Impact and benefit agreements in natural resource development: a way to fulfil the ILO 169 benefit-sharing duty?

Abstract

This article examines whether impact and benefit agreements (IBAs) between industry proponents and indigenous communities, a common standard in natural resource development in Canada, could be a way to fulfil the International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention No. 169 benefit-sharing duty in Latin America, as many suggest. The article begins by analysing and determining the main features of this duty. It also reviews the key components of IBAs against the backdrop of the ILO Convention 169 benefit-sharing duty, concluding that it would be problematic to think of these agreements as ways to fulfil the obligation established in ILO Convention No. 169.