ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the meaning of free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) is in itself a potentially large task, given the lack of agreement on what it means. It is both a principle of international law and a procedure embedded in the policies of international financial institutions (IFI) such as the International Finance Corporation (IFC). The chapter focuses on the use of FPIC in IFC Performance Standards on Indigenous peoples and in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). It examines the development of the IFC Performance Standards on Indigenous Peoples (PS) in the larger context of the human rights obligations of business enterprises separate from provenance of states. The chapter compares and contrasts the meaning given to FPIC by the IFC with that of two differing interpretations of FPIC provisions in the UNDRIP.
