Human Rights, Megaprojects, and Development

Abstract

This text seeks to reflect on megaprojects as embodiments of the hegemonic development model, and on their impact on human rights, delving in particular into the fundamental right to prior consultation in ethnic territories. This and other human rights, such as cultural, social, and economic integrity and self-determination, are seriously undermined when they come into tension with developmentalist dynamics — a tension reflected in the fact that, although the Constitutional Court is today one of the main guarantors of the right to prior consultation, significant legal gaps remain. For this reason, an institutional mechanism is needed to carry out free, prior, and informed consultations, respecting other development options or forms that local populations may choose, following appropriate, agreed-upon, and defined procedures through channels determined by the peoples themselves.