At the UN, Indigenous leaders tackle how to enforce global climate court rulings

This story is published by the Indigenous News Alliance.

Indigenous communities in the Pacific face increasingly devastating storms, made worse by warming oceans. Mining operations continue to expand on indigenous lands in the Amazon. Oil wells in Ecuador continue to operate despite court rulings. And this week at the United Nations, indigenous leaders and advocates are asking: What will it take to force governments to comply with international court rulings that mandate climate action?

Last year, the world’s highest court, the International Court of Justice, issued an advisory opinion that state governments that contribute to climate change should be held accountable for the damage they cause, particularly to small island states. The Inter-American Court of Human Rights issued a similarly sweeping ruling last summer, calling on governments to reduce fossil fuel emissions and incorporate indigenous knowledge into climate policies.

But these decisions face a harsh reality: many UN member states would prefer to ignore their climate obligations, leaving open the question of whether these decisions can be implemented, enforced and used to protect the lands and rights of indigenous peoples.

“This is a moment of opportunity. These advisory opinions are not symbolic, they are instruments of power,” Luisa Castañeda-Quintana, executive director of the advocacy group Land is Life, told hundreds of indigenous advocates at the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues on Monday. “They can and should be used to strengthen indigenous peoples’ advocacy at all levels. But to do so, indigenous peoples must claim them, integrate them into rights discourses, and take them into all spaces where their futures are decided.”

This gap between legal recognition and the application of rights is particularly marked in Ecuador. Magaly Ruiz Cajas, a member of the country’s Judicial Council who also spoke at the forum, noted that Ecuador’s constitution has recognized the rights of nature since 2008. “In Ecuador, green justice is not an option, it is an obligation,” Cajas said, referring to court rulings including a 2011 case regarding pollution of the Vilcabamba River.

But several Ecuadorian speakers said these constitutional protections have not stopped companies from ignoring indigenous land rights. Juan Bay, president of the Waorani nation of Ecuador, told the forum that Ecuador does not comply with international or national laws aimed at protecting indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation or living near oil wells – actions he called “incompatible with climate action and with the rights of indigenous peoples.” Indigenous land defenders in Ecuador have been persecuted and killed in recent years, and in February Ecuador passed a law to accelerate mining that weakened environmental protection requirements, ignoring criticism from indigenous and environmental organizations.

This trend is not unique to Ecuador. Albert Kwokwo Barume, the United Nations special rapporteur on indigenous peoples, identified this across the region in a report last year: “Latin America and the Caribbean presents a paradox. The contributions reveal strong legal frameworks that coexist with persistent failures in their implementation,” he wrote. “Even favorable court decisions are undermined by poor enforcement and lack of consultation. »

Resistance also came from more powerful nations. Vanuatu and a dozen supportive states introduced a UN resolution earlier this year to operationalize the ICJ ruling, calling for the phase-out of fossil fuels and climate reparations. In response, President Donald Trump’s administration sent a message to all US embassies, calling the resolution “troubling” and a “charade”, and urging Vanuatu to withdraw the resolution and other countries to reject it.

Vanuatu did not back down, but the vote in the General Assembly was postponed until May.

Joie Chowdury, a lawyer at the Center for International Environmental Law, said the ruling gave states clear obligations to combat climate change. “It remains important to translate this legal clarity into concrete actions now,” she said.

As political discussions continue, Indigenous nations in Northern Ontario face climate-related flooding, large-scale evacuations and contaminated water supplies. “It’s now 2026 and Indigenous communities are living in a state of poverty,” said Ryan Fleming of the Attawapiskat First Nation. “And it’s not just an implementation gap. It becomes a human rights issue.”

Fleming said the flooding highlights the intersection of climate change and Canada’s failure to honor its treaty obligations.

In Aotearoa New Zealand, Māori land is facing more severe storms without increased support. Te Whakatōhea native Janell Dymus-Kurei spoke at the Forum on behalf of the National Iwi Chairs Forum Pou Tikanga, a national group focused on Māori self-determination, and said international courts and forums presented an under-exploited opportunity. “We’re just not getting the most out of these mechanisms,” she said.

Despite resistance, legal momentum continues to build. The African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights is currently considering a case on states’ climate obligations, including how African governments should manage climate-related displacement.

Fleming said spaces like the Permanent Forum are crucial to pressuring countries like Canada to honor their human rights obligations. “We understand the importance of taking advantage of these international mechanisms,” he said.