Our project on Free Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) looks at the potential inclusion of the FPIC concept into the ASC Farm Standard in the future. FPIC is a key principle of human rights law that protects the rights of Indigenous people. Two significant international legal instruments in this context are the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) (2007) and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Indigenous and Tribal Peoples’ Convention (ILO C169) (1989).

Initial scoping research by ASC on FPIC, carried out in the first half of 2023, highlighted the complexity and sensitivity of this issue, and the degree of polarisation on the topic among key stakeholders in the aquaculture sector. It has also emphasised the challenges for implementation associated with the inclusion of FPIC in the Farm Standard. This underlines the need for a careful decision-making process on this topic that considers diverse viewpoints, and eventually includes a well-designed pilot to test new indicators for the Standard.

The project will therefore include an additional phase of stakeholder dialogue to hear from Indigenous leaders and other Indigenous representatives, as well as from non-Indigenous community members and companies about their views on what a desirable and feasible FPIC process would look like for aquaculture.

The main objective of the project is to include the principles of the concept of Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) into a revision of the Community Engagement Criterion (3.13) and potentially the parts of the Criterion on Grievance Mechanisms (3.12) that apply to communities that are currently in the ASC Farm Standard v1.0 (that will be launched late 2024), to appear in v2.0 of the ASC Farm Standard. As part of this revision, the project aims to:

1. Decide on the scope of the target group for FPIC (Indigenous people only, or also communities in general).
2. Decide on the scope of the application of FPIC (all farms or based on a species/ country combination risk assessment).
3. Decide on the steps and methodology this process would use.
4. Formulate a robust set of indicators that represent the principles of FPIC.
5. Develop guidance and other materials for successful implementation of FPIC by UoCs, and CABs.

More information on the FPIC project can be found in the Terms of Reference (ToR). The ToR were ammended after public consultation in October 2023.

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Resources

• FPIC Terms of Reference v1.1
• This project started with a student research project which can be accessed here.   
• 9th of August is International Day of Indigenous People. Read the blog published for this occasion here.