Statement for the «Upholding the rights of Indigenous Peoples in the green economy» session, 12th United Nations Forum on Business and Human Rights, Geneva, 29 November 2023.
Indigenous peoples around the World suffered from pollution and overexploitation of natural resources on their traditional lands for generations. First, colonizers came to our lands for gold and furs; later, they started to extract oil and gas, and today, we are witnessing an explosive growth of the mining of transitional minerals on our traditional lands, which are needed for the so-called “Green Economy.”
Indigenous Peoples have historically been crucial in protecting the planet’s ecosystems and biodiversity. But today, our communities live on the frontlines of Global Climate Change and are struggling with second threads associated with Global Warming, including the transition to the Green Economy. The problem is aggravated by the fact that to make a better environment and better life in most developed and prosperous communities of the World; the mining companies destroy the life and future of most poor communities where Indigenous Peoples live.
Demand for the minerals used in renewable power, especially for rechargeable batteries, is projected to skyrocket today, spurred by rising mineral prices and governments’ rush to implement their climate plans.
More than 50 % of the World’s known Energy Transition Minerals are found on or near traditional Indigenous Peoples’ territories, and mining remains linked to the dirtiest environmental crimes, pollution of lands, freshwater, and air, as well as terrible human rights abuses, which often remain unremediated.
This profound impact of Green Energy mining on Indigenous Peoples is still not fully recognized today by governments, businesses, and civil society.
Our Indigenous Peoples’ rights, as articulated in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, continue to be violated in the pursuit of transition minerals, and the right to Free Prior and Informed Consent, is not at all or very weakly uptaken in the emerging Energy Transition Legislation.
As Indigenous Nations who think about our joint future, we support a just transition from fossil fuels and appropriate technology development. We are not against progress in fighting against Climate Change. But we are against destroying our environment and brutal methods of exploitation of our lands and communities. And we think the energy transition should not be made at the cost of sacrificing our Peoples, our Cultures, our rights. Otherwise that will be just repeating the mistakes of the past and bringing the model from fossil-fuels to renewables.
We demand our full and effective participation in decision-making about implementing any Green Economy projects on our traditional lands, including mining transitional minerals, establishing Solar or Wind Power stations, or designing other Green Economy development projects and their infrastructure.
We urge governments at all levels, to fulfill their commitments with international Agreements on Human Rights and Indigenous Peoples rights and ensure the protection of Indigenous Peoples rights, especially their right to self determination and the Free Prior and Informed consent -FPIC. All emerging legislation to enable the Energy transition must include the right to FPIC. This is not the case now. For example, the European Union has just approved its Critical Raw Materials Act and did not explicitly include the right to FPIC, although the European Parliament has proposed it. Now they are debating the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) and there is a risk of not including FPIC in it. We Indigenous Peoples ask the European legislators to ensure respect of our rights and include the FPIC in the normative scope of the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive.
We urge the international community to express its support for Human Rights Council Resolution 26/9 and the efforts of the intergovernmental group to develop a UN-binding instrument on business and human rights to advance corporate accountability and access remedy by affected Indigenous communities.
We demand to stop using violence and urge the states to investigate thoroughly any cases of violence against Indigenous Rights Defenders despite the origins or motives of perpetrators, including those who work for corporations or governments.
We call on states to ratify the Regional Agreement on Access to Information, Public Participation and Justice in Environmental Matters in Latin America and the Caribbean and develop similar binding instruments in other regions.
We call on governments to scrutinize international and national financial obligations and instruments to prevent investments in Green Economy projects that violate indigenous peoples’ rights in any part of the World.
We call on States to develop, with the participation of indigenous peoples and relevant experts, methodologies to verify data from companies to prevent greenwashing and false reporting, which harms not only indigenous peoples but also States sustainable development, as it is a source of unreliable information.
We ask global and regional trade and economic cooperation organizations, including the WTO and OECD, to revise their regulatory rules to include Free, Prior, and Informed Consent and due diligence procedures as mandatory.
We call on states to amplify funding for indigenous peoples’ initiatives under the framework of their climate programs and include funds for securing indigenous peoples’ rights within the Green Economy as an integral part of these programs.
We ask States, Businesses, and Civil Society to pay special attention to developing education programs to educate indigenous peoples suffering from the Extractive industry of how to use international law to protect their rights to a healthy environment.
Thank you for your attention.