Briefing Note: Indigenous Peoples, transnational corporations and other business enterprises

Over 370 million individuals worldwide are Indigenous. Mostly inhabitants of developing countries, they represent more than 5,000 distinct peoples. Indigenous Peoples are particularly vulnerable to industrial development.

They are among the poorest of the poor, not only because of their economic marginalisation but also because they are deprived of basic social, cultural and political rights and fundamental freedoms, including rights to their lands, territories and resources. Indigenous Peoples inhabit lands rich in natural resources. Consequently, they are strongly affected by the operations of national and transnational companies. At the same time, Indigenous Peoples' exclusion from political decision-making processes - locally, nationally, regionally and globally - places them in a position of extreme disadvantage vis-a-vis imposed industrial activities that affect their individual and communal lives, territories and resources. This is particularly evident in the case of the extractive sector.

It is estimated that as much as 50% of the gold produced between 1995 and 2015, and up to 70%of copper production by 2020, will take place on the territories of Indigenous Peoples.1 In 2009, the European Commission noted that approximately70% of the uranium used in nuclear reactors was sourced from the homelands of Indigenous Peoples worldwide