business
and economies make to national development ..................................................................... 9
III. Practices ........................................................................................................................................ 10
A. States ..................................................................................................................................... 10
B. Indigenous peoples ............................................................................................................... 13
C. Financial institutions ............................................................................................................. 15
IV. Challenges ..................................................................................................................................... 16
A. Persistent prejudiced views of indigenous peoples’ business capacity ................................. 16
B. Lack of legal protection for rights over lands and resources ................................................ 17
C. Lack of inclusive indigenous governance and leadership in business .................................. 18
D. Challenges facing indigenous women, youth and persons with disabilities ......................... 19
Annex ......................................................................................................................................................... 21
I. Introduction
1. In its resolution 33/13, the Human Rights Council requested the Expert Mechanism
on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples to prepare a study on good practices and challenges,
including discrimination, in business and in access to financial services by indigenous
peoples, in particular indigenous women and indigenous persons with disabilities, and to
present it to the Council at its thirty-sixth session.
2. The Expert Mechanism called for States, indigenous peoples, national human rights
institutions and other stakeholders to provide information for the study. The submissions
received have been made available on the Expert Mechanism website whenever permission
to do so has been granted. The study also benefited from presentations made at the expert
seminar on good practices and challenges for indigenous peoples’ entrepreneurship, which
was held in Boulder, United States of America, from 6 to 7 March 2017, and organized by
the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the University
of Colorado Law School.
II. A human rights-based understanding of indigenous peoples’ businesses
A. Grounding indigenous peoples’ business and access to financial services within a human rights framework
3. Indigenous peoples have their own economies, including traditional livelihoods and
ways of producing, selling and distributing goods or services, as well as concepts of profit,
saving and sustainable use of resources. Those economies have been affected by centuries
of historical injustices, most notably dispossession of lands, territories and resources that,
compounded by underlying prejudiced views of indigenous peoples’ ways of life,
livelihoods and knowledge systems, have undermined their business potential.
4. The systematic economic marginalization of indigenous peoples continues to the
present day, including through the discrimination that they frequently face in accessing
financial services or in establishing and operating their own businesses. Indigenous women,
persons with disabilities and young indigenous persons are particularly affected by
discrimination due to the multiple barriers that they face.
5. As restorative frameworks, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples and several other international human rights instruments guarantee
rights that seek to redress the historical injustices suffered by indigenous peoples. Article 3
of the Declaration enshrines indigenous peoples’ right to freely pursue their economic,
social and cultural development as an integral part of their right to self-determination.
Article 23 of the Declaration provides for indigenous peoples’ right to development,
including the right to determine and develop economic priorities, strategies and
programmes. Those provisions underlie indigenous peoples’ right to unlock their business
potential, do business as an integral part of their right to self-determination, and develop or
maintain sustainable economies in their own communities, while also participating in
national and regional markets if they wish.
6. The Declaration underlines the particular relevance of indigenous peoples’ access to
financial services as a way to redress historical injustices and discrimination. In article 4 on
self-determination, it clarifies that indigenous peoples require resources to achieve self-
determined development. In addition, in article 39, it enshrines the right of indigenous
peoples to financial and technical assistance, which should be culturally sensitive and not
contribute to dependency relationships with the State, markets or financial institutions.
7. In addressing indigenous peoples’ economic marginalization, articles 21 and 22 of
the Declaration provide specifically for attention to be paid to the rights of indigenous
women, youth and persons with disabilities. Many indigenous peoples suffer from policies
of economic forced assimilation that have subjected them to discriminatory and precarious
working conditions. That has put particular pressure on indigenous youth, who often leave
their communities to search for work in cities. Indigenous women face similar challenges
when combining their unpaid domestic work and paid work in the labour market.
8. The International Labour Organization (ILO) Discrimination (Employment and
Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111) is a widely ratified international instrument,
grounded in the human rights principle of equal economic opportunities. In interpreting the
Convention, the ILO Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and
Recommendations has reaffirmed the key contribution of indigenous peoples’ traditional
occupations to addressing their economic marginalization, underlining the importance of
access to lands and resources for them to engage in their traditional occupations.1 ILO has
argued that “discrimination in the labour market, by excluding members of indigenous
communities from work or by impairing their chances of developing market-relevant
capabilities, lowers the quality of jobs they can aspire to”.2
9. The international obligation to respect, protect and promote indigenous peoples’
traditional economies is similarly enshrined in article 23 of the ILO Indigenous and Tribal
Peoples Convention, 1989 (No. 169), which provides that “rural and community-based
industries, and subsistence economy and traditional activities of the peoples concerned,
such as hunting, fishing, trapping and gathering, shall be recognised as important factors in
the maintenance of their cultures and in their economic self-reliance and development”.
10. The right to economic self-determination, including through control over natural
resources, is also enshrined in article 1 of the 1986 United Nations Declaration on the Right
to Development.
11. Indigenous peoples’ right to their economic systems is an enabling right that
facilitates the enjoyment and exercise of other rights. The former Special Rapporteur on the
rights of indigenous peoples, James Anaya, concluded in his 2013 report on extractive
industries and indigenous peoples that the enjoyment of self-determination and related
rights may be enhanced when indigenous peoples freely choose to develop their own
resource extraction enterprises backed by adequate capacity and internal governance
institutions (see A/HRC/24/41, para. 11).
12. The United Nations “Protect, Respect and Remedy” Framework on business and
human rights reaffirms that businesses can contribute to the realization of human rights,
including the right of those who suffer the most discrimination. Businesses constitute
powerful forces capable of generating economic growth, reducing poverty, and increasing
demand for the rule of law, thereby contributing to the realization of a broad spectrum of
human rights (see A/HRC/8/5, para. 2).
13. However, the Framework fails to pay particular attention to the negative impact that
dispossession of land and natural resources has had on indigenous peoples’ capacity to do
business and become actors of inclusive growth. The Framework also fails to look into
potential lessons that could be learned from indigenous peoples’ traditional economic
models that have enabled them over centuries to balance successfully economic, social,
cultural and environmental objectives.
14. The Sustainable Development Goals also establish a link between business, human
rights and discrimination-free living conditions for those left furthest behind, including
indigenous peoples. Goal 10 on reduced inequalities in income should be broadly
understood as including income generated by indigenous peoples from their traditional
economies, which deserve equal protection, respect and promotion as sources of income.
Goal 8 on sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive
employment and decent work for all, is also of key relevance. Indigenous businesses have
1 See the Committee’s direct request to Cambodia. Available from
www.ilo.ch/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=NORMLEXPUB:13100:0::NO::P13100_COMMENT_ID:3254923.
2 ILO Leaflet No. 5 on discrimination in employment and occupation, p. 1. Available from
http://pro169.org/res/materials/en/discrimination/Leaflet%20on%20Discrimination%20in%20Employ
ment%20&%20Occupation.pdf.
much to contribute to the goal of generating employment and ensuring sustainable
livelihoods.3
15. The Convention on Biological Diversity also provides recognition of the links
between indigenous traditional knowledge, sustainable customary use of biological
resources and its wider potential benefits. According to article 8 (j), States shall respect,
preserve and maintain knowledge, innovations and practices of indigenous and local
communities and promote their wider application with the approval and involvement of the
holders of such knowledge, and encourage the equitable sharing of the benefits arising from
the utilization of such knowledge, innovations and practices. Traditional knowledge issues
cut across many domains in relation to global environmental issues, including biodiversity
conservation, natural resource management, business development, use of genetic resources
and climate change.
16. The Paris Agreement acknowledges the role of indigenous peoples’ traditional
knowledge in addressing climate change (art. 7 (5)) and reminds States to respect, promote
and consider their human rights obligations when taking action to address climate change
(preamble). Indigenous peoples should therefore have a legitimate stake in climate change-
related businesses, funding and financial services.
B. Indigenous peoples’ rights-based approaches to business
17. Indigenous peoples’ economic systems consist of a diversity of activities for self-
determined development. Those activities have traditionally been mostly for subsistence
and include small-scale agriculture, hunting, gathering, animal husbandry and artisanal
activities such as weaving, carpentry, carving and blacksmithing. 4 The present section
deconstructs indigenous peoples’ economies and businesses with a view to understanding
the human rights features that make them unique and contribute to their resilience.
1. Indigenous peoples’ business as a safeguard for their right to live in dignity
18. Economic redress and empowerment of indigenous peoples and the corresponding
right to undertake economic activities is not a goal in itself, but a means for indigenous
peoples to attain their right to the dignity and diversity of their cultures, traditions, histories
and aspirations, as guaranteed in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples (art. 15).
19. The right of indigenous peoples to maintain and develop their economic systems and
institutions, including the right to be secure in the enjoyment of their own means of
subsistence and development, and to engage freely in all their traditional and other
economic activities is enshrined in the Declaration (art. 20), which further provides that
indigenous peoples deprived of their means of subsistence and development are entitled to
just and fair redress (art. 20).
20. The Declaration also requires States to combat prejudice and eliminate
discrimination and to promote tolerance, understanding and good relations among
indigenous peoples and all other segments of society (art. 15). That applies to prejudiced
views that consider indigenous peoples’ use, ownership and occupation of lands and
resources as wasteful and economically unworthy.
21. Article 2 of the ILO Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention provides for
indigenous peoples’ economic empowerment as a means for restoring respect for their
cultures, customs, traditions and institutions. To that end, States are required to take
measures to “promote the full realisation of the social, economic and cultural rights of these
peoples with respect for their social and cultural identity, their customs and traditions and
their institutions … assisting the members of the peoples concerned to eliminate socio-
3 See the submission from the New Zealand Human Rights Commission.
4 Jannie Lasimbang, “Indigenous peoples and local economic development”, Global Thinking for Local
Development, vol. 5 (2008). Available from http://pro169.org/res/materials/en/development/
IPs%20and%20Local%20Economic%20Development.pdf.
economic gaps that may exist between indigenous and other members of the national
community, in a manner compatible with their aspirations and ways of life”.
22. Generally, indigenous peoples’ economic activities aim not only at generating
resources but also strengthening indigenous cultures, rebuilding communities’ self-esteem,
breaking systemic barriers of discrimination, protecting their lands and natural resources,
reclaiming their place in economic affairs and becoming key actors in their self-determined
development.
23. Notwithstanding their considerable diversity, indigenous peoples’ economies place a
strong emphasis on both social and economic returns to communities. Indigenous peoples’
ways of understanding business do not necessarily define success by the amount of profit
made, but rather by the benefits that a business can provide to their families and
communities.
24. That indigenous notion of corporate social responsibility appears to be grounded in
human rights and seems different from the dominant corporate social responsibility model,
which is guided by charity, free from binding norms and focused on corporate public
image. Indigenous businesses or economic activities are commonly discussed as part of a
broader governing strategy for the management of indigenous peoples’ lands and natural
resources and include the definition of internal agreements regarding the manner and the
extent of development of economic activities to avoid severe impacts on the communal way
of life. 5 As noted by former Expert Mechanism member Jannie Lasimbang, “any
indigenous economic system is part of an economic and social totality that connects and
governs the lives of its peoples. Social responsibility and reciprocity are embedded into
behavioral norms within indigenous social systems”.6 The mainstream globalization-guided
business model, which is often criticized for lacking social dimensions,7 could learn from
indigenous peoples’ understanding of businesses grounded in community values and human
rights principles.
2. Indigenous peoples’ business as a safeguard for their right to lands, territories and
resources
25. Indigenous peoples’ activities, including those of an economic nature, constitute the
core basis for their rights over lands and resources, which they hold not only for themselves
but also for future generations. Immemorial use and occupation of lands, territories and
resources constitute the primary means of proof of indigenous peoples’ rights and claims
over a given territory, as substantiated by several court decisions. Article 26 of the
Declaration states that rights over lands derive from traditional use and occupation,
including for economic purposes.
26. Regional human rights mechanisms have reaffirmed that indigenous peoples’
economic activities on their lands and territories, including exploitation or conservation of
resources thereon, are constitutive elements of their right to lands. For instance, the Inter-
American Court of Human Rights concluded in the Saramaka case that:
The right to use and enjoy their territory would be meaningless in the context of
indigenous and tribal communities if said right were not connected to the natural
resources that lie on and within the land…This connectedness between the territory
and the natural resources necessary for their physical and cultural survival is
precisely what needs to be protected (Saramaka People v. Suriname, para. 122).
27. The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights reached a similar
conclusion, indicating that the Endorois indigenous people’s right over their ancestral lands
5 See for example, the following initiatives from Brazil: Plano de Gestão do Território Indígena do
Xingu (2016), Governança e Bem Viver Indígena: Planos de Gestão Territorial e Ambiental das
Terras Indígenas do Alto e Médio Rio Negro, and Plano de Gestão da Terra Indígena Mamoadate.
6 Jannie Lasimbang, “Indigenous peoples and local economic development”, p. 43.
7 See John Ruggie, “Keynote address: United Nations Forum on Business and Human Rights” (14
November 2016). Available from
www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Business/ForumSession5/Statements/JohnRuggie.pdf.
and resources included their right to undertake economic activities with a view to
generating revenues:
The African Commission is of the view that Endorois culture, religion, and
traditional way of life are intimately intertwined with their ancestral lands – Lake
Bogoria and the surrounding area. It agrees that Lake Bogoria and the Monchongoi
Forest are central to the Endorois’ way of life and without access to their ancestral
land, the Endorois are unable to fully exercise their cultural and religious rights, and
feel disconnected from their land and ancestors (Endorois Welfare Council v. Kenya,
para. 156).
28. The subsistence-focused economic model is still prevalent among many indigenous
peoples’ communities in Asia, Africa and parts of Latin America and even in developed
countries. In parts of Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand indigenous
peoples’ economic activities are expanding, as the former Special Rapporteur on the rights
of indigenous peoples has said, with “indigenous nations or tribes [owning and operating]
companies that engage in oil and gas production, manage electric power assets, or invest in
alternative energy” (see A/HRC/24/41, para. 10).
29. Those examples point towards a correlation between the level of legal protection for
indigenous peoples’ rights over lands or resources and their respective choices of economic
models. On the one hand, in countries where their rights over lands and resources are better
protected, indigenous peoples tend to be able to develop their economic activities and
businesses in a more autonomous manner and also to be more open to innovative business
models or partnerships. Protection of indigenous land rights does not necessarily, or even
usually, imply “privatization,” which can lead to further loss of lands and resources. Rather
indigenous lands and resources must be protected according to indigenous traditions and
norms, and with domestic remedial mechanisms in cases of violations or abuses of their
rights.
30. On the other hand, indigenous communities living in countries where their rights
over lands or resources are not protected appear more resistant to innovative business
models, which they fear might lead to further alienation of their lands and resources. Lack
of legal protection for their lands and resources thus limits their business options.
3. Indigenous peoples’ businesses as a means to achieve enhanced enjoyment of their
rights to culture, languages and traditional knowledge
31. Article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights protects the
right of persons belonging to ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities to enjoy their own
culture. In its general comment No. 23 (1994) on the rights of minorities, the Human Rights
Committee indicates that for indigenous peoples, the right to enjoy a particular culture may
consist in a way of life which is closely associated with territory and use of its resources
(para. 3.2).
32. Article 31 of the Declaration protects culture and traditional knowledge-related
activities with economic potential, including human and genetic resources, seeds,
medicines, knowledge of the properties of fauna and flora, oral traditions, literatures,
designs, sports and traditional games and visual and performing arts.
33. The Expert Mechanism’s study on the role of languages and culture in the promotion
and protection of the rights and identity of indigenous peoples reaffirms the link between
culture, land rights and self-determination. The study underlines also the role of languages
for indigenous peoples’ economic activities grounded in traditional knowledge (see
A/HRC/21/53, paras. 23 and 25).
34. Increasing recognition of the importance of indigenous-led entrepreneurship has
seen a growing number of indigenous businesses established to enable indigenous peoples
to reclaim their place and space in the business world and to promote indigenous modes of
production. For example, Symbiosis, a fashion company in Costa Rica, melds traditional art
forms with innovative marketing to appeal to a global market.8
35. Culture underpins the social infrastructure of indigenous communities and it can
help provide a foundation to support business growth if that is a collective decision. Culture
can also provide a number of different business opportunities, particularly in the arts and
tourism fields, such as music and dance, arts and craft and the traditional food industry,
which can be leveraged to meet indigenous peoples’ needs.
36. However, indigenous traditional knowledge systems are susceptible to being
commodified and owned and traded as private intellectual property rights. Examples
include the misappropriation of traditional knowledge-based genetic resources and products
derived from biodiversity-rich ecosystems, for which indigenous peoples often receive little
direct benefit. For example, the San people in South Africa contested the use of their
traditional knowledge about the plant known as Hoodia, which they have used for centuries
to block feelings of hunger, by pharmaceutical companies for medicine including against
obesity.9 As a positive example, the Plurinational State of Bolivia has established a registry
of collective trademarks of indigenous communities’ handicrafts and textiles.
37. While Western systems emphasize individual intellectual property, indigenous
peoples’ traditional knowledge is often created and owned collectively, passed down orally,
and regulated by customary laws requiring stewardship for the benefit of the community
and future generations. As the Expert Mechanism has previously underlined, existing
international mechanisms do little to protect traditional indigenous intellectual property,
because they focus on protecting the rights of individuals, not collectives (see
A/HRC/30/53, para. 58). The Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair
and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from Their Utilization to the Convention on
Biological Diversity addresses traditional knowledge associated with genetic resources and
provides provisions for fair and equitable benefit-sharing. However, further strengthening
protections around indigenous knowledge systems could help reduce the risk of cultural
appropriation and ensure that any culturally based business opportunities benefit indigenous
peoples.
4. Free, prior and informed consent as a catalyst of safe, viable and inclusive indigenous
peoples’ businesses
38. The Declaration guarantees a set of rights that should allow indigenous peoples to do
business on their lands safely and viably. To that end, article 29 provides for the protection
of the environment and productive capacity of indigenous peoples’ lands, territories and
resources. The article specifically prohibits the storage or disposal of hazardous materials
on indigenous peoples’ lands without their free, prior and informed consent. Article 32
underlines the particular role of free, prior and informed consent with regard to the
development, utilization or exploitation of mineral, water and other resources on indigenous
peoples’ lands and territories.
39. The principle of free, prior and informed consent has been elaborated upon by
numerous human rights experts and mechanisms, including the Expert Mechanism and the
Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples.10 Even in cases where indigenous
peoples themselves exploit the resources on their lands, free, prior and informed consent
would still be of critical importance to ensure that all sections of communities, including
indigenous women, youth and persons with disabilities, participate effectively. Free, prior
and informed consent thus reinforces the inclusiveness of indigenous peoples’ business
models.
8 Alancay Morales, presentation to the expert seminar on good practices and challenges for indigenous
peoples’ entrepreneurship.
9 More information on the case can be found at www.wipo.int/export/sites/www/academy/
en/about/global_network/educational_materials/cs1_hoodia.pdf.
10 See, for example, A/HRC/18/42, A/HRC/21/55 and A/HRC/24/41.
40. The human rights-based approach to business by indigenous peoples plays a double
role. Upstream, indigenous peoples’ businesses help to reclaim their rights and
downstream, businesses serve as a tool for enhanced enjoyment of rights by indigenous
peoples, including within their own communities by specific social groups, notably
indigenous women, youth and person with disabilities.
C. Discrimination-free appreciation of the contribution indigenous
peoples’ businesses and economies make to national development
41. The Declaration is grounded in equality and seeks to address structural
discrimination that affects indigenous peoples, including the non-recognition of their
contribution to national economies or societies as a whole. To that end, the preamble to the
Declaration reaffirms that all peoples contribute to the diversity and richness of
civilizations and cultures, and recognizes that respect for indigenous knowledge, cultures
and traditional practices contributes to sustainable and equitable development.
42. One key facet of the discrimination experienced by indigenous peoples is the
stereotyped view that they represent an obstacle to development or that their economic
activities do not contribute to the economies of the countries they live in. Indigenous
peoples’ economic models are often considered wasteful of resources, bound to disappear
and “anti-development”.
43. Those prejudiced views are grounded in conceptual frameworks that were and
continue to be used to justify land dispossession and economic marginalization. They
negate the human rights principles of equality and human dignity, which the Declaration
upholds by affirming that all doctrines, policies and practices based on or advocating
superiority of peoples or individuals on the basis of national origin or racial, religious,
ethnic or cultural differences are racist, scientifically false, legally invalid, morally
condemnable and socially unjust (preamble).
44. Indigenous businesses and traditional livelihoods in fact play an increasingly
important role in national economies. In Canada, indigenous businesses contribute
approximately Can$ 12 billion to the economy annually. 11 In the United States, over a
period of five years, indigenous businesses contributed over US$ 34.4 billion to the national
economy.12 In New Zealand, the Maori economy is worth an estimated $NZ 40 billion,
representing 5.6 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP). 13 In other
countries, however, there is little data assessing the contribution of indigenous peoples to
national economies. For instance, pictures of Maasai culture contribute enormously to the
Kenyan national economy, considering the wide use of those images as national symbols,
including for the Kenyan national airline and tourist industry. In that and other examples,
the contribution of indigenous peoples to their national economies remains invisible, which
fosters prejudiced views against indigenous peoples’ industries, economies and cultures.
45. Globally, it has been estimated that pastoralism provides 10 per cent of the world’s
meat production. 14 In sub-Saharan Africa, pastoralism, which is often practised by
indigenous peoples, accounts for a significant proportion of GDP. For example, pastoralism
accounts for 84 per cent of the agricultural GDP in the Niger, 80 per cent of GDP in the
Sudan and 50 per cent in Kenya. In Ethiopia, the pastoralist leather industry is the second
highest performing industry in terms of foreign trade.15 The 2010 African Union Policy
Framework for Pastoralism in Africa: Securing, Protecting and Improving the Lives,
11 See Bert Archer, “The first Indigenous business incubator is coming to Toronto” Novae (2 February
2017). Available from https://novae.ca/en/2017/02/the-first-indigenous-business-incubator-is-coming-
to-toronto/.
12 See United States Census Bureau Public Information Office, “Facts for Features: American Indian
and Alaska Native Heritage Month: November 2012” (Washington D.C., 25 Oct. 2012).
13 See Te Puni Kōkiri, Māori Economy Report 2013 (2015).
14 See State of the World’s Indigenous Peoples (United Nations publication, Sales No. 09.VI.13).
15 Ibid.
Livelihoods and Rights of Pastoralist Communities is aimed at reinforcing the contribution
of pastoral livestock to national, regional and continent-wide economies.
46. Indigenous economic models are becoming increasingly valued as they offer proven
examples of sustainable development. Indigenous peoples’ strong affiliation to the natural
environment is one of the reasons for their survival and many indigenous peoples are adept
at reading early warning signals of global warming and other indicators of environmental
change. For the future of the planet, State policies and actions should recognize the
important role that indigenous economies and business models play in promoting
sustainable development practices.
III. Practices
47. Encouraging practices are emerging from various actors seeking to address
discrimination against indigenous peoples’ economic activities or businesses, including
from indigenous peoples themselves.
A. States
48. States hold primary accountability for providing support to indigenous peoples’
economic activities, as stated in article 21 of the Declaration, and are addressing the issue
of discrimination against indigenous peoples’ businesses or economic activities in different
ways, some of which are outlined below.
1. Addressing discrimination against indigenous peoples’ businesses through recognition
and protection of rights over lands and resources
49. Land rights legislation that has supported indigenous peoples’ economic
development include the Maori Fisheries Act of 2004 in New Zealand and the Alaska
Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971. They illustrate the complexity of enacting
legislation to remedy the legacies of dispossession in the modern era. For example, while
the latter “settled” vast indigenous land claims in Alaska through substantial monetary
payments and title to certain lands, it has been criticized for imposing Western-style
corporate models on traditional Alaska Native communities, paving the way for widespread
natural resource development by outsiders, and failing to respect indigenous territorial
jurisdiction, with mixed results including decades of litigation on indigenous rights to self-
governance and other matters. To date, many Alaska Natives continue to suffer high rates
of poverty, domestic violence, suicide and other social ills, with some of those problems
compounded by the jurisdictional legacy of the Act. Yet, Alaska Native corporations are
successful along various metrics. For example, NANA, one of 13 regional corporations
created by the Act, has a business arm and subsidiaries that employ more than 15,000
people from around the world and in 2015 had an annual revenue of $1.6 billion.16 NANA
also emphasizes indigenous values, including cooperation, family, spirituality and hunting,
known collectively as “Iñupiat Ilitquisat”, in its activities.17
50. Another notable business initiative associated with legislative reform is Moana New
Zealand, a Maori fisheries company, established following the Treaty of Waitangi
settlements of Maori claims to marine resources. Those legislative settlements, dating back
to 1989, also faced their share of criticism and litigation over the question of whether the
Government had effectively consulted with Maori pursuant to indigenous governing norms.
Yet, by 2007, Maori owned an estimated 40 per cent of the New Zealand seafood
industry.18 Those and other examples demonstrate the economic potential that flows from
16 See www.nana.com/regional/about-us/nana-faq/.
17 See http://nana.com/regional/about-us/mission/values/.
18 See Melanie Durette, “Indigenous property rights in commercial fisheries: Canada, New Zealand and
Australia compared”, Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research (CAEPR) Working Paper No.
42/2008 (Canberra, CAEPR, 2007). See also Erin McKenzie, “Aotearoa Fisheries rebrands to Moana
New Zealand to deliver premium Kiwi seafood to the world”, Idealog, 15 July 2016. Available from
recognition of indigenous peoples’ rights to their lands and resources, the challenges of
securing effective participation, consultation and consent in those measures, and the
necessity of protecting indigenous cultural values and governing structures in contemporary
business practices.19 Joseph Kalt and Stephen Cornell call that the phenomenon of “cultural
match” in indigenous economic development, noting that self-determination, effective
institutions and internal legitimacy are threshold indicators for successful businesses in
indigenous communities.20
51. The African Union’s Policy Framework for Pastoralism in Africa highlights the fact
that “pastoral development efforts must go beyond single-sector technical approaches, and
embrace indigenous knowledge, innovations for sustainable natural resources management,
effective governance, and further integration of pastoral livelihoods with expanding market
opportunities”. 21 The framework also highlights a number of good practices in Africa,
including the recognition by the Government of the Central African Republic of the
importance of pastoralists for the national economy, “with subsequent allocation to
pastoralist communities of land and appropriate veterinary services”.22
52. In Latin America, the recognition and demarcation of lands has advanced but
requires further protection, including through the implementation of indigenous territorial
governing plans. The duty of States to consult and seek consent over measures that impact
indigenous peoples’ lands and rights is also still a key challenge for land rights and human
rights protection of indigenous peoples. In Brazil, after a national consultation process, a
National Policy on Territorial and Environmental Management of Indigenous Lands was
established in 2012 to provide practical measures to guarantee indigenous peoples full
possession of their lands after demarcation.23 To date, the main thrust of the implementation
of the policy has been to encourage indigenous communities to draw up their own
management plans for lands. Those plans are tools to better identify and reaffirm
indigenous governing capacity, economic activities and traditional knowledge and cultural
concerns in the use of their territories and natural resources, but are limited by budget cuts.
However, if not combined with the advance of the land demarcations that still remain to be
carried out, the policy cannot be considered complete.
2. Promoting indigenous peoples’ businesses through positive discrimination measures
53. Some States use tax incentives to encourage business development by or with
indigenous peoples. For example, individuals and businesses on many Native American
territories are partially exempt from certain taxes. In many cases, the exemption arises from
the recognition of indigenous nationhood or early treaty settlements. In that situation,
indigenous governments are able to implement their own tax regime, including sales taxes,
which can be applied to indigenous and some non-indigenous businesses on their land. That
has allowed the development of a range of businesses that would not have otherwise taken
place. 24 Similarly, the Canadian First Nations Fiscal and Statistical Management Act
provides authority for First Nations to collect tax. By opting into the tax system under that
Act, First Nations are in a better position to promote economic growth and capitalize on
business relationships. 25 The Whitecap Dakota First Nation is a small community with
http://idealog.co.nz/venture/2016/07/aotearoa-fisheries-rebrands-moana-new-zealand-deliver-
premium-kiwi-seafood-world.
19 Urbis, Enabling Prosperity: success factors in Indigenous economic development (Sydney, Westpac,
2014).
20 See http://hpaied.org/publications/sovereignty-and-nation-building-development-challenge-indian-
country-today or http://hpaied.org/about/overview.
21 African Union, Policy Framework for Pastoralism in Africa: Securing, Protecting and Improving the
Lives, Livelihoods and Rights of Pastoralist Communities, p. 3.
22 Ibid., p. 15.
23 GIZ, “Protection and Sustainable Management of Indigenous Areas in the Amazon” (2014).
Available from www.giz.de/en/worldwide/12525.html/.
24 Owen Stanley, “The potential use of tax incentives for Indigenous businesses on Indigenous land”,
CAEPR Working Paper No. 17/2002 (Canberra, CAEPR, 2002).
25 Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada, “First Nations Fiscal Management Act” (2017). Available
from www.aadnc-aandc.gc.ca/eng/1393512745390/1393512934976.
limited access to capital. Under the Act, the community was able to start charging a goods
and services tax on fuels, cigarettes and alcohol in order to finance its infrastructure and
other needs.26
54. Exceptions from trade agreements to provide more favourable conditions to
indigenous peoples is another way in which States are supporting indigenous peoples’
businesses. A particular example is the Treaty of Waitangi exception, which ensures that
the Government of New Zealand has the “flexibility to implement domestic policies that
favour Māori without being obliged to offer equivalent treatment to overseas entities”.27
However, trade agreements in general continue to raise concerns about indigenous peoples’
rights, as recently documented by the Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous
peoples (see A/HRC/33/42).
55. States are also taking measures to facilitate access to credit and other financial
services for indigenous peoples, who often face challenges in that regard due to
discrimination, geographic isolation or other factors. For example, Australia has a statutory
agency, Indigenous Business Australia, that provides grants and loans for indigenous
business people who cannot access funding from mainstream banking services. Among
other initiatives, the agency supported the development of a set of Indigenous Investment
Principles, which provide guidance to indigenous Australians, organizations and
communities to develop greater economic resilience and to be strong, active participants in
the Australian economy.28
56. In Malaysia, agent banking enables consumers in remote areas to obtain banking
services through licensed financial institutions operated by third-party agents, such as retail
outlets or post offices. Since the introduction of the system in 2012, almost 8,000 agent
banks have been established throughout the country.29
57. In Mexico, the Commission for the Development of Indigenous Peoples supports the
development and improvement of productive processes through the Programme for the
Improvement of Indigenous Production and Productivity. The goal is to contribute to the
consolidation of productive and tourism projects for indigenous peoples, through their
communities or businesses, in order to increase income and promote equality between men
and women.30
58. Other initiatives to support indigenous business include cash transfers and economic
incentives for indigenous activities. Some States are also creating a market for indigenous
products through their purchasing power. A number of those types of initiatives to support
indigenous peoples’ entrepreneurship have been introduced in the Russian Federation. At
the regional level, the initiatives include the 2001 law on traditional livelihoods of
numerically small indigenous peoples in Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area, which
established state support mechanisms to pay subsidies to indigenous people engaged in
traditional indigenous activities, such as reindeer husbandry, horse-breeding, hunting and
fishing. Another law in Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area provides support to organizations
that are engaged in the preservation of traditional livelihoods and crafts. In order to be
eligible for such support, the organization needs to employ indigenous peoples in its
governing bodies, and half of its employees must be of indigenous origin. The organization
also needs to derive 70 per cent of its income from traditional forms of economic
activities.31
26 See Stelios Loizides and Wanda Wuttunee, Creating Wealth and Employment in Aboriginal
Communities (Ottawa, Conference Board of Canada, 2005).
27 New Zealand, “TPP and Māori Development” (2016), p. 3. Available from
www.beehive.govt.nz/sites/all/files/TPP%20Factsheet%20-
%20TPP%20and%20Maori%2021%20Jan%202016.pdf.
28 See the submission from Australia.
29 See the statement made by Malaysia at the tenth session of the Expert Mechanism.
30 See the submission from Mexico.
31 Alexey Tsykarev and Natalya Novikova, presentations to the expert seminar on good practices and
challenges for indigenous peoples’ entrepreneurship.
59. Also in the Russian Federation, the Sakhalin Indigenous Minorities Development
Plan has been jointly implemented by the Sakhalin Oblast Administration, the Sakhalin
Energy company and the Regional Council of Authorized Representatives of Indigenous
Peoples of Sakhalin region. The programme introduced a mechanism of microloans to
indigenous peoples so they could develop traditional economic activities. In order to
qualify, programme participants are required to submit a business plan for a project that
aims to address unemployment among indigenous peoples and suggest traditional economic
activities that would be pursued as part of the project. The microloans have been utilized to
purchase autonomous energy facilities, information and communications technologies,
vehicles, fishing nets and tackle, and certain types of electrical appliances applicable to
commercial economic activity.32
60. In the Plurinational State of Bolivia, the State has established a “social seal” that
certifies products coming from family-based sustainable agriculture. Also, measures
targeted specifically at indigenous farmers have been implemented to support and
modernize the production of quinoa, rice and corn, among other crops.33
3. Promoting indigenous peoples’ businesses by ensuring equal and effective access to
markets
61. Many States are recognizing that indigenous businesses are viable business models
that could make a significant contribution to the economy if given the right support. Due to
ongoing structural discrimination, many indigenous people are not on an equal footing with
other actors in the market and without special State regulation, successful development of
local indigenous economies would not be possible. Recognition of the commercial
advantage in supporting indigenous business has been a catalyst for the creation of minority
supplier development councils in countries including Australia, Brazil, Canada and the
United States.34 Also in Australia, the federal Government and some state governments
have implemented indigenous procurement targets to increase demand for indigenous
businesses in government supply chains.35 In the United States, legislation allows federally
recognized Indian tribes to operate large-scale casino gaming, with significant success for
tribes located close to major cities and markets.
62. In Mexico, the National Fund for Indigenous Communities has been in place since
2015, with the aim of widening the coverage of formal financial services in indigenous
communities. The Fund promotes financial inclusion as an instrument for economic
development and facilitates access to improved credit conditions for indigenous peoples.36
B. Indigenous peoples
63. In the present section, some of the strategies that indigenous peoples are pursuing in
order to play a more active role against the discrimination they face in the economic sector
are outlined.
64. A number of indigenous not-for-profit economic models are focused on indigenous
culture-based industries, with the primary purpose being preservation of indigenous
people’s cultural heritage and the safeguarding of indigenous peoples’ land and resources.37
65. At the same time, profit-driven indigenous owned enterprises provide social returns.
For example, in Canada the Millbrook Mi’kmaq First Nation, located in four reserve areas
in Nova Scotia, has been very successful in pursuing economic independence and has
32 See http://simdp.com/eng.php?id=44&pid=3.
33 See the statement made by the Plurinational State of Bolivia at the tenth session of the Expert
Mechanism.
34 See House of Representatives, Standing Committee on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs,
Open for Business: Developing Indigenous enterprises in Australia (Canberra, 2008).
35 Sara Hudson, presentation to the expert seminar on good practices and challenges for indigenous
peoples’ entrepreneurship.
36 See the submission from Mexico.
37 Urbis, Enabling Prosperity.
established a number of enterprises that create wealth and employment. Millbrook’s biggest
business initiative is the Truro Power Centre, a commercial development that has been
highly successful in attracting a number of businesses and jobs to the area. Millbrook is
using the profits of its enterprise successes to improve services in the community; for
example, Can$ 4 million was provided to build a new administration building and health
centre.38 Another example is the Sakhalin Aborigine company in the Poronaysk District in
the Russian Federation. During the fishing season, the company employs up to 100 people.
The company takes part in addressing social problems experienced by indigenous peoples
in Sakhalin, as well as in financing and organizing an annual cultural festival.39
66. Joint ventures are particularly common in the extractive industry where indigenous
peoples tend to lack the capital to mine their own land. With any joint venture arrangement,
there needs to be a regulatory framework in place that recognizes and protects indigenous
peoples’ rights. Companies need to engage in due diligence and provide a fair and adequate
consultation process. An example of an appropriate consultation process that recognizes the
rights of indigenous peoples is the Maya Consultation Framework. A primary objective of
the framework is that consultations with the Maya people are culturally appropriate and
meet international normative standards, particularly the requirement of free, prior and
informed consent.40 When they can afford it, some indigenous peoples are initiating or
taking over extractive industry businesses, including the Southern and Northern Ute tribes
in the United States. A number of indigenous peoples reason that if extraction is going to
take place anyway, it is preferable if it is an indigenous owned business.
67. Indigenous businesses operate in a variety of sectors, including agriculture, forestry,
fishing, arts, technology and tourism. The Ho-Chunk Tribe in the United States, for
example, has made a deliberate effort to diversify from casino gaming into other industries
ranging from business and health-care products to bottled water and ceremonial supplies. It
has also developed housing so that tribal members can both live and work in their
indigenous community.
68. In the past two decades, community-based approaches to tourism, such as
ecotourism and cultural tourism, have become increasingly popular as a sustainable
development approach that provides employment opportunities. However, for indigenous
people involved in the tourism industry, the challenge is deciding what aspects of their
culture to share without compromising its integrity. It is therefore important that they are
provided with the opportunity to authorize any planned tourist activities on their land. With
ethnocultural tourism representing one of the most promising spheres of entrepreneurship
for indigenous peoples, the VII World Congress of the Finno-Ugric Peoples advised
governments of regions inhabited by indigenous Finno-Ugric peoples to establish
multidisciplinary educational programmes combining studies related to indigenous
languages, business economics and tourism in order to encourage Finno-Ugric indigenous
peoples to establish businesses that take advantage of their languages and cultures. The
Congress also recommended pursuing partnerships with the World Indigenous Tourism
Alliance and relying on the Larrakia Declaration on the Development of Indigenous
Tourism as guidelines for developing sustainable tourism based on indigenous languages
and cultures.41
69. The Kalevalsky District in the Republic of Karelia in the Russian Federation is a
promising target area for the development of ethnocultural tourism. The Karelian
authorities have taken advantage of the intangible cultural richness of the Kalevalsky
District based on the Kalevala epic poem to introduce various ethnocultural activities. The
indigenous peoples of the region are actively running businesses around those activities.
However, according to a 2016 study conducted with support from the World Bank, many of
38 Loizides and Wuttunee, Creating Wealth and Employment in Aboriginal Communities.
39 Natalya Novikova, presentation to the expert seminar on good practices and challenges for indigenous
peoples’ entrepreneurship.
40 Cristina Coc and Pablo Miss, presentations to the expert seminar on good practices and challenges for
indigenous peoples’ entrepreneurship.
41 See http://lahti2016.fucongress.org/sites/lahti2016.fucongress.org/files/
4.Economy%20and%20Environment_Recommendations_eng.pdf.
them operate in the grey market because of a lack of education, the tough taxation policy
and numerous inspections.
70. In Brazil, ethnotourism activities have only recently been regulated by the National
Indian Foundation and are still a controversial issue for many indigenous peoples and
communities due to their significant impact on the environment and on indigenous
community life, especially in remote areas. Experiences of economic abuse by private
companies or individuals involved in tourism activities have caused internal conflicts and
raised communal governing concerns. In 2017, an innovative initiative of community-based
tourism jointly managed by indigenous peoples and in accordance with federal legislation,
supported by the State, will take place in the Rio Negro region as an assertion of indigenous
peoples’ self-determination.42
71. Regardless of the type of business indigenous peoples end up owning and operating,
having ownership and meaningful control over their own business plays an important role
in their well-being and collective dignity. Peer-support networks, such as indigenous
chambers of commerce, also help to create a climate for indigenous business through
networking and promotional and advocacy type activities. For example, in South Africa,
Khoi and San leaders have formed their own chamber of commerce and industry to address
their socioeconomic marginalization and to lodge land claims.43
72. Cooperatives are another model for business organization used successfully by
indigenous peoples across the globe. For example, in Mexico, the Union of Indigenous
Communities of the Isthmus Region has united coffee producers from 53 communities,
including 5,000 families. They sell their coffee nationally through the fair trade market, and
have started a cooperative which provides credit support. In Souss-Massa-Draa, Morocco, a
cooperative of indigenous women produces argan oil. By owning their own business and
making their own money, they are economically and socially empowered. Cooperatives not
only empower indigenous peoples and facilitate their involvement in business, they also
promote values of self-help, accountability, equality and solidarity.44 Cooperatives have
also assisted in securing rights, providing greater opportunities in formal labour markets,
and balancing economic and environmental concerns.
73. Some indigenous peoples have established their own financial institutions, such as
the Traditional Credit Union in the Northern Territory in Australia, the Caisse Populaire
Kahnawake in Quebec, Canada and the Maskwacis Cree community in Canada.45 When
faced with discrimination from banks, the Maskwacis Cree community established its own
bank, which now handles Can$ 752 million and has invested 2.5 billion in indigenous
housing and indigenous businesses. 46 In Australia, the Traditional Credit Union in the
Northern Territory is the only indigenous-owned and operated credit union in Australia.
The idea for the Union came from a group of Aboriginal Elders who had experienced
disadvantage from the lack of banking and other financial services on their land. The
Traditional Credit Union was established with grant funding from the former Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander Commission and the Arnhemland Progress Association. The first
branch was opened in Milingimbi in 1995 and since then, the Union has grown to a network
of 15 branches.47
C. Financial institutions
74. Financial institutions, from local credit unions to multilateral institutions, have a
crucial role to play in combating discrimination and facilitating indigenous peoples’ access
42 See www.serrasdetapuruquara.org/#expedição.
43 Minority Rights Group International, State of the World’s Minorities and Indigenous Peoples 2016:
Events of 2015 (London, 2016).
44 See the submission from Cultural Survival.
45 Loizides and Wuttunee, Creating Wealth and Employment in Aboriginal Communities.
46 Grand Chief Wilton Littlechild, presentation to the expert seminar on good practices and challenges
for indigenous peoples’ entrepreneurship.
47 Urbis, Enabling Prosperity.
to financial services. Article 41 of the Declaration calls upon intergovernmental bodies and
institutions to contribute to the full realization of the Declaration through the mobilization,
inter alia, of financial cooperation and technical assistance.
75. To that end, the Government of Australia has proposed a global indigenous
investment fund, which it argues could help fill the gap in the investment market by
providing “targeted, ethical, and culturally sensitive capital investment” to indigenous
businesses in developing countries, particularly indigenous women and persons with
disabilities at risk from marginalization from mainstream lenders. The suggestion is that the
fund could be capitalized with “blended finance” from government, philanthropic and
private funding.48
76. While the World Bank has no specific funding mechanism for indigenous peoples’
businesses, it is currently focusing on community-driven development, which is an
approach to local development that empowers community groups with control over
planning and investment decisions. The World Bank has established a Dedicated Grant
Mechanism for indigenous peoples.49 None of the regional development banks for Asia,
Africa, Latin America and Europe have such a financing mechanism dedicated to
indigenous peoples.
77. National development banks also have a role when investing in sustainable
development projects and initiatives aiming to protect the environment in or near
indigenous lands and to strengthen indigenous peoples’ control over their lands. In Brazil,
for example, indigenous peoples, non-indigenous organizations, traditional communities
and small scale farmers have established a network covering 13 municipalities for
production and commercialization of forest products to protect the Xingu river basin with
support from the Fundo Amazonia and the National Sustainable Development Bank.50
78. Another form of financial assistance provided to indigenous peoples to support their
business aspirations are microfinance loans. Microfinance loans tend to be conceived for
people who cannot access mainstream financial services due to low incomes and other
disadvantages. They often involve funding from investors from developed countries to
entrepreneurs from developing countries. Initially, microfinance loans were heralded as a
way to alleviate poverty, however in recent times they have come under increasing scrutiny
due to the unscrupulous practices of some lenders who are charging exorbitantly high
interest rates. There are however promising practices of indigenous peoples themselves
establishing microfinance schemes. For example, in Canada, Waubutek Business
Development Corporation is a group of 50 organizations that are owned and managed by
Aboriginal Peoples. They provide financing, loans and economic development services to
First Nations and Aboriginal Peoples.51
IV. Challenges
A. Persistent prejudiced views of indigenous peoples’ business capacity
79. Indigenous peoples continue to be regarded as high risk borrowers by conventional
banks and lending institutions, in part because they may lack credit history. Generally,
indigenous peoples have less intergenerational wealth, they do not always have title over
their lands and are less likely to own their own home, and therefore often lack collateral for
48 See the submission from Australia.
49 See Ede Ijjasz-Vasquez, “Urban indigenous peoples: the new frontier” World Bank blog (6 August
2017). Available from https://blogs.worldbank.org/category/tags/indigenous-peoples.
50 See www.socioambiental.org/pt-br/o-isa/projetos-estrategicos/sociobiodiversidade-produtiva-no-
xingu.
51 Barb Nahwegahbow, “Microfinance could be a good fit for Aboriginal people” Windspeaker, vol. 31,
No. 8 (2013).
securing loans.52 In the United States, research found that native business owners often
begin with very small amounts of start-up capital. For example, 52 per cent of American
Indian and Alaska Native respondents to the 2007 United States Census Survey of Business
Owners began their business with less than $5,000.53
80. The lack of collateral is often exacerbated by some indigenous peoples’ remote
locations. Lack of communication infrastructure, limited market size and poor economies of
scale, coupled with the high cost of living in remote and regional centres, severely narrows
business opportunities and makes it difficult to attract qualified employees or convince
lenders of business profitability.54 There is also a shortage of financial institutions on or
near indigenous lands due to their remoteness, which often imposes the existence of third or
more parties to intermediate financial services, increasing the costs for indigenous peoples.
Access to financial services is further limited by costly and time-consuming transportation.
Women face particular challenges as they are often not allowed to hold accounts or borrow
money.55
81. In Latin America, the persistent prejudiced views against indigenous peoples’
business capacity is also evident in the manner in which social and economic programmes
and policies are developed and offered to indigenous peoples without targeting specific
needs and concerns. Also, compensation and mitigation measures paid to indigenous
peoples due to large-scale enterprises rarely consider their business capacity in a full
manner and may result in additional social disruption to and cultural impact on indigenous
peoples, for example when favouring selected individuals or families to receive benefits
rather than investing in sustainable communal initiatives.
82. In many African countries, indigenous peoples practise nomadic pastoralism. There
is a general lack of support to that sector of the economy as it is deemed unsustainable and
destructive to the environment. Governments are spending huge budgets on other sectors of
agriculture in the form of incentives such as fertilizer subsidies and insurance policies while
neglecting pastoralism, which has nevertheless proven to be a viable livelihood activity.
B. Lack of legal protection for rights over lands and resources
83. Indigenous peoples are often not recognized as legal owners of their lands, which
may limit collateral when applying for a loan. Many lending institutions do not consider
collective land ownership as equivalent to individual land titles. Private companies and
financial institutions tend to simplify communal ownership and title to meet their own
interests. For example, in the Amazon region there have been a number of speculative
offers by private companies to buy the right to sell carbon credits from indigenous lands. A
number of contracts for those purposes were considered void because they would be
restricting collective use of land for traditional activities for 30 years or more to benefit a
private entity.56
84. Furthermore, in many cases, resources on and under indigenous peoples’ lands are
considered to be State-owned. Globally, indigenous peoples’ rights to their natural
resources are restricted, particularly when it comes to subsoil resources. Even in cases
where indigenous peoples do have legal title deeds to their lands, the land is often leased to
mining companies with little or no consultation with indigenous people. For example, most
ore production in Sweden comes from mines in Sápmi, the Sámi traditional area. 57
52 Miriam Jorgensen, “Access to capital and credit in Native Communities” (Tucson, Arizona, Native
Nations Institute, 2017). Available from http://nni.arizona.edu/application/
files/8914/6386/8578/Accessing_Capital_and_Credit_in_Native_Communities.pdf.
53 Ibid., p. 38.
54 Ibid.
55 See the submission from Cultural Survival.
56 See http://g1.globo.com/natureza/noticia/2012/03/funai-considera-nulas-vendas-de-terra-indigena-
para-estrangeiros.html.
57 See the preparatory report from the Sami Parliament in Sweden/Sámediggi/Sámedigge/Saemiedigkie/
Sametinget for the Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples prior to her 2015 visit to
However, there is still no agreement or legislation that formalizes the implementation of the
principle of free, prior and informed consent, despite various treaty body recommendations
and comments in general and to Sweden, specifically, on that subject.
85. In Norway, the lack of implementation of the right to self-governance in traditional
businesses and livelihoods, such as Sámi reindeer herding, coastal fisheries, sea and river
salmon fishing and spring duck hunting, is a major challenge. State management of
indigenous Sámi reindeer herding under the Norwegian Reindeer Herding Act of 2007,
particularly the State’s right to decide on the obligatory reduction of the number of reindeer
each Sámi herder can own, has recently been challenged in courts. Enforced decimation of
Sámi reindeer herders’ herds through State management bodies for reindeer herding must
be in accordance with international human rights standards, particularly the right to
property under the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental
Freedoms (the European Convention on Human Rights).
86. Those challenges undermine indigenous peoples’ business capacities and
opportunities. For example, the restrictions put on indigenous peoples’ ability to protect and
benefit from their land and resources constitutes one of the main obstacles to real economic
development among First Nations, Métis and Inuit in Canada. Due to the loss of their land
and limitations set by the various levels of government on how they can use and benefit
from their land and natural resources, indigenous peoples in Canada have become
increasingly dependent on welfare provided by federal or provincial governments.58 When
indigenous peoples cannot access general financial credits for improving or ensuring their
crops due to lack of recognition of land rights, there is a growing dependency on welfare.59
Such dependency is sometimes being unfairly used to justify the lack of demarcation of
indigenous lands as a supposed indicator of the lack of capacity of indigenous peoples to
use their traditional lands.
C. Lack of inclusive indigenous governance and leadership in business
87. A number of human rights-related challenges facing indigenous peoples’ businesses
are linked to their communities’ structures and institutions. Having an enabling
environment for businesses in indigenous communities is often contingent on social
stability and legitimate governance structures. Without those internal governance
arrangements it can be difficult for communities to control disparate interests and to have
the necessary stability to instil investment confidence.
88. Alongside effective governance structures, indigenous communities and business
leaders also need to have a clear corporate vision that is inclusive, taking into account
specific types of discrimination faced by certain groups within communities. Economic
development initiatives are more likely to be successful when they are indigenous-led and
when leaders have a clear vision that aligns market needs and opportunities with
community capacity. Indigenous communities in which successful enterprises have been
developed tend to have leaders who have assessed the business possibilities available to the
community in consultation with community members.
89. Therefore, initiatives to strengthen self-governing institutions, particularly those
related to the use or management of land and resources and that also consider social and
Sápmi and Sweden. Available from www.sametinget.se/92639. See also Minerals and Mines in
Sápmi: the Viewpoint of the Swedish Sami Parliament, 2014. Available from
https://www.sametinget.se/87915.
58 See State of the World’s Indigenous Peoples.
59 In 2016, 112,081 indigenous families accessed the Bolsa Família, whereas in 2010, the number was
66,168. See Fany Ricardo and Beto Ricardo, eds., Povos Indígenas no Brasil: 2011/2016 (São Paulo:
Instituto Socioambiental, 2017). See also www1.folha.uol.com.br/poder/2016/09/1810078-bolsa-
familia-altera-rotina-de-indigenas-na-regiao-do-xingu.shtml.
economic development, are key to preventing internal and external conflicts when defining
economic activities or indigenous business.60
D. Challenges facing indigenous women, youth and persons with
disabilities
90. Overall, there is a lack of research into the experience of female indigenous
entrepreneurship. However, what evidence there is suggests that women are more risk
adverse and more likely to start a business out of necessity than men. Indigenous female
entrepreneurism is often a reaction to lack of opportunity in the labour market for females
(displaced opportunity). 61 Evidence from the World Bank’s Regional Programme on
Enterprise Development supports that view, suggesting that indigenous women’s marginal
social position acts as a driving force to become self-employed.62 One of the challenges is
how to articulate the value that women bring to the economy, both formally and informally.
There is a strong social bias about what indigenous women are capable of and what sort of
industry they should work in, with very little in the way of business mentorship available
for indigenous women in many countries.63 Indigenous women are also frequently excluded
from the labour market, or are employed informally with salaries below legal norms and
without social protection. Furthermore, indigenous women often bear a double burden of
household work in addition to their work outside the home.
91. In African countries, indigenous women entrepreneurs have more difficulty than male entrepreneurs in obtaining credit. That has been attributed to the small size of their
businesses, as well as the lack of collateral off ered by entrepreneurs. Public sector banks are often focused on government expenditure, while the private banks are oligopolistic in
nature and concentrate on minimizing risk.64
92. In Canada, a recent study was conducted in order to find ways to empower
indigenous women to become entrepreneurs. 65 The Government of Canada is directly
assisting women to become entrepreneurs, with 25 per cent of recipients of the Canadian
Indigenous Entrepreneurship System being indigenous women.66
93. In Mexico, a recent study found that the financial system and the traditional banking
sector are not inclusive in terms of providing credit and other financial services. The lack of
financial services within reach of vulnerable sectors, including women, young persons and
indigenous persons, has contributed to inequality and hampers their ability to exercise other
rights, such as the rights to food, housing, work, health and education.67
94. Indigenous persons with disabilities are among the most disadvantaged people in the
world, although there is insufficient data worldwide on that subset of the indigenous
population. They often experience multiple barriers to taking part in meaningful activities,
particularly in relation to employment and business activities. Young indigenous people
aged 15-24 face additional challenges in establishing business enterprises due to their age
and the lack of intergenerational wealth they inherit compared to other young non-
60 See, for example, Governança e Bem Viver Indígena: Planos de Gestão Territorial e Ambiental das
Terras Indígenas do Alto e Médio Rio Negro, vol. 2, p. 8. Available from https://issuu.com/instituto-
socioambiental/docs/governanca_2_pgs_01a24_web.
61 Sonya Pearce, “Indigenous women and entrepreneurship in New South Wales, Australia”, PhD
dissertation, University of Technology, Sydney Business School, 2015.
62 Wim A. Naudé and J.J.D. Havenga, “An overview of African entrepreneurship and small business
research”, in Léo-Paul Dana and Robert B. Anderson, eds., International Handbook of Research on
Indigenous Entrepreneurship (Cheltenham, United Kingdom, Edward Elgar Publishing Limited,
2007), pp. 28-45.
63 Laurie Buffalo, presentation to the expert seminar on good practices and challenges for indigenous
peoples’ entrepreneurship.
64 Naude and Havenga, “An overview of African entrepreneurship and small business research”.
65 See “Creating a new narrative: empowering indigenous women through entrepreneurship”. Available
from www.impaktcorp.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Creating-a-New-Narrative-1.pdf.
66 See the statement made by Canada at the tenth session of the Expert Mechanism.
67 See the submission from Mexico.
indigenous peoples.68 As a result, reducing poverty by supporting business enterprise is
particularly pertinent to young indigenous people.
68 See “The financial economy and indigenous young people in Australia”. Available from
www.csi.edu.au/media/uploads/FNF_Final_Report_-_23-3-16_tGwaz9Z.pdf.
Annex
Expert Mechanism advice No. 10 on indigenous peoples’ businesses and access to financial services
1. States should adopt legal and policy frameworks that recognize, promote and protect
rights that allow indigenous peoples, if they so wish, to operate businesses on their lands
safely and viably. Such measures should be developed with the effective participation of
indigenous peoples, as provided for in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples.
2. When developing and implementing national action plans to achieve the ends of the
Declaration, pursuant to the outcome document of the World Conference on Indigenous
Peoples (General Assembly resolution 69/2), States should include measures aiming to
ensure that no undue obstacles are in place for indigenous peoples to access financial
services free of discrimination and pursue business activities if they wish to do so.
3. States should take measures to ensure that indigenous peoples, particularly
indigenous persons with disabilities, indigenous women and indigenous youth, do not
suffer from discrimination in their attempts to access financial services. Support should also
be provided to business activities being undertaken by those groups.
4. Secure land tenure is essential for indigenous peoples to become engaged in
business activities and access financial services. States should therefore ensure protection
for indigenous peoples’ rights to their lands, territories and resources and take measures to
protect and promote indigenous peoples’ economic activities, recognizing that those
activities are constitutive elements of their rights to lands and resources. States should not
turn to “privatization” regimes, but rather ensure that indigenous legal traditions regarding
land, governance and business are recognized within the national legal framework.
5. States should take measures to protect indigenous peoples’ rights relating to culture
and traditional knowledge-related activities. That should include both facilitating
indigenous peoples’ involvement in economic activities linked to the arts and tourism, and
protecting indigenous peoples from the misuse or misappropriation of their cultural heritage
and traditional knowledge. In that regard, States, in partnership with indigenous peoples,
should continue to pursue the development of international instruments that ban cultural
appropriation.
6. Laws that prohibit or limit sustainable indigenous hunting, fishing, traditional
farming or gathering traditions should be revised or amended in order to facilitate the
development by indigenous peoples of locally based businesses in those sectors.
7. States should recognize indigenous peoples’ contributions to development, and
combat frequently held prejudices and stereotyped views of indigenous peoples as
representing an obstacle to development. That is particularly crucial in cases where such
views are used to justify land dispossession and economic marginalization. Furthermore,
State policies and actions should recognize the important role that indigenous economies
and business models can play in promoting sustainable development practices.
8. States should consider targeted measures to encourage and facilitate indigenous
peoples’ involvement in business and their access to financial services. Those measures can
include tax incentives, programmes to facilitate access to credit, programmes to promote
financial literacy, and subsidies or cash transfers to promote traditional economic activities.
However, States should not misuse that financial support in order to put pressure on or
interfere with the decision-making processes of indigenous communities.
9. States should provide safety net measures for indigenous businesses, including
protection against hostile competition.
10. States should ensure that statistical data on employment and traditional livelihoods
of indigenous peoples are available at all levels. Those data can guide the design and
implementation of support measures and programmes for indigenous entrepreneurship.
11. The use of indigenous languages in business activities should be enabled, and
indigenous peoples should have access to information on financial services in their own
languages.
12. In cases where indigenous peoples themselves, in exercising their self-
determination, decide to exploit resources on their lands, the principle of free, prior and
informed consent should still be respected in order to ensure that all sectors of the
communities involved participate effectively.
13. Indigenous peoples should consider establishing peer support networks to facilitate
exchange of experiences and networking relating to their participation in business and their
access to financial services.
14. Financial institutions, including intergovernmental banks, should devise financial
products and services that are accessible to indigenous peoples and considerate of their
perspectives in business.
15. Indigenous peoples, States and financial institutions should work together to support
viable and sustainable economies in indigenous communities, so that indigenous persons
have the opportunity and option to work, live and raise families on their own lands and
territories, while also participating in national and regional markets to the extent that they
wish to do so.
16. States should work with indigenous peoples and others to ensure that business and
financial activities, including legislative measures pertaining to indigenous economic
development, are undertaken with attention to indigenous peoples’ self-determination,
institution-building and cultural legitimacy, as well as best practices in relationships with
communities and partners.