FDCIP: Forum for Development Cooperation with Indigenous Peoples

Post Forum

The Forum for Development Cooperation with Indigenous Peoples was active from 2000 to 2015. After the end of FDCIP the Nordic Network for Indigenous Peoples Rights and Advocacy – NIPRA was established.

Themes and areas of focus:  
•    Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); in particular the recognition and inclusion of indigenous rights within the SDGs is an important area of focus
•    Implementation of The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), ILO 169, and other IP rights mechanisms – identifying major concerns and areas of best practice, and strategic targets for lobbying  
•    The protection of Indigenous Peoples’ rights in relation to environmental concerns; including climate change, environmental contamination, and the impact of environmental protection efforts on indigenous peoples
•    Business and Human Rights – in particular relating to issues involving large-scale industry (e.g. mining and other extractive industries, agribusiness, and tourism), Free prior and informed consent (FPIC), and the role of investment in international and national human resource approaches.

The main purpose of the network is to optimize the current efforts of participating organizations to effectively advocate for Indigenous Peoples Rights.  More specifically, the target of our advocacy is Nordic governments and non-government organizations, with the aim of addressing current shifts in Nordic funding and international policy away from a focus on indigenous peoples and their specific concerns.  A central justification of the Network’s efforts is that without specific recognition of collective rights and indigenous people’s specific concerns and demands, indigenous peoples become far more vulnerable. This is especially true when larger projects and populations are prioritized, as is currently the trend.

The overall goal is therefore to reverse this trend, to maintain a focus of Nordic countries on Indigenous Peoples rights, and to increase the visibility of these issues in policy and public discussions.

The network plan to achieve this through:

  •     Information sharing
  •     Research and Outreach
  •     Collective action