At the end of February, we took part in two important international gatherings: the 6th Assembly of Publish What You Pay (PWYP) titled “Charting Our Course: Coming Together for a Just Energy Transition”, and the “International Conference of Critical Mineral Producing Countries: Mobilizing South-South Cooperation”, organized by the Center of Economic and Law Studies (CELIOS).
At the first event, representing the Civil Society Roundtable for Transparency in Extractive Industries (La Mesa), together with Transparency for Colombia and Externado University of Colombia, we gathered in Jakarta from February 18 to 20 with organizations from Latin America, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. Discussions focused on protecting civic space, promoting a responsible fossil fuel phase-out, and ensuring inclusive governance of critical minerals in alignment with PWYP’s new identity and global strategy.
Valentina Rincón Páez, researcher at CREER, served as a panelist in the session “Feminist Natural Resource Governance: Aspirations and Lessons from Implementing Our Global Gender Policy”, where she shared La Mesa’s progress in incorporating a gender and intersectional approach, and discussed its implementation at the territorial level in Colombia, alongside colleagues from the Philippines, Nigeria, Kyrgyzstan, and Burkina Faso.
Later, from February 21 to 22 in Yogyakarta, CREER participated alongside representatives from countries such as South Africa, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia, presenting the LATAM and Colombian perspective on the critical minerals value chain, together with colleagues from Transforma and the University of Melbourne.
At that session, our researcher Valentina Rincón Páez discussed narratives, dilemmas, and key characteristics, emphasizing the importance of working from a bottom-up approach to ensure respect for human rights at the local level in critical mineral extraction operations in Colombia. This collaborative agenda allowed for the exchange of experiences across four key themes: Indigenous Peoples’ rights, environmental protection and biodiversity conservation, governance and regulation, ecosystem protection, finance, and supply chain transparency.
Following this first meeting, we aim to continue strengthening this network of organizations through a South-South cooperation lens—sharing information and coordinating advocacy and communication actions toward responsible critical minerals governance that respects human rights, especially through CREER’s work to bring the LATAM vision into this global dialogue.
You can read the media coverage of this conference published in Indonesia at the following link:
https://indonesiabusinesspost.com/3649/society-environment-and-culture/conference-calls-for-fair-transparent-critical-mineral-supply-chains
We thank PWYP, La Mesa, CELIOS, and all the colleagues who made our participation and contributions in these important spaces possible.
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