Prior consultation as a door opener Frontier negotiations, grassroots contestation, and new recognition politics in Peru

• Published in: The Prior Consultation of Indigenous Peoples in Latin America pp. 106 - 118
• Main Author: Flemmer, Riccarda
• Format: Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: Routledge 2019
• Edition: 1
• Subjects: De Diputados; FPIC Process; Madre De Dios Region; SRE; Interamericana De Derechos Humanos; Kichwa Indigenous People; International Monetary Fund; Corte Constitucional De Colombia; Ministerio Del Interior; Federal Electricity Commission; Ministerio De Desarrollo Social; Ministerio Del Medio Ambiente; Asamblea Nacional Constituyente; National Human Rights Commission; Ministry Of The Environment; Eeyou Istchee; Indigenous Consultation; Nacional De Derechos Humanos; Madre De Dios River; Mayan Indigenous Communities; Direct Democracy; Public Administration; La Parota
• ISBN: 0367784378; 1138488062; 9780367784379; 9781138488069
• DOI: 10.4324/9781351042109-10

Under President Ollanta Humala (2011-2016), Peru adopted a national Law on Prior Consultation and concluded 24 consultation processes. Based on the analysis of ethnographic fieldwork material (2013-2015), interviews, legal texts, and primary documents, this chapter argues that prior consultation is an ambiguous instrument that operates as a "door opener" in two contrasting ways. On the one hand, consultation processes are criticised, given that they are used by the hydrocarbon and mining industries to legitimise new projects and expand extractive frontiers. On the other hand, prior consultation as a contested norm has finally pushed Indigenous Peoples' rights onto the national agenda. The chapter concludes that the observed changes can only stand for a new era of recognition politics in Peru when the initiated reforms lead to a profound restructure of the State and the country's extractive imperative.