Coca Cola and Coca Leaves: A Case Study on the use of FPIC.

This article considers how system knowledge from a production point of view can interact with international law in such ways as to uphold the international principle of free, prior informed consent (FPIC). Although some categories, such as designers, are used to thinking through production systems when they create goods, the question of how the people inside and outside these systems are affected is often overlooked. That is the point when international human rights research can come to support a field that otherwise can seem quite large in scope. Specifically, the case study presented here analyzes how the production of the Coca Cola beverage interacts with indigenous peoples1 through the lens of the internationally recognized principle of FPIC. The analysis indicates that the FPIC framework can be the starting point to evaluate touch points between current production systems and society at large and provide practical ways for people from different disciplines and backgrounds to create a discourse around it. Ultimately, this would benefit indigenous peoples and human rights defenders to understand whom to engage with at the negotiation table while also exploring ways to strengthen the communication from an activist and a public opinion point of view. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]