The right to decide

The right to decide is crucial to people's self-determination, a fundamental principle in human rights law that holds that people can “ freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development” (UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights).

The principle of free, prior and informed consent requires securing the consensus of all members of a group to a project within their area. In Papua New Guinea , for example, it requires that communities confer amongst themselves according to their customary decision making systems and through their own representative institutions. Adequate time, a full and transparent provision of information in appropriate forms and languages, and the absence of duress, intimidation, threat and negative incentives are all required. This right has been instrumental in the stoping of illegal logging by a Malaysian corporation in Papua New Guinea .

In Nigeria, communities affected by the proposed West African Gas Pipeline are asking the Federal High Court to cancel the Environmental Impact Assessment for the project on the grounds that the companies did not consult communities as legally required. As the people living along the route of the pipeline will be most affected by the project, they are asserting their rights to be involved in the decision-making process and to determine their own futures

further reading

• This page is an extract from the Friends of the Earth International publication 'our environment, our rights' read it here in full.
• The Cartagena Declaration on human and environmental rights