Indigenous leaders used the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues to press for enforcement mechanisms for international climate rulings, Grist reports.

The session in New York followed the International Court of Justice's advisory opinion of 23 July 2024, which found that states' climate obligations extend beyond the UNFCCC regime and that environmental degradation can violate peoples' rights to self-determination.

Speakers at the forum argued that favorable judgments from international bodies produce little practical change for frontline communities without binding compliance procedures.

"We are not going to sit and wait for states to decide our fate," said Maja Groff, an international lawyer and convener of the Climate Governance Commission, addressing the forum.

Groff and other legal experts proposed an international enforcement mechanism that would track state compliance with climate rulings and provide recourse for affected communities.

The ICJ opinion was sought through a campaign initiated by Pacific Islands students and driven by the Small Island Developing States, with Vanuatu leading the UN resolution that secured the court's jurisdiction.

Indigenous representatives from regions including the Amazon and the Arctic described how existing rulings — including the Inter-American Court of Human Rights' environment-related jurisprudence — remain unimplemented in their territories.

The Permanent Forum, an advisory body to the UN Economic and Social Council, lacks enforcement authority, and its recommendations require follow-up by member states and UN agencies.

Discussions at the session addressed how Indigenous peoples could use existing instruments, including the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, to pressure governments into complying with international climate decisions.

The forum's twenty-fourth session runs through 2 May 2025 at UN headquarters in New York.