International investment law and indigenous peoples: a methodology for the analysis of the rights of indigenous peoples

This article will set out to highlight some of the important aspects of a methodology regarding the rights and interests of indigenous peoples in the context of analysing the rules of international investment law. The approach to the rights of indigenous peoples that will be adopted here is a legal positivist approach, although such an approach, it will be argued, is also based upon the standing and the importance of the rights and interests of indigenous peoples to lands and natural resources in international law. Of particular importance in the context of the rules of international investment law, it will be pointed out that a methodology for approaching the rights of indigenous peoples must be based on equal concern for the protection and promotion of the rights and interests of indigenous peoples to land and resources.