This week at the United Nations in New York City, the air is thick with urgency as Indigenous leaders from around the world gather for the 24th Session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII). Behind the diplomatic language and formal proceedings lies a stark reality: the so-called “green transition” is rapidly becoming a new frontier of colonial exploitation.

As the largest global gathering of Indigenous Peoples, this 10-day Forum provides a critical platform for advocates to address pressing concerns ranging from climate disasters to the devastating effects of critical mineral mining in Indigenous communities. The Forum’s 16 appointed expert members will compile these concerns into a comprehensive report to be transmitted to UN agencies and member states.

As a journalist who has documented countless stories of environmental injustice across Canada and the Americas, I’ve seen firsthand how the rush for critical minerals — lithium, cobalt, copper, and others essential for renewable energy technologies — is repeating the violent patterns of resource extraction that have devastated Indigenous communities for centuries.

“This is an issue of global concern, as 54 per cent of the world’s transition minerals are located on Indigenous Peoples’ lands and territories,” Indigenous Peoples Rights International (IPRI) warned in their powerful statement to the Forum. Not coincidentally, these same territories have become dangerous frontlines where Indigenous human rights defenders face criminalization, violence, and even death for protecting their homelands.

New standards, same exploitation

What’s particularly alarming is how the mining industry is actively undermining Indigenous rights while cloaking itself in the language of sustainability. 

Last August, the International Council on Mining and Metals, representing a third of the global mining industry, adopted a revised Mining Policy Statement on Indigenous Peoples that fundamentally betrays the principle of free, prior, and informed consent.

Despite repeated opposition from Indigenous representatives, the statement provides a roadmap for companies to proceed with projects even when Indigenous Peoples explicitly withhold consent. 

This isn’t just unethical — it directly contravenes international human rights law, including the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Similarly, the Consolidated Mining Standard Initiative, launched by four major mining associations, fails to respect Indigenous Peoples’ right to say “no” to projects on their territories. As Bryan Bixcul, SIRGE Coalition’s Global Coordinator, stated at the Forum: “Only with binding laws, strong accountability, and full respect for Indigenous Peoples’ rights and governance can the energy transition be truly just.”

Violence against rights defenders escalates

The statistics are chilling. According to the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre, the mining industry has been identified as having the highest number of attacks against Indigenous human rights defenders, representing at least one-third of documented attacks against defenders worldwide. Their Transition Minerals Tracker found that “Indigenous Peoples disproportionately bear the brunt of the harmful impacts of transition minerals mining” with 61 allegations impacting their rights, including 36 alleged violations of their right to free, prior, and informed consent.

As demand for these minerals skyrockets, Indigenous women and girls face particularly acute risks. When mining operations enter remote communities, they often bring increased rates of sexual violence, family breakdown, and cultural disruption.

Canadian mining giants under scrutiny

Canada, which hosts many of the world’s largest mining companies, bears particular responsibility. 

Canadian-owned mines operate in dozens of countries around the world, often with minimal oversight and virtually no accountability. Despite Canada’s public commitment to reconciliation and Indigenous rights at home, its mining giants continue to be implicated in serious human rights abuses abroad.

The gap between rhetoric and reality is stark. While governments tout the green credentials of electric vehicles and solar panels, they remain silent about the devastating social and environmental impacts of extracting the minerals these technologies require.

Indigenous solutions for a truly just transition

Last year, during the “Indigenous Peoples and the Just Transition Conference,” nearly 90 Indigenous leaders from seven socio-cultural regions outlined priorities and demands for a genuinely just transition. Their vision stands in stark contrast to the extractive model currently being pursued.

“For Indigenous Peoples, a just transition means exercising their own customary institution and governance systems and restoring what is sacred,” notes the recent UN study on critical minerals authored by Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim, Chair of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and Hannah McGlade,  a Kurin Minang Noongar woman of the Bibulman nation in Australian, who is an academic, human rights advocate and lawyer.

Indigenous communities are calling for frameworks that address loss and damage, guarantee full ecosystem restoration, and ensure transparent benefit-sharing. Most fundamentally, they demand respect for their right to self-determination — including the right to say “no” to projects that threaten their lands, cultures, and futures.

The path forward

The statements delivered at the Forum this week offer a clear path forward. Indigenous Peoples Rights International (IPRI) has called on states to ensure Indigenous Peoples’ rights are protected and respected in the context of transition mineral mining. They remind states that UN jurisprudence has clearly established that national economic interests or development priorities cannot be cited to justify interfering with Indigenous Peoples’ rights.

IPRI has also urged the Consolidated Mining Standard Initiative to uphold Indigenous Peoples’ rights in their ongoing standard development process and to respect Indigenous Peoples’ right to say no to mining projects. This is particularly critical given that leading human rights treaty bodies, including the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, have ruled that disregarding Indigenous territorial rights and their right to offer free, prior, and informed consent constitutes a form of discrimination.

Similarly, the SIRGE Coalition has advocated for Canada and Australia — where many of the world’s mining companies are headquartered — to enact binding legislation requiring companies to implement key articles of UNDRIP and uphold Indigenous Peoples’ rights to self-determination and free, prior, and informed consent. They emphasize that voluntary standards can never substitute for binding legal obligations.

Both groups have stressed the urgent need for accessible, independent, and culturally appropriate grievance mechanisms throughout the entire lifecycle of mining projects. SIRGE has also called for a global traceability system to track the origin and impacts of minerals throughout the supply chain, with mandatory public disclosure of environmental and human rights risks.

As we confront the climate crisis, we face a crucial choice: Will we repeat the colonial patterns of the past, sacrificing Indigenous rights and ecological integrity on the altar of “green” growth? Or will we embrace a truly just transition that centers Indigenous wisdom, respects territorial rights, and recognizes that environmental and social justice are inseparable?

The evidence before us is damning. The mining industry’s voluntary standards have proven woefully inadequate. The attacks on Indigenous defenders continue to mount. And the destruction of sacred lands accelerates with each passing day.

What stands between us and catastrophe are the Indigenous communities fighting on the frontlines — not just for their own survival, but for a fundamentally different relationship with the living Earth. Their struggle is humanity’s struggle. Their vision offers our only viable path forward.

The world has extracted enough from Indigenous Peoples. It’s time we stop taking Indigenous lands, stop taking Indigenous lives, and start taking their lead.