LAND
Most projects require land. How land is acquired plays a crucial role in enhancing or eroding human rights.
Pressure for access to land can lead to forced evictions and the displacement of local populations. People most at risk are frequently those with the least power to challenge it – the poorest and most marginalised members of society, particularly those living in informal settlements; and Indigenous people.
Click the overarching and stage-specific principles below to review the guiding questions across this stage. These questions will help you to identify the main human rights risks and opportunities and develop a tailored action plan.
Indigenous and cultural rights are protected
Guiding questions
Has there been an assessment of indigenous and cultural rights that may be affected, and measures taken to mitigate harm? Have indigenous communities in all their diversity participated in this exercise?
If there are risks to indigenous peoples, have steps been taken to ensure Free, Prior and Informed Consent, in line with the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples?
Stories and illustrative examples
International standards and tools
UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity, which has affirmed that culture should be regarded as: “the set of distinctive spiritual, material, intellectual and emotional features of society or a social group, and that it encompasses, in addition to art and literature, lifestyles, ways of living together, value systems, traditions and beliefs"
IFC Performance Standard 7, Indigenous Peoples, and 8, Cultural Heritage
Sustainable Development Goals - Target 11.4: Strengthen efforts to protect and safeguard the world’s cultural and natural heritage