IWRAW-AP publishes videos emphasizing importance of including women’s rights in natural resource governance

IWRAW-AP, an ESCR-Net member, recently published two videos on the topic of Natural Resource Governance and Management and Natural Resources and International Standards as part of a series on Business and Women’s Human Rights. The three earlier videos in this series focus on (1) CEDAW, UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGP) and Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEP); (2) Women Migrant Workers; and (3) Women in the Value Chain.

Natural Resource Governance and Management discusses the ways in which policies around the governance and management of natural resources fail to include women’s human rights. In particular, States and developers often fail to obtain the consent or even consult with communities that would be affected by the licensing, exploration, contracting, extraction, revenue generation, and allocation of natural resources. The video emphasizes that it is essential for the governance and management of natural resources to incorporate the needs of communities and ensure that gender is addressed.

Natural Resources and International Standards focuses on the role that standards as set out in international human rights law play in working towards the elimination of discrimination against women in relation to access to land and natural resources. Relevant international human rights standards that are highlighted in the video include: CEDAW and the CEDAW Committee’s new General recommendation No. 34 on the rights of rural women, the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, including its provision about the obligation of States to “consult and cooperate in good faith with the indigenous peoples concerned … in order to obtain their free and informed consent prior to the approval of any project affecting their lands or territories and other resources, particularly in connection with the development, utilization or exploitation of mineral, water or other resources. (Article 32); and a set of core principles on “Large-scale land acquisitions and leases” by Mr. Olivier De Schutter, the former Special Rapporteur on the right to food.