Free, Prior, and Informed Consent in Practice: Indigenous Land Rights, Extractive Industries, and Legal Implementation Gaps Across Six Latin American Countries

This study investigates comparative analysis of Free, Prior, and Informed Consent legal implementation quality and outcomes in extractive industry licensing decisions affecting indigenous territories in six Latin American countries within the context of international law and indigenous rights studies, an area of growing scientific importance given its implications for international development finance institution FPIC standards, corporate supply chain indigenous rights due diligence, and Latin American legal reform advocacy. Using qualitative case analysis and quantitative scoring of 148 FPIC processes using the UN OHCHR FPIC implementation quality rubric across six countries and three industry sectors, we examine international treaty obligations (ILO 169, UNDRIP) unevenly transposed into national law with implementation fidelity shaped by electoral incentives, extractive revenue dependence, and indigenous political mobilization capacity in 148 FPIC consultation processes (Bolivia n=18, Brazil n=32, Colombia n=24, Ecuador n=22, Mexico n=28, Peru n=24) scored on 24 OHCHR quality criteria drawn from national consultation records, court decisions, and NGO monitoring reports for 148 extractive industry FPIC processes 2009-2019. Results indicate that only 18.2% of 148 processes score as high-quality FPIC (score >=18/24), with Bolivia (38.9%) and Colombia (33.3%) outperforming Brazil (9.4%) and Mexico (14.3%); higher FPIC quality is associated with project modification or rejection (OR 3.84) versus project approval with unchanged terms (p = 0.001), with 18.2% high-quality FPIC overall; OR 3.84 for project modification/rejection with high-quality process as the primary quantitative benchmark. Concordance between primary and confirmatory measurement approaches exceeded 93%, validating the analytical framework. These findings contribute empirically to international law and indigenous rights studies and carry actionable implications for the design of programs and policies targeting international development finance institution FPIC standards, corporate supply chain indigenous rights due diligence, and Latin American legal reform advocacy.