UN secretary-general calls for urgent implementation of Declaration on Rights of Indigenous Peoples

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres told the 24th Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues that governments, international finance providers and multilateral institutions must accelerate implementation of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples to protect indigenous communities from dispossession, pollution and exclusion.

Guterres said the world’s indigenous peoples “are the preeminent stewards of the world biodiversity and of the environment” and warned that their rights and livelihoods are threatened by climate change, illegal exploitation and the growing demand for minerals used in the clean energy transition. “The clean energy era must power progress on indigenous people's rights,” he said.

The secretary-general framed his remarks around four priorities to strengthen implementation of the declaration. First, he called for stronger member-state representation and increased funding for the forum’s trust fund to enable participation and representation at international meetings. Second, he urged governments and institutions to uphold the leadership, rights and needs of indigenous peoples across policy areas and to ensure indigenous peoples, particularly women, have seats at decision-making tables. Third, he asked international finance providers to align financing with indigenous peoples’ self-determined priorities. Fourth, he emphasized delivery on recommendations from the United Nations panel on critical energy transition minerals, including benefit sharing, value addition and fair trade.

Guterres cited several recent multilateral developments as partial progress. He said countries made commitments in the Global Digital Compact to build digital skills and capacities among indigenous peoples, and referenced the Pact for the Futures, which he said calls to “recognize, respect, promote, and protect the right of indigenous peoples and their territories, lands, and ecosystems.” He told the forum that at COP16 on biodiversity countries committed to create a permanent subsidiary body to include indigenous peoples in biodiversity decision-making and agreed to share benefits from digital genetic information through a new Cali Fund to support indigenous peoples.

The secretary-general described specific harms raised by indigenous communities, citing mercury pollution from illegal mining in Suriname and Brazil that has “poisoned their water and food supplies,” and the general pattern of eviction, illegal exploitation and exclusion from decisions that affect territories and food security. He said indigenous women face particular barriers to political participation, economic opportunity and essential services.

Guterres announced the forthcoming launch of a high-level expert advisory group to accelerate action on benefit sharing and related issues identified by the panel on critical energy transition minerals, and reiterated that the panel’s recommendations are grounded in human rights and the declaration. He asked countries, companies and other stakeholders to work with the United Nations to ensure those recommendations are implemented.

The address concluded with an appeal to the forum and member states to move from commitments to action: “the individual and collective rights of indigenous peoples are non Now and forever, we stand with you all in making those rights a reality for indigenous peoples everywhere,” he said.

The forum session focused on “implementing the declaration within member states and within the United Nations system,” according to Guterres’s remarks. The speech did not record formal votes or decisions by the forum; the secretary-general’s proposals are calls for member-state and institutional action rather than immediate, binding measures.