EVENTS
upcoming:
24th Session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues - Mining Standards: Can They Effectively Uphold Indigenous Peoples’ Rights or Simply Enable Corporate Self-Regulation? (Side Event)
Date: April 24, 2025
Time: 11:30 AM - 12:45 PM ET
Location: CR-12, UN Headquarters NYC
Languages: English, Spanish
Co-sponsors: SIRGE Coalition, Batani Foundation, Earthworks, Tallgrass Institute, STP, Cultural Survival, IWGIA.
Over the past few years, several mining standards have been developed to guide responsible practices in transition minerals supply chains, impacting Indigenous Peoples' rights and livelihoods. However, many of these standards still fall short in ensuring the full and equitable participation of Indigenous Peoples, providing access to critical information, and guaranteeing the genuine implementation of Indigenous Peoples' rights, including Free, Prior, and Informed Consent.
Mining companies and investors often tout voluntary standards as a means of ensuring responsible practices, but do these frameworks truly uphold Indigenous Peoples rights? This panel will critically examine the effectiveness of mining standards in protecting Indigenous Peoples' rights, lands, territories and livelihoods. Indigenous leaders and experts will discuss whether these standards serve as meaningful accountability mechanisms or if they merely provide companies with a tool for corporate self-regulation. The discussion will also explore the risks of mining standards replacing legislation and Indigenous self-determination in decision-making processes.
Together we will share strategies to advocate for the recognition and protection of Indigenous Peoples' rights throughout the transition minerals supply chains, with particular attention to standard-setting platforms. We have seen the consequences when companies hold all the power to design standards, often prioritizing their interests over Indigenous Peoples rights. To drive real change, we must ensure that Indigenous voices shape the policies and practices that affect our lands, communities, and futures.
Objectives:
Discuss whether voluntary mining standards genuinely protect Indigenous People’s rights or serve as corporate self-regulation tools.
Highlight the risks of relying on mining standards instead of binding legislation and the potential for undermining Indigenous Peoples’ governance.
Advocate for strengthening accountability mechanisms, including stronger legal protections and Indigenous-led oversight.
Amplify Indigenous voices and ensure Indigenous Peoples’ perspectives are central to the discussion on mining governance and accountability.
Examine the risks to Indigenous Peoples from proposed mining standards like the Consolidated Mining Standard Initiative.
Moderator: Bryan Bixcul, SIRGE Coalition
24th Session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues - The UN Secretary-General Panel on Critical Minerals: Advocating for the Inclusion of an Actionable Recommendation on Indigenous Peoples' Rights (Side Event)
Date: April 24, 2025
Time: 3:00 PM - 4:15 PM ET
Location: CR-12, UN Headquarters NYC
Languages: English, Spanish
Co-sponsors: SIRGE Coalition, Batani Foundation, Earthworks, Tallgrass Institute, STP, Cultural Survival, IWGIA.
The global demand for transition minerals is accelerating as countries shift to renewable energy. Yet, Indigenous Peoples—who steward much of the land where these minerals are found—continue to face exclusion, rights violations, and environmental degradation. Indigenous Peoples call for the creation of an Integrated Framework to ensure the protection of their rights in critical energy transition mineral (CETM) projects.
This event will advocate for the formal inclusion of an actionable recommendation on Indigenous Peoples within the implementation phase of the UN Secretary-General’s Panel on CETM principles. Speakers will underscore the need for a dedicated, enforceable framework to safeguard Indigenous Peoples' rights—ensuring Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC), promoting benefit-sharing, and integrating Indigenous-led environmental stewardship.
The discussion will highlight concrete steps that governments, financial institutions, and companies must take to embed justice, equity, and Indigenous leadership in the energy transition. It will also serve as a key platform to share the outcome document from the Indigenous Peoples' Summit on Just Transition.
Objectives:
Advocate for the formal inclusion of Actionable Recommendation 6: Integrated Framework for the Protection of Indigenous Peoples' Rights in Critical Energy Transition Minerals Projects-Push for its recognition as a core component of the UN’s work on transition minerals.
Ensure that Indigenous Peoples’ self-determination and FPIC are non-negotiable principles in CETM projects.
Showcase successful Indigenous-led governance models, benefit-sharing agreements, and environmental stewardship initiatives.
Call for concrete commitments from governments, the private sector, and financial institutions to take specific steps toward embedding Indigenous rights protections into critical mineral supply chains.
Advocate for independent monitoring, grievance mechanisms, and enforcement tools to prevent rights violations in CETM projects.
Present the outcome document titled Indigenous Peoples Principles and Protocols for Just Transition.
PAST EVENTS:
Indigenous Peoples’ Principles and Protocols for Just Transition
Date: January 22, 2025 from 11am-12:30pm ET
Location: Zoom
Exercising our right to Self-determination, Indigenous representatives from the seven socio-cultural regions convened the Indigenous Summit on Just Transition in Geneva in October 2024 to discuss our perspectives, knowledge, and lived experiences related to just transition. Together, we charted a path forward to safeguard the world’s ecosystems and our rights during the global energy transition. We defined our collective vision for a true just transition—one that prioritizes the well-being of the planet and its peoples over profit.
We invite Indigenous people, civil society, private sector, policymakers, and allies to join us in this critical discussion, recognizing that a truly just transition is only possible through collective action and respect for Indigenous Peoples’ rights and the ecosystems we protect.
EU Raw Materials Week
Date: December 9-13, 2024
Location: Brussels & Online
COP29
Friday, November 15, 2024, 16:30 - 17:50
Location: Baku, Azerbaijan
COP16
October 21 - November 1, 2024
Location: Cali, Colombia
Read our reports and learn about SIRGE’s participation via the statements below:
COP16 Wraps Up in Cali: Progress, Challenges, and the Unfinished Work for Biodiversity and Indigenous Peoples’ Rights
JUST TRANSITION: Indigenous Peoples’ Perspectives, Knowledge and Lived Experiences Summit
October 8-10, 2024
Location: Geneva, Switzerland
The Indigenous Peoples Global Coordinating Committee, in partnership with Securing Indigenous Peoples Rights to a Green Economy (SIRGE) Coalition, is hosting the JUST TRANSITION: Indigenous Peoples’ Perspectives, Knowledge, and Lived Experiences, an international summit taking place from October 8 to 10, 2024, in Geneva, Switzerland.
Over 100 representatives of Indigenous Peoples from the seven socio-cultural regions of the world will gather to collectively define a Just Transition and the green economy from Indigenous perspectives. The summit calls for a rights-based approach rooted in principles such as self-determination, FPIC, cultural rights, land and territorial rights, and the participation of Indigenous Peoples in decision-making processes.
Centering Indigenous Peoples' Self-Determination in the Energy Transition and Sustainable Development Webinar
September 13, 2024, 12pm-1:30pm EST
Location: Zoom
In this virtual roundtable discussion, panelists share an understanding of Indigenous Peoples’ right to self-determination, highlighting perspectives of Indigenous leaders who supported the drafting and adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). The webinar also discusses the critical importance of integrating Indigenous Peoples’ self-determination into policy and project development.
Click the links to watch below in multiple languages.
17th OECD Forum on Responsible Mineral Supply Chains
May 21-24, 2024
Location: OECD Headquarters, Paris
The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is the leader in international and industry standards for guidelines to help multinational enterprises and companies practice due diligence for sustainable business conduct. These guidelines will form the basis of the forum's discussions, along with the exploration of longstanding and emerging priorities to foster responsible mineral supply chains. Sessions will examine the often overlooked conflict risks, development minerals, policy cohesion, and responsible business conduct in government-to-government agreements on transition minerals. For more info on SIRGE’s participation, click here.
Mongabay Webinars | How to Cover Transition Minerals
April 8, 2024 at 9pm UTC, Online
Our Executive Director, Galina Angarova, will be a panelist at Mongabay’s online webinar to explore key questions for journalists to consider when reporting on transition minerals, such as cobalt and nickel, needed for electric vehicles and renewable energy infrastructure. The webinar will be live on LinkedIn & YouTube. Click here to join.
FPIC Guide Webinar
February 7, 2024, Online
A discussion about FPIC and FPIC community protocols. To support Indigenous leaders in developing protocols and processes for their FPIC priorities, both within their communities and with external parties, the Securing Indigenous Peoples' Rights in the Green Economy Coalition, Cultural Survival, and First Peoples Worldwide have published Securing Indigenous Peoples' Right to Self-Determination: A Guide on Free, Prior and Informed Consent. Watch the webinar and download the guide here.
World Economic Forum
January 15 - 19, 2024, Davos-Klosters, Switzerland
The 54th Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum will primarily focus on exploring the opportunities enabled by the new technologies and their implications on decision-making and global partnership.
12th United Nations Forum on Business and Human Rights
November 27-29, 2023, Palais Des Nations, Geneva (Switzerland)
Theme: Towards effective change in implementing obligations, responsibilities, and remedies.
UNPFII 2024 Side Events: Beyond Resources: Indigenous Women’s Rights and Resilience in the Green Economy
April 16, 2024, 3:00-4:30 pm ET
Location: Conference Room 5, United Nations Headquarters, 405 East 42nd Street, New York, NY, 10017; entry requires United Nations ground passes.
This side event explores the intersectionality of gender, Indigenous Peoples’ rights, and the green economy, with a specific focus on the experiences of Indigenous women in the context of extractive industries. The event aims to shed light on the unique challenges faced by Indigenous women, amplify their voices, explore pathways for empowering Indigenous women in sustainable development, and uphold their individual and collective rights.
CO-SPONSORS: First Peoples Worldwide, Securing Indigenous Peoples’ Rights in the Green Economy (SIRGE) Coalition, International Forum of Indigenous Women (FIMI), and Continental Network of Indigenous Women (ECMIA).
UNPFII 2024 Side Events: Shareholder Advocacy Leadership Training (SALT) Workshop: Protecting Lands, Resources and Indigenous Peoples’ Rights
April 18, 9:00 am-1:00 pm ET
Location: Salvation Army International Social Justice Commission, 221 East 52nd Street New York, New York 10022
This Shareholder Advocacy Leadership Training (SALT) workshop offers practical tools for Indigenous leaders and advocates to pursue shareholder advocacy strategies to protect their communities, resources, sacred places, and cultural practices. Participants will learn how to mobilize strategies to target companies proposing harmful projects, examine case studies that make the business case for Indigenous Peoples’ rights, and hear directly from Indigenous and investor leadership with a proven track record of creating positive outcomes through corporate engagement.
Learn more about shareholder advocacy at https://www.colorado.edu/program/fpw/about-shareholder-advocacy
UNPFII 2024 Side Events: Empowering Indigenous Youth in the Energy Transition
April 18, 1:00 pm-5:00 pm ET
Location: Church of the Covenant, 310 E 42nd St, New York, NY 10017
Join us in person in New York City for an interactive workshop to empower Indigenous youth to advocate for Indigenous Peoples’ rights in the face of increased mining for the “green” economy.
Climate Week NYC: Addressing the Human and Environmental Costs of Mining for EVs
September 25, 2024 at 2pm EST
Location: The Peoples’ Forum, 320 W. 37th St, New York, NY
Join us for a panel discussion about the impacts of mining transition minerals on human rights, including Indigenous rights, and the environment, in partnership with Climate Rights International, Earthworks, Lead The Charge, and SOMO.
As the global shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy accelerates, the demand for minerals used in electric vehicle batteries, solar panels, and wind turbines is skyrocketing. However, without a commitment to human rights and environmental stewardship, the extraction and processing of these critical materials could lead to irreversible damage to ecosystems, air, and water quality. Moreover, the rights of Indigenous Peoples—whose lands are often at the forefront of these projects—must be safeguarded.
Speakers include:
▪️ Galina Angarova, Executive Director of SIRGE Coalition
▪️ Payal Sampat, Mining Program Director at Earthworks
▪️ Alejandro Gonzalez, Senior Researcher at SOMO
▪️ Don Clemente Flores, President of the El Angosto Indigenous Community
Moderator: Krista Shennum, Climate & Human Rights Researcher at Climate Rights International
