Powering up the people? The politics of indigenous rights implementation: International Labour Organisation Convention 169 and hydroelectric power in Nepal

International Journal of Human Rights

Volumn 16, Issue 4, 2012, Pages 624-647

  Jones, Peris Sean ^a  

^a Norwegian Institute of Urban and Regional Research   (Norway)

Author keywords

Hydroelectric power; ILO 169; Indigenous rights; Natural resources; Nepal; Politics; Rights based implementation

Indexed keywords

EID: 84858681539     PISSN: 13642987     EISSN: 1744053X     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/13642987.2011.627175     Document Type: Article

References (47)

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3. R. Andolina, S. Radcliffe and N. Laurie, 'Development and Culture: Transnational Identity Making in Latin America', Political Geography 24, no. 6 (2005): 678-702.
4. Most recently and invoking ILO 169, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights declared that the Brazilian government has failed to uphold the rights of indigenous peoples to free, prior, informed and culturally appropriate consultation regarding the Belo Monte hydroelectric project, as required by various international agreements, see http://www. internationalrivers.org/node/6392 (accessed 4 May 2011). It is worth noting, however, that these 'victories' are often pyrrhic, given governments' continued flouting of human rights judgements.
5. J. Corntassel, 'Towards a New Partnership? Indigenous Political Mobilization and Co-optation During the First UN Indigenous Decade (1995-2004)', Human Rights Quarterly 29, no. 1 (2007): 137-166.
6. 'Human-rights based approaches' are understood for the purpose of the article as domestic implementation of international human rights standards.
7. D. Banik, 'Support for Human Rights-Based Development: Reflections on the Malawian Experience', The International Journal of Human Rights 14, no. 1 (2010): 32-48
8. P. Jones and K. Stokke (eds.) Democratising Development: The Politics of Socio-Economic Rights in South Africa (Leiden: Martinus Njihoff, 2005).
9. Banik, 'Support for Human Rights-Based Development'.
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21. P. Jones and M. Langford, 'Between Demos and Ethnos: The Nepal Constitution and Indigenous Rights', International Journal on Group and Minority Rights 8, no. 2 (2011), 369-386.
22. The Nepal ILO 169 Action Plan has stalled in government-still awaiting acceptance. But it is since apparent that the ownership principle has been deleted from the revised draft.
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26. At least five of these were related to specific ethnic demands: 'ethnic autonomy', 'end ethnic oppression', equality of languages', 'secular state', 'and regional devolution' (Sharma, in Gurung, 'State and society in Nepal', in D. Gellner, J. Pfaff-Czarnecka and J. Whelpton, Nationalism and Ethnicity in a Hindu Kingdom (London: Routledge, 1997), 495-532. 2005).
27. K. B. Bhattachan, 'Discourse on Social Exclusion and Inclusion in Nepal', in Identity and Society: Social Exclusion and Inclusion in Nepal, ed. SIRF (Mandala Book Point: Kathmandu, 2009).
28. See 'Agreement between Government and Janajati', http://www.nefin.org.np/nefin/20-pointagreement accessed (19 November 2008).
29. P. Jones, 'Putting ILO Convention 169 in its place? The case of Nepal', Working Paper 117, Oslo, NIBR, 2009.
30. See P. Sharma, Narendra Khanal and Subhash Tharu, Towards a Federal Nepal: An Assessment of Proposed Models (Lalitpur: Himal Books, 2009).
31. M. Lama, Nepal Government's Report on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989 (No. 169): A Review (Kathmandu: Nepal Human Rights Commission, 2011).
32. J. Adhikari, Food Crisis in Karnali: A Historical and Politico-Economic Perspective (Kathmandu: Martin Chautari, 2008).
33. D. Gyawali, 'Foreign Aid and the Erosion of Local institutions: An Autopsy of Arun-3 from inception to Abortion', in Globalization and the South, eds C. Thomasand P. Wilkin (London: Macmillan, 1997)
34. United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Assessment of Village Development Committee Governance and the Use of Block Grants (Nepal: Ministry of Local Development and UNDP, 2009).
35. Only 12 per cent of household respondents reported active involvement of these groups. UNDP, Assessment of Village Development, viii.
36. A. Dixit and D. Gyawali, 'Nepal's Constructive Dialogue on Dams and Development', 2010, www.water-alternative.org, 3, 2 (accessed 10 April 2010).
37. http://www.chumlung.org.np/files/Limbuwan%20Autonomous%20State%20-%20Proposed% 20Sketch%20(English%20Version.pdf) (accessed 2 May 2011).
38. Crisis International, 'Nepal: Identity Politics and Federalism. Asian Report 199', (Brussels/ Kathmandu: Crisis International, 2011).
39. A case in point is the Federal Democratic National Forum (FDNF), a party with two seats in Constituent Assembly, and with affiliated state councils in Limbuwan, Khambuwan, Tamsaling and Tharuhat-and also with armed wings ('Volunteers') created.
40. J. Whelpton, A History of Nepal (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005)
41. Such as Kirat Workers Party armed group who demanded construction of a road come to a halt as they insisted on five per cent of the total budget from the construction company. Himalayan Times, 26 February 2010.
42. Tata is in fact India's largest non-state power company, http://www.telegraphindia.com/ 1091031/jsp/business/story_11681118.jsp (accessed 10 April 2010).
43. Kathmandu Post, 10 February 2009.
44. SN Power, Tamakoshi 3 Hydroelectric Project, EIA Report summary (Oslo: SWECO, 2009).
45. J. Pfaff-Czarnecka, 'Distributional Coalitions in Nepal: An Essay on Democratization, Capture, and (Lack of) Confidence', in Local Democracy in South Asia: Microprocesses of Democratization in Nepal and its Neighbours Vol. 1: Governance, Conflict, and Civic Action, eds D. Gellner and K. Hatchethu New Delhi: Sage, 2008), 71-104.
46. K. Rai, 'The Dynamics of Social Inequality in the Kali Gandaki "A" Dam Project in Nepal: The Politics of Patronage', Hydro Nepal 1, no. 1 (2007): 18-24.
47. The only political party interviewees to even mention the issue of local community consent and who did so approvingly-an important dimension protecting indigenous rights to energy development-were from the CPN-Maoist party.