# Amazon Indigenous Leaders Demand UN Action Against Organized Crime

> Indigenous representatives are urging international bodies to combat criminal networks driving illegal mining, drug trafficking, and deforestation in the Amazon, which led to 105 environmental defender deaths in Latin America in 2025.

By PrimaryBrief newsroom · Published 2026-10-20T10:43:49.610306Z
Canonical: https://primarybrief.com/article/amazon-indigenous-leaders-demand-un-action-against-organized-crime-9d02da8b

Indigenous leaders from four Amazonian countries gathered at a United Nations conference in Vienna this week, demanding international action against criminal networks responsible for a surge in illegal mining, drug trafficking, and deforestation that claimed 105 environmental defenders in Latin America in 2025 [1][18][22]. This push highlights the growing threat of organized crime to the Amazon rainforest and its indigenous communities, seeking to elevate environmental crimes to the same global priority as drug and arms trafficking [6][12].

## What the records show
More than a dozen representatives from Peru, Brazil, Colombia, and Ecuador are attending the 13th Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (COP13), held from October 19-23, 2026 [1][6][12]. Their central plea is for the dismantling of financial networks that facilitate environmental destruction and violence in their ancestral lands [1][6][12]. Galois Flores, a representative of Peru's Autonomous Territorial Government of the Wampis Nation, stated that "Deforestation and pollution in the Amazon are no longer just environmental problems, but a crisis of transnational organized crime and security" [6]. Leaders are advocating for a new international agreement or protocol specifically to address environmental crimes [6].

## The timeline
Concerns about organized crime in the Amazon were raised earlier in 2026. In May, indigenous organizations, Amazon Watch, and the International Crisis Group had warned the United Nations about criminal networks driving violence and accelerating environmental destruction, posing an "existential threat" to indigenous territories [7][8][13].

## What changed and for whom
Criminal activities such as illegal gold mining have devastated indigenous communities, leading to widespread deforestation, mercury contamination, violence, displacement, and health crises including food insecurity [9][10][14][15]. Illegal gold mining has increased by over 600% in some indigenous territories in the Brazilian Amazon in the last decade [9]. In Colombia, an estimated 80% of gold exports are illegally sourced [11][19]. These illicit operations bring armed groups and financial flows that overwhelm local governance [6].

## What the subject has said publicly
Galois Flores described criminal networks as possessing "weapons, money, and the ability to intimidate communities," noting that mercury from gold mining contaminates vital rivers [6]. He emphasized that "isolated police operations are insufficient," as illegal operators resume activities once security forces leave [6]. Flores pointed to efforts by the Wampis, who established monitoring posts staffed by indigenous guards to confront illegal mining [6]. Marcelo Odicio, President of the Federation of Native Kakataibo Communities in Peru, urged governments to recognize indigenous territorial guards and protect leaders [12]. Six Kakataibo leaders have been killed since 2020 due to drug traffickers establishing illegal coca plantations in their forests [12]. Indigenous leaders are pushing for environmental crimes to be treated with the same seriousness as drug and arms trafficking, calling for the tracing of illicit financial flows and disruption of illegal gold markets [6][12].

## What we could not confirm
The specific response from UN member states or agencies to the indigenous leaders' proposals during COP13 could not be confirmed [1][6][16]. Details on the progress or content of any potential new international agreement or protocol were not available [6].

## Evidence cited
1. Criminal networks threaten the Amazon. Indigenous leaders want the UN to act (www.pbs.org) — https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/criminal-networks-threaten-the-amazon-indigenous-leaders-want-the-un-to-act
2. Fourteen dead in illegal Colombian gold mine collapse (www.aljazeera.com) — https://www.aljazeera.com/video/newsfeed/2026/10/20/fourteen-dead-in-illegal-colombian-gold-mine-collapse?traffic_source=rss
3. How a Trillion-Dollar Industry Launders Illegal Gold (www.nytimes.com) — https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/19/world/africa/dirty-gold-industry-coverup-launder-madagascar.html
4. Brazil's elections matter for the planet. This is why (www.dw.com) — https://www.dw.com/en/brazil-s-elections-matter-for-the-planet-this-is-why/a-79659928?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf
5. NASA discovers hidden fires burning beneath the Amazon rainforest (www.sciencedaily.com) — https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/10/261016070633.htm
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