Yana Tannagasheva’s statement at EMRIP 15th session. Agenda #3 “Study on Treaties, agreements and other constructive arrangements, between indigenous peoples and States”
ITEM 3: Study on Treaties, agreements and other constructive arrangements, between indigenous peoples and States, including peace accords and reconciliation initiatives, and their constitutional recognition
EMRIP 4-8 July 2022
Oral statement of Ms. Yana Tannagasheva on behalf of Society for Threatened Peoples / International Committee of Indigenous Peoples of Russia (ICIPR)
Thank you Mr/Madam Chair.
As a representative of the Shor People from southwestern Siberia, who has been directly affected by the Russian regime and coal mining companies, I want to draw your attention to the violations of the rights of indigenous peoples by the Russian authorities and mining companies.
Unfortunately, no treaties regarding indigenous peoples are in force in the Russian Federation. A vivid example of this is the Kazas village in Kemerovo region, where I am from. The village was burned down by the coal company 8 years ago. The case of this village and violations of the Shor people rights was considered by the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. The concluding observations of the Committee were addressed to Russia: to restore the rights of the Shor people. However, the rights of the Shors continue to be violated by coal and gold mining companies, and the Russian authorities have both lied in their reports and continue to provide false information. Moreover, the Russian regime is increasing pressure and repression on those representatives of indigenous peoples who openly fight for their lands, territories, the right to self-determination and, in general, openly express their position.
I express concern that the Russian authorities and mining companies are manipulating representatives of indigenous peoples, using their vulnerable position to promote the state policies and propaganda both on national and international level. This applies, for example, to the Norilsk Nickel company, whose accident occurred in 2020, which became the largest oil spill in the Russian Arctic. This caused irreparable harm to the living environment of the indigenous peoples of Taimyr, negatively affects their nutrition, health, and psychological state, especially women and children. Today, the Russian authorities and Norilsk Nickel are trying to set a positive image of interaction with indigenous peoples at the international level by promoting the implementation of the FPIC principle. However, the indigenous peoples who live there tell us otherwise.
In general, the poor situation of the Indigenous Peoples of Russia was difficult even before the war, but now it has only worsened. Today in Russia it is almost impossible and dangerous to speak openly, to express your position freely. Indigenous peoples are criminalized in various contexts. Threats and harassment are more often directed against persons involved in the protection of environmental rights, land rights, and recently against those who openly protest against the war with Ukraine.
In conclusion, Mr/Madam Chair, I would like to recommend:
- Request the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples to pay special attention in future reports to the situation of the indigenous peoples of Russia, controversial situations, the implementation of the recommendations of treaty bodies, and also to investigate issues related to the criminalization of representatives of indigenous peoples who protect their lands, territories, resources.
- Recommend to the Human Rights Council that the mandate of a Special Rapporteur on the situation of indigenous peoples in situations of interstate conflict be established. And also include the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in the list of standards of the universal periodic review.
Thank you for your attention!
Dmitry Berezhkov: “How does the militarization of Russia’s internal politics, social life and economy affect indigenous peoples’ development in Russia?”
15 Session of the Expert Mechanism on the rights of indigenous peoples. 4 July 2022, Geneva
EMRIP Side-Event: The influence of the aggression of the Russian Federation in Ukraine on indigenous peoples of Russia – https://indigenous-russia.com/archives/22391
Presentation by Dmitry Berezhkov: “How does the militarization of Russia’s internal politics, social life and economy affect indigenous peoples’ development in Russia?”.
Thank you very much, mister chair.
The war in Ukraine has many different aspects. And it influences indigenous communities in Russia in different ways, sometimes very unexpected ones.
Indigenous soldiers
The most obvious item is the dying of indigenous soldiers as members of the Russian army forces. I don’t approve of them; of course, they must be punished by international law for participating in the war.
At the same time, we must remember that Indigenous Peoples in Russia remain among the poorest parts of the population. Their social and economic development and life expectancy are far below the national average. Sometimes military service is the only way for the young man to earn some money. We also need to understand that most Russian soldiers didn’t know they would be sent to the war by the government. And, of course, this is a great tragedy for small numbered indigenous peoples if young men die for some imperial ambitions of the Russian dictator somewhere thousand kilometers away from their home communities.
We know a village where live only two hundred individuals and five young indigenous soldiers are fighting in this war from there. And this whole indigenous Nation is less than two thousand persons itself. Many died. We have confirmed the deaths of indigenous soldiers from Chukotka, Khabarovsk Krai, Tyva, Buratia, and other regions. But we can not even estimate the total numbers. The only way is to study dead soldiers’ open databases and find their indigenous names. But many of them have Russian names, of course. So this research has to be done in the future.
Economic crisis
In Russian state media, you don’t find any substantial news about the negative influence of the war on the Russian economy. According to Putin’s propaganda, the Russian ruble has become more strong currency since February; the Russian companies have organized successful import substitution since Western businesses fled the country. We even have now own analog of Macdonalds.
At the same time, the Russian economy, social life, communications, prices, and the everyday life of ordinary people have changed significantly. The costs for food, energy, fuel, delivery for remote indigenous communities have increased drastically. We know villages in Siberia that suffer from stopping air traffic because it became unprofitable to deliver goods there for local businesses. Many remote villages suffer from the absence of pharmaceutical drugs which previously Russia imported from the West. People must buy the cheapest inferior Russian analogous medications, negatively influencing their health. This hit most small villages in the remote regions where indigenous peoples live.
Propaganda
Indigenous peoples as a part of Russian society are today the subject of unprecedented state propaganda. For example, they are now trendy on the Russian Internet videos in which indigenous artists dance and sing to support Vladimir Putin and the Russian Army. While these actions are often initiated by state officials or real supporters of the war in Ukraine, like representatives of the Russian Association of indigenous peoples of the North (RAIPON), we receive many reports that indigenous performers usually don’t know for what purposes they are dancing until they see the videos published on the Internet.
We know that at least several civic activists from indigenous peoples publicly criticized the government for the war in Ukraine and were fined by police according to the new restrictive legislation and stigmatized by society for their antiwar position. The saddest aspect of this is that in some cases, authorities received information about such “crimes” from representatives of RAIPON.
The war, mining companies and indigenous peoples
The other aspect of the war and its influence on indigenous peoples of Russia is the rapidly changing rules for doing extractive business on indigenous lands. As you know, the Russian Federation continues to receive the most significant share of the state income from extracting minerals and other resources from indigenous peoples’ lands in the Russian Arctic, Siberia and the Far East. This share is more than half of the Russian export. President Putin uses these hundreds of billions of dollars to buy a weapon to kill innocent Ukrainian people, including indigenous peoples like Crimean Tatars.
But now, we are met with a situation where the government and mining corporations use the pretext of war to loosen the environmental requirements for extractive business operations. Governmental and business propagandists openly say that Russia today is in a fight with US and NATO in Ukraine, and people have to be patient and not ask “too many” environmental questions to business. The ecological legislation is changing to lose any opportunities for civil society to protect the environment.
Western companies, which were most advanced in using the international law standards, including indigenous peoples’ rights and environmental standards, are fleeing the country while their shares go to the state or to Russian oligarchs. To substitute, Western investors and technologies, Russia tries to attract money and technologies from Chine or India, which pay much less attention to environmental standards or human rights.
Persecution of human rights defenders
The huge challenge today for Russian indigenous peoples is suppressing by the state and fleeing from the country the most prominent independent environmental, legal and media experts. Lawyers, journalists, and environmentalists who previously supported indigenous communities today have to work outside Russia, be silent or are subjects of criminalization themselves. The others have a tremendous amount of work with numerous cases.
Sergey Kechimov case
I can give you a small but obvious example. There is a sacred lake Imlor in Western Siberia in Khanty-Mansiisk autonomous okrug. There lives Sergey Kechimov, who is a Khanty reindeer herder. He lives there with his wife only. Other Khanty left the lake area many years ago because there operates one of the biggest Russian oil companies, Surgutnefegaz, which polluted all territories around the lake. I will not be able to describe his life’s full and tragic story in such a short presentation. Today, oil facilities, pipelines, roads and infrastructure surround the lake’s perimeter several meters from the water.
Several years ago, after one of their regular conflicts, the oil workers blamed him for threatening their lives. So they applied to the police, which sent the case to the court. After several months of investigation, the court sentenced Sergey Kechimov to communal work. That was an unlawful decision for many reasons. For example, the police officers fraudulently forced him to sign a confession of guilt using the fact that Kechimov doesn’t speak Russian well. I can not describe all the details here, but we consider this case pure evidence of indigenous rights defenders’ criminalization tendency in Russia (here you can find more details)
Those days the Russian and international media widely publicized the story of Sergey Kechimov. He received legal and media support from many Russian and international human rights and environmental organizations, including Greenpeace, IWGIA, TheGuardian, Glovalvoices and others. It was not comfortable for Surgutneftegaz to be involved in the prosecution of the indigenous rights defender, so their representatives didn’t appear during the court sessions.
Today, the story repeats. After another conflict between the oil workers with Sergey last September, they beat him but then applied to the police with a false statement and blamed him again for threatening their lives. We believe that by this action, Surgutneftegaz is trying to frighten indigenous peoples and Sergey Kechimov in particular because he is now the last reindeer herder who lives near the Imlor lake with his wife.
But today, this case doesn’t attract media attention as Putin’s regime destroyed the last independent media after February 2022. He has no lawyer as human rights and environmental networks have been shrunk in Russia since the start of this new phase of the war against Ukraine. He even can’t hire the local commercial lawyer as many of them are afraid to protect indigenous rights defenders in court.
The influence of the war on Russia’s indigenous peoples’ briefing note
These are only some aspects of the influence of the Russian aggression against Ukraine on the indigenous peoples of Russia. We are prepared a briefing note on that topic which we will send to the EMRIP secretariat, but we will continue to work on this to prepare the full report in the future.
Thanks for your attention.
ICIPR statement at EMRIP 15th session. Agenda # 10. Future work of the Expert Mechanism
Agenda # 10. Future work of the Expert Mechanism, including the focus of future thematic studies.
Thank you, Madam chair.
Dear colleagues, during the first day of the Expert Mechanism session, we witnessed the scene when the Russian Federation representative intimidated a member of the indigenous Russian delegation, Mrs. Yana Tannagasheva, here in this room.
As you remember that after the incident, we, as members of the International Committee of Indigenous Peoples of Russia (ICIPR), made a statement of protest against the unacceptable behavior of the Russian state representative in the UN building, where all delegates must be protected by international law and even by the spirit of the UN philosophy. And we are grateful to many indigenous and states’ delegations who also protested against the aggressive approach of the Russian representative.
That was an unacceptable and extraordinary incident within the UN building, but unfortunately, we are used to such behavior inside Russia. The way of harassment, intimidation and criminalization of indigenous rights defenders, human rights activists in general, independent media is usual for the Russian authorities.
Just after our statement, we received the letter from the hosting provider of our web page “Indigenous Russia,” where we publish news from this forum for our indigenous brothers and sisters in Russia. Today this is the only information channel independent from authorities that regularly publishes information about indigenous peoples of Russia. Our web host said they received the order from the Russian government to delete our web page from the Internet within 24 hours because we publish information about indigenous peoples’ rights violations and the war in Ukraine, which is different from the official Russian propaganda.
That is how Russia immediately reacted to the words of truth about indigenous rights violations that sounded in this hall. We, anyway, continue our work to deliver information about indigenous rights violations in Russia to international society. Today we prepare a briefing note on the influence of the Russian aggression against Ukraine on the indigenous peoples of Russia, which we will deliver to the EMRIP secretariat.
We support the decision of the EMRIP to extend the time for the militarization of indigenous lands report and kindly ask you to include the topic of the influence of the Russian war in Ukraine on indigenous peoples both of Ukraine and Russia in this thematic study. As members of the ICIPR, we will be glad to provide additional data on this topic for the Expert Mechanism.
For better understanding of the topic during the preparing such report we request Expert Mechanism to organize consultations or expert workshop with participation of indigenous peoples of Ukraine and Russia on that topic.
Our only request to the Expert Mechanism is – do not include in this work representatives of the Russian state, Russian experts in the UN or NGOs from Russia which supported aggressive policy of President Putin towards Ukraine as representing a side of the conflict responsible for the war. Thanks for your attention.
Dmitry Berezhkov. International Committee of Indigenous Peoples of Russia (ICIPR)
RUSSIAN INDIGENOUS SPOKESWOMAN FACES INTIMIDATION AT THE HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL
Exiled Siberian Shor indigenous representative Yana Tannagasheva had just finished reading a statement on Monday about human rights violations in her homeland when she was subjected to aggressive behavior by a representative of the Russian Mission to the UN in Geneva. The Russian diplomat’s open hostility, in the midst of the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples’ signature event, prompted a strong reaction from the other participants, who circled a weeping Yana, acting as a human shield.
UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Francisco Cali Tzay supports ICIPR delegate Yana Tannagasheva who faced with the aggression of the Russian state representative. July 2022 Geneva, 15th session of EMRIP
Multiple witnesses to the scene agree that the incident is without precedent at the UN. One told us: “This goes to show that Russia is no longer concerned by its public image. Even the most basic codes of communication in what is supposed to be a safe space for discussion are no longer respected.”
UNACCEPTABLE INTIMIDATION
Kenneth Deer, the world-famous Mohawk Nation spokesman, was up next. Instead of reading his prepared statement, Deer improvised a heartfelt speech in support of Yana Tannagasheva: “We are truly upset by the behavior of a state representative to intimidate indigenous peoples who have every right to be here and speak truth to power. If that individual was an NGO, we would have had his badge pulled. […] We ask that the Bureau take action, so that this does not happen again.” A standing ovation ensued.
INCREASING PRESSURE ON INDIGENOUS GROUPS IN RUSSIA
The July 4 incident is an illustration of the increasing pressure that Russia is putting on its more than 160 ethnic minorities. Yana, currently a refugee in Sweden, fears for her life, as well as the wellbeing of her loved ones. She told The G|O that indigenous peoples in Russia have become a target since the beginning of the war: “Any form of criticism against the government is being crushed,” she told us. “Before I made the trip to Geneva, my husband was very worried about my participation in the Geneva meeting. I have been vocal in criticizing the coal mines that are destroying my region in many international forums. There is a lot of money at stake in these operations and I’ve made some powerful people angry.”
Christoph Wiedmer, co-director of the Society for Threatened Peoples, says that communication with indigenous minorities has become impossible. “I was extremely shocked by what happened here at the UN, on Monday. There has been increasing intimidation from the Russian government on indigenous peoples, but I would not have expected them to make them so public. Russia has just crossed an unprecedented line.”
He adds, “By such actions, the Russian government is trying to frighten civil society activists who contribute to human rights causes on [the] international level. Many of the indigenous people in Russia are extremely scared. An already tense climate has worsened significantly. We wonder if this is just an intimidation, or if this is the first step to an actual attack?”
The Russian Mission to the UN declined The Geneva Observer’s request for comment.
ICIPR statement against intimidation of indigenous delegates by the Russian state’s representative during the EMRIP 15th session in Geneva
Dear delegates of the Expert Mechanism session!
Dear indigenous sisters and brothers and distinguished states’ representatives!
This is a statement regarding the fact of intimidation of Mrs. Yana Tannagasheva during the 15th session of the UN Expert Mechanism on the rights of indigenous peoples by the state’s representative.
By this statement, we would like to express our strong protest against the fact of intimidation of the member of the Russian indigenous delegation Mrs. Yana Tannagasheva (who represents the International Committee of indigenous peoples of Russia), by the representative of the Russian state’s delegation that was happened yesterday (4th July) during the first day of the session of the UN Expert Mechanism on the rights of indigenous peoples just in this room.
We consider yesterday’s aggressive dialog of the representative of the Russian state with Mrs. Yana Tannagasheva, including an attempt to find out her personal data, as a pure fact of intimidation of indigenous rights defenders considering our long negative practice in that field with Russian officials.
We consider the intimidation of indigenous people’s rights activists, which is unfortunately usual practice today for Russian authorities, unacceptable, especially if indigenous rights defenders are persecuted for their cooperation with the UN or for delivering information about indigenous rights violations to the UN human rights bodies.
We ask for the assistance of the Expert Mechanism and secretariat to prepare the official complaint with regards to the aggressive behavior of the member of the Russian state delegation against Mrs. Yana Tannagasheva. We also ask Expert Mechanism and the Human rights Council in general to protect indigenous rights defenders who are intimidated by Russian or any other authorities for their human rights activity and cooperation with the UN.
We express our solidarity to our indigenous brothers and sisters in Russia, Ukraine and other countries who fight for their freedom or against violations of indigenous rights by states or any other institutions, including business corporations.
Thank you for your attention!
Dmitry Berezhkov, International Committee of indigenous peoples of Russia (ICIPR).
The Arctic Council Pause: The Importance of Indigenous Participation and the Ottawa Declaration
The ongoing boycott of the Arctic Council – announced by the seven democratic member states (A7) three months ago on 3 March 2022 – was unexpected news to the six Permanent Participant organizations representing the indigenous peoples of the Arctic. While the Council is predicated upon the spirit of meaningful and inclusive participation of Arctic indigenous peoples, who hold special status under the foundational terms of the 1996 Ottawa Declaration, the Permanent Participants were not consulted before this historic boycott of Council meetings was announced after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine.
The Arctic Council: An Innovative and Inclusive Diplomatic Forum for Aligning Indigenous and State Interests
The Arctic Council (like the Arctic region generally) is distinctively collaborative, where indigenous peoples and sovereign states regularly meet to jointly deliberate and collectively govern, embracing a region-wide commitment to co-management. This unity is its essence, a reflection of the prominent role of indigenous peoples in the Arctic order and the high value placed on indigenous values by not just indigenous peoples but their state and non-state colleagues on the Council as well.
While the Council does not de jure address matters of national security and defense, its distinct composition and high regard for indigenous knowledge and values has positioned the Council to de facto redefine Arctic security to include environmental, ecological, cultural and human security as core security pillars in the Arctic. Its embrace of indigenous values has helped the Council strengthen not only its East-West bond, but its North-South bonds as well, nurturing the emergence of a distinct culture of collaborative Arctic sovereignty and security over its first quarter century.
The omission by the A7 of their all-important commitment to consult with the six Permanent Participants ahead of the Arctic Council boycott decision signals a return to a more Westphalian conceptualization of Arctic security, risking an erosion of the hard-won prominence of indigenous voices in Arctic international relations. Indeed, this sacrosanct collaboration between tribe and state at the top of our world is now at risk.
Indeed, this sacrosanct collaboration between tribe and state at the top of our world is now at risk.
A Return of Indigenous Exclusion as Arctic Security Hardens?
While the unprecedented inter-state unity and protracted nature of the A7’s boycott of the Council made headlines, the exclusion of indigenous stakeholders in their deliberations prior to the boycott indicates a tectonic shift in Arctic governance is under way, as conceptions of Arctic security shift back from ‘soft’ power to ‘hard’ in the wake of Russia’s assault on Ukraine.
As described in a February 14 press release issued by the Arctic Athabaskan Council (AAC), (AAC), one of the six indigenous Permanent Participant organizations of the Arctic Council, the Council is comprised of “[e]ight Arctic states, including the United States, Canada, and Russia and six permanent participants (Indigenous Peoples)” [1] which, together with a growing cohort of state and non-state observers:
“serves as the leading forum for the Arctic …” “that promotes cooperation, coordination, and interaction among the Arctic states and permanent participants. It is at the Arctic Council table that international cooperation agreements have been reached that address important areas including climate change, marine pollution, and Arctic scientific study. It also serves as an important global forum working towards agreements committed to sustainable solutions as regions look to future developments in the Arctic.” [2]
Ten days before the Ukraine invasion began, AAC called upon world leaders to remember their commitments to the indigenous peoples, noting in particular that Crimean Tatars “comprise the largest population of Indigenous Peoples in Ukraine” as “officially recognized by the Government of Ukraine and the European Parliament as Indigenous Peoples in February 2016.” [3] With the winds of war blowing, AAC was thus:
“urging global leaders in Canada, United States, Russia, and Ukraine not to forget commitments they have made to Indigenous Peoples. Specifically, AAC wants to remind state leaders that Canada, United States and Ukraine are all party to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), originally adopted in 2007. AAC points to Article 30 which states: ‘Military activities shall not take place in the lands or territories of indigenous peoples, unless justified by a relevant public interest or otherwise freely agreed with or requested by the indigenous peoples concerned,’ Further it proclaims: ‘States shall undertake effective consultations with the indigenous peoples concerned, through appropriate procedures and in particular through their representative institutions, prior to using their lands or territories for military activities.’” [4]
Chief Gary Harrison, AAC’s International Chair, pointed out the vital importance of the work of the Arctic Council, and the potential risk to the hard-earned diplomatic alignment of Arctic states and indigenous peoples, strengthened by their unity of effort and purpose in combating Arctic climate change at the Arctic Council table:
“We have warming taking place in the Arctic at three times the speed of other global jurisdictions. This reality and the future threat to Arctic water systems, marine life, wildlife, and our fragile ecosystems will affect us here in the Arctic, and globally, for generations to come. The work now at the Arctic Council table is already at a critical stage. Our relationship with the Russian Federation, as with all our regional partners, is one of diplomatic cooperation that took years to build. We fear this could be greatly disrupted if the resistance to finding a solution over the conflict in Ukraine continues.” [5]
And Chief Bill Erasmus, the AAC’s Canadian Chair, added that: “We want to remind all governments that the Arctic Council is the world’s only forum where we, as Indigenous People have inclusion at a global level. As concerns over the Russian-Ukraine crisis are increasing, we feel the need to speak out.” [6]
Erasmus emphasized the importance UNDRIP, which “must be adhered to through this process. The loss of human life, the economic and environmental costs should a war commence, is troubling. We do not support or endorse any war and urge all parties to seek a diplomatic solution.” [7] He also noted there were “several upcoming meetings set to take place that involve Indigenous Arctic organizations including Arctic Territory of Dialogue 2022,” originally scheduled (before the Arctic Council pause was announced) to be hosted by the Russian Federation in St. Petersburg in April. [8]
A Diverse Range Indigenous Perspectives on the Ukrainian War and the Arctic Council Pause
AAC’s effort to directly reach out – not only to the leaders of the Arctic states but the global community of nations – to protect the rights of indigenous peoples from the ravages of war reflects the powerful diplomatic innovation of the Arctic Council, the inclusive diversity inherent in the Council structure, and the novelty of its effort to align the formal sovereign powers of the Council’s state actors with the informal influence of its indigenous actors in the formation of Arctic policies.
While most (but not all) the Permanent Participants would endorse the boycott after it was announced, they did so with concern for the future of Arctic cooperation, knowing full well how great indigenous gains have been since the Council’s formation, and how much Arctic indigenous peoples have to lose in a world without an Arctic Council.
The Russian section of the Saami Council (SC) issued its own statement on 27 February, among the first, commenting they could neither “ignore” nor “remain silent” about the situation in Ukraine, and while not directly addressing “who is right and who is wrong” concluded there was “no justification for military action.”[9] Amidst the dizzying cascade of sanctions, suspensions, and boycotts of Russian participation in various forms of international cooperation since the war began, the SC’s Russian section expressed their desire
“to make sure that the Sami people from the Russian side can continue to participate in international meetings and conferences, including visiting other countries. … Now, more than ever, the Sami people in Russia need international support to continue cooperation between the Sami of the four countries. We hope that this difficult situation will soon be resolved in the least painful way.”[10]
Gwich’in Council International (GCI) issued its response to the pause, “Re: Joint Statement on Arctic Council Cooperation Following Russia’s Invasion Ukraine,” on March 3, in which GCI “welcomes the collective pause of activities of the Arctic Council as we explore new modalities for pursuing peace and cooperation in the north,” while expressing its
“grave concern for the people of Ukraine, particularly the indigenous peoples, due to the invasion by Russia. We stand with our partners around the world in calling for peace in Ukraine, a peace which can only be achieved by Russia recalling its armed forces immediately.”[11]
GCI reiterated that it
“remains committed to engage in productive dialogues that advance the collective aim and responsibility of stewarding a peaceful Arctic region built on cooperation and our shared value of mutual respect.”[12]
Four days later, the Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC) released its “Statement from the Inuit Circumpolar Council Concerning the Arctic Council,” which acknowledged the A7’s “calling for a temporary pausing of participation at all meetings of the Arctic Council and its subsidiary bodies,” as well as a “message from the Russian Chair of the Arctic Council agreeing to the request of the other countries.”[13] In their statement, ICC recounted that it:
“emerged from the Cold War as a unifying voice for Inuit across our collective homeland of Inuit Nunaat. We worked hard to ensure that our sisters and brothers from Chukotka were able to join us in 1992. We are concerned about the future of the Arctic Council which is based on peaceful cooperation and mutual respect. Inuit are committed to the Arctic remaining a zone of peace, a phrase coined by former USSR President Mikhail Gorbachev in a 1987 speech in Murmansk. ICC has repeatedly echoed this message in all of its guiding documents … ICC is monitoring the situation closely and agrees with the SAOs that this temporary pause will allow time to consider ‘the necessary modalities that can allow us to continue the Council’s important work in view of the current circumstances.’”[14]
how will the Council reconcile the interests of indigenous peoples and modern states if it can’t find a way to bridge the gaps in ideologies and governing philosophies separating the A7 from its circumpolar neighbor, Russia?
The Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North (RAIPON), widely criticized in recent years for rubberstamping the policies of the Russian Federation, issued its own statement on March 1, in which it took Moscow’s side:
“Respected Vladimir Vladimirovich! A peaceful sky, land of our ancestors and the safety of children – nothing can be more important for every inhabitant of our planet. For everyone. No exceptions. Regardless of ethnicity or native language. The North, Siberia, and the Far East remembers with gratitude those who have dedicated their destinies to the formation of our regions. … Peacemaking is never easy. [RAIPON] supports your aspiration and decision to protect the rights and interests of the residents of the Donetsk and Luhansk Peoples Republics and the security of a multiethnic Russia. We, representatives of 40 small indigenous peoples of the North, Siberia, and the Far East express hope for quick mutual understanding to ensure peace and harmony.”[15]
Ten days later, on March 11, the newly formed International Committee of Indigenous Peoples of Russia put out its own statement rebutting RAIPON, signed by seven indigenous leaders in exile from Russia, and contrasting greatly with RAIPON’s endorsement of Putin’s aggression:
“WE – the undersigned representatives of the Indigenous peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East living outside of Russia against our will—are outraged by the war President Putin has unleashed against Ukraine … As representatives of Indigenous peoples, WE express solidarity with the people of Ukraine in their struggle for freedom and are extremely concerned about ensuring the rights of Indigenous peoples during the war on Ukrainian territory, including the Crimean Peninsula that remains illegally occupied by Russia. As representatives of Indigenous peoples, WE are outraged by statements of the Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North (RAIPON) on March 1, 2022 and the statement of civil society leaders on March 2, 2022 in support of the decisions of President Putin.”[16]
ICIPR called upon the international community (including the Arctic Council in addition to the UN) “to ignore the statements of RAIPON representatives and spokespeople of other organizations which supported Vladimir Putin’s decisions.”[17] The fate of RAIPON, and the challenge presented by ICIPR, remains uncertain, as does when and where the Arctic Council will resume meeting, and with whom.
Finding a path back to a restoration of the Council’s important, indeed sacred, reconciliation of tribe and state, is imperative
Will the Council bifurcate along the old East/West fault line, with the A7 representing a “free” Arctic exclusive of the vast Russian Arctic? Will the Council eventually find its way back together, either during or after the war in Ukraine comes to an end? In its future form, how will the Council reconcile the interests of indigenous peoples and modern states if it can’t find a way to bridge the gaps in ideologies and governing philosophies separating the A7 from its circumpolar neighbor, Russia?
The Arctic Council has since its inception in 1996 been about more than Arctic states. Its distinct contribution to statecraft has been rooted in its diverse, multilevel collaboration between indigenous peoples from across the circumpolar world, working in partnership with a diverse group of states – from microstates to middle powers to superpowers, and from democracies to colonial-states to autocracies. Together, they have reimagined statecraft as a synthesis of national and indigenous interests, and Arctic security as a distinctively northern synthesis of hard and soft security interests.
Finding a path back to a restoration of the Council’s important, indeed sacred, reconciliation of tribe and state, is imperative – ideally, with all eight founding member states and the six Permanent Participants all at the table once again – providing the world with an innovative, inclusive, and importantly viable, model for inclusive and responsible statecraft.
References
[1] Arctic Athabaskan Council, “Press Release: Conflict Continues in the Crimean Peninsula, Ukraine,” ArcticAthabaskanCouncil.com, February 14, 2022 (March 1, 2022), https://arcticathabaskancouncil.com/conflict-in-the-crimean-peninsula/
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Ibid.
[7] Ibid.
[8] Ibid.
[9] Russian Section of the Saami Council, “The Russian section of the Saami Council has issued a statement regarding the current situation in Russia (27.02.2022),” SaamiCouncil.net, February 27, 2022, https://www.saamicouncil.net/news-archive/statement-by-the-russian-side-of-the-saami-council-regarding-the-current-situation-in-russiaa
[10] Ibid.
[11] Gwich’in Council International, “Re: Joint Statement on Arctic Council Cooperation following Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine,” GwichinCouncil.com, March 3, 2022, https://gwichincouncil.com/sites/default/files/2022%20March%203%20GCI%20Statement.pdf
[12] Ibid.
[13] Inuit Circumpolar Council, “Statement from the Inuit Circumpolar Council Concerning the Arctic Council,” InuitCircumpolar.com, March 7, 2022, https://www.inuitcircumpolar.com/news/statement-from-the-inuit-circumpolar-council-concerning-the-arctic-council/#:~:text=We%20are%20concerned%20about%20the,a%201987%20speech%20in%20Murmansk.
[14] Ibid.
[15] Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North (RAIPON), NGO in Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations, Document No. 64, March 1, 2022.
[16] International Committee of Indigenous Peoples of Russia, Statement of the International Committee of Indigenous Peoples of Russia, Polar Connection, March 11, 2022, https://polarconnection.org/international-committee-of-indigenous-peoples-of-russia/
[17] Ibid.
Appeal of the Indigenous Peoples to international organizations and missions of states at international organizations
On February 24, 2022, the Russian Federation launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. As a result of rocket attacks on Ukrainian settlements, thousands of civilians were killed – representatives of different ethnic groups and confessions, indigenous peoples, including hundreds of children.
Russian organizations of indigenous peoples: Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East (RAIPON) – https://raipon.info, interregional public organization Information and Educational Network of Indigenous Peoples Lyoravetlian – https://www.indigenous.ru, the Association of Finno-Ugric Peoples of the Russian Federation – https://afunrf.ru, officially supported the criminal actions of President Putin to unleash a war against Ukraine.
We appeal to the United Nations, in particular the President of ECOSOC, to deprive the organizations that supported Russia’s aggression against Ukraine of their consultative status with the UN ECOSOC. And also prevent the appointment of representatives of these organizations to UN subsidiary organs, such as the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
We appeal to all international organizations that proclaim human life and freedom as the highest value, not to allow participation in their work of representatives of organizations of indigenous peoples of Russia that support Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine.
We believe that organizations whose representatives support the war and, accordingly, the killing of civilians in Ukraine, including the killing of representatives of indigenous peoples, cannot represent the interests and rights of indigenous peoples at the international level.
We appeal to the international community with a request to establish an independent commission to study and prepare a report on the impact of the military aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine on the indigenous peoples of Russia and Ukraine.
Signatures:
- Dordzho Dugarov, Buryat Democratic Movement
- Pavel Sulyandziga, Udege, International Fund for Development and Solidarity of Indigenous Peoples Batani
- Tian Zaochnaya, Itelmen, International Committee of Indigenous Peoples of Russia
- Dmitry Berezhkov, Kamchadal, information center “Indigenous Russia”
- Erentzen Doolyan, Congress of the Oirat-Kalmyk people
- Eskender Bariiev, Crimean Tatar Resource Center
- Liudmyla Korotkykh, Crimean Tatar Youth Center
- Zarema Bariieva, Committee for the Protection of the Rights of the Crimean Tatar People
- Olena Arabadzhi, Head of the National-Cultural Karaite Society Dzhamaat
- Andrey Danilov, Saami, International Committee of Indigenous Peoples of Russia
- Yana Tannagasheva, Shor, International Committee of Indigenous Peoples of Russia
- Vladislav Tannagashev, Shor, International Committee of Indigenous Peoples of Russia
- Irina Shafrannik, Selkup, International Committee of Indigenous Peoples of Russia
- Vladimir Dovdanov, Deputy Chairman of the Congress of the Oirat-Kalmyk People
- Nikita Andreev, Sakha Democratic Movement
- Saglara Khartskhaeva, President of the Kalmyk Association of Spain and Portugal
- Galina Angarova, Buryat people
Statement of the Indigenous Peoples in connection with the full-scale military aggression of Russia against Ukraine
On February 20, 2014, the Russian Federation invaded Ukraine, as a result of which the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, the birthplace of the indigenous Crimean Tatar, Karaite and Krymchak peoples, were occupied, as well as certain areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
On February 24, 2022, the Russian Federation launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. As a result of rocket attacks on Ukrainian settlements, thousands of civilians were killed – representatives of different ethnic groups and confessions, including hundreds of children.
Representatives of the indigenous peoples of Ukraine are dying under bombs, rockets and bullets from the Russian military. Representatives of the indigenous peoples of Russia and the occupied territories of Ukraine are dying in this war, forced to sign contracts with the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, as they were thrown into poverty by Putin’s regime.
We, representatives of the indigenous peoples of Ukraine and Russia:
– express support to the Ukrainian people in the fight against Russian aggression;
condemn;
– the barbaric and unprovoked war unleashed by Putin’s regime against the peoples of independent Ukraine,
– persecution and repression against the indigenous peoples, both on the territory of Russia and on the territories of Ukraine occupied by the Russian Federation;
– russian organizations of indigenous peoples that have publicly supported Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine and its indigenous peoples;
– pay special attention to the violation of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, in particular Art. 30, which prohibits any military activity on the lands of indigenous peoples without their free, prior, and informed consent, including the conscription of representatives of the indigenous peoples of Russia and Ukraine into the ranks of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation;
– call for the creation of an independent international commission to study and prepare a report on the impact of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine on the indigenous peoples of Russia and Ukraine;
recommend
– the Human Rights Council to establish the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of indigenous peoples in situations of interstate conflict;
– include the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in the list of standards of the Universal Periodic Review of the Human Rights Council;
– develop a UN humanitarian response plan to protect the rights of indigenous peoples affected by Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine.
Signatures:
- Dordzho Dugarov, Buryat Democratic Movement
- Pavel Sulyandziga, International Fund for Development and Solidarity of Indigenous Peoples Batani
- Tian Zaochnaya, Itelmen, International Committee of Indigenous Peoples of Russia
- Dmitry Berezhkov, Information portal Russia of Indigenous Peoples
- Erentzen Doolyan, Congress of the Oirat-Kalmyk people
- Eskender Bariiev, Crimean Tatar Resource Center
- Liudmyla Korotkykh, Crimean Tatar Youth Center
- Zarema Bariieva, Committee for the Protection of the Rights of the Crimean Tatar People
- Olena Arabadzhi, Head of the National-Cultural Karaite Society Dzhamaat
- Andrey Danilov, Saami, International Committee of Indigenous Peoples of Russia
- Yana Tannagasheva, Shor, International Committee of Indigenous Peoples of Russia
- Vladislav Tannagashev, Shor, International Committee of Indigenous Peoples of Russia
- Irina Shafrannik, Selkup, International Committee of Indigenous Peoples of Russia
- Vladimir Dovdanov, Deputy Chairman of the Congress of the Oirat-Kalmyk People
- Nikita Andreev, Sakha democratic movement
- Galina Angarova, Buryat people
For Russia’s Exiled Ethnic Activists, Ukraine War a ‘Window of Opportunity’
As the death toll from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine rises, throwing Kremlin imperialism into sharper focus, activists representing the indigenous non-Slavic peoples of Russia are doubling down on efforts to rally supporters behind demands for greater autonomy.
“War is a trigger for greater national consciousness,” Ruslan Gabbasov, the head of the Bashkir National Political Center, told The Moscow Times.
A disproportionate share of the Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine have come from the country’s minority ethnic communities, many of which are already blighted by poverty and targeted by official discrimination.
As the conflict drags on, ethnic activists hope that the colonialist overtones of Russia’s brutal invasion, which has also seen economic appropriation of Ukrainian resources and summary killings of unarmed men, could fuel discontent among non-Slavic groups – and even provide the political momentum to change the current structure of the Russian Federation.
“There will be a window of opportunity, and we will use it to get maximum rights and freedoms for our republic of Bashkortostan. We will try to become a sovereign state equal to others in the global arena,” said the Lithuania-based Gabbasov, who fled Russia in 2020.
Rafis Kashapov, a veteran Tatar rights activist and co-founder of the Free Idel-Ural movement that seeks independence and integration for a group of ethnic regions in central Russia, echoed Gabbasov’s comments.
“We believe that the Russian invasion of Ukraine will bring about the fall of the empire,” he told The Moscow Times in a telephone interview.
Ethnic activists from Russia, including Kashapov and Gabbasov, gathered earlier this month at the Free Nations of Russia Forum in the Polish capital Warsaw to discuss how the Ukraine war has impacted their communities, and what they can do to obtain more autonomy.
Forum participant Pavel Sulyandziga told The Moscow Times that Russia’s future is being “actively discussed” among communities such as Buryats, Sakha and Kalmyks.
However, he was cautious about the prospect of an imminent collapse of the Russian Federation — which, in its current form, grants some non-Russian groups a degree of independence in so-called “ethnic homeland regions.”
“Minor indigenous peoples do not have the necessary preconditions for self-determination, and we will be forced to remain minorities no matter where we live,” said Sulyandziga, who heads the Batani fund for indigenous peoples in Russia.
Different ethnic groups in Russia do not have a common position on what political changes they would like to see, with aspirations varying according to size, history and outlook. For example, the political options for Bashkortostan – Russia’s most populous, resource-rich ethnic republic located between the Volga River and the Ural mountains – are very different to those of tiny ethnic groups that may number just a few hundred people.
Activist Gabbasov suggested Ukraine could be a political model for the Bashkirs.
“Our project is one of a political nation like in Ukraine, where a Jewish president is leading the state and ethnic Georgians, Chechens, Crimean Tatars are fighting alongside [ethnic] Ukrainians and all equally consider Ukraine their motherland,” he said.
For many ethnic groups, the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine has reminded them of Russia’s imperial conquest of their homelands and recent policies of “Russification,” including the exclusion of minority languages and local history from school curriculums.
Perhaps the most stark illustration of the unequal relationship between indigenous groups and ethnic Russians has been the record numbers of Russian soldiers from non-Slavic ethnicities killed in Ukraine.
With 143 killed soldiers, the North Caucasus republic of Dagestan tops a ranking of regional deaths compiled from open sources by independent media outlet iStories. In second place is the Siberian republic of Buryatia with 113 confirmed deaths. Just a handful of soldiers from large cities like Moscow and St. Petersburg have been reported killed in Ukraine.
Russia has not published official figures on the ethnic make-up of its military losses in Ukraine, and has not updated its overall death toll since March.
“An open linguicide and ethnocide [has been] happening. Today, genocide has been added to this both in relation to the Ukrainian people and in relation to indiginous peoples of Russia whose representatives are sent to the war for slaughter,” Gabbasov told the Warsaw conference, media outlet Idel.Realii, a regional affiliate of the U.S.-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, reported.
While it is hard to gauge the exact level of support on the ground for greater independence from Moscow among Russia’s non-Slavic peoples, there is evidence of growing interest in learning about national languages and histories.
“I’m so ashamed that before the war I knew nothing about the culture that I was brought up in and that is native to me. I never really spoke the native tongue,” a participant wrote earlier this month in a closed chat on the Telegram messaging app seen by The Moscow Times.
Fear means many people are reluctant to express dissent, according to activists.
“People are very scared,” Sulyandziga said when asked about the mood among the communities in Russia’s Far East and Siberia.
“We receive a lot of messages saying that many people in indigenous communities, particularly mothers whose children have been sent to the war, are speaking out… [But] unfortunately, most of those whose family members have not been sent to the war choose to stay silent or support this victory-mongering,” he said in a telephone interview from the United States, where he received asylum in 2017.
Russia’s ethnic minority rights advocates have operated under the threat of “extremism” charges since the early 2000s, and most currently live abroad.
“I can’t say my activities have become limited [since fleeing Russia]. On the contrary, I can do more… because I feel free and finally able to say what I think,” said Gabbasov.
Sulyandziga said that although being in exile limits what he can do, he remains hopeful.
“I keep doing my work because our [indiginous] peoples reach out to me on a daily basis. Their rights are violated, and they cannot find justice,” he said.
“History teaches us that, sooner or later, all empires fall or transform.”
These Indigenous activists stood up for their rights and were forced to flee Russia
Pavel Sulyandziga and Yana Tannagasheva are part of a new group that is working for a safer Russia for Indigenous peoples
Pavel Sulyandziga fled Russia in 2016, seeking political asylum. His family was in danger — all because of his work as an Indigenous activist.
He had been investigated by the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) multiple times. He was called a separatist and extremist. His friends and colleagues were questioned about him. The authorities even knew about conversations in his own home — at one point, he was contacted and asked, “Why are you talking politics with your wife?”
“The biggest threat was to my son, who was in the army,” Sulyandziga says. “….A commander called me and said that the FSB decided to send him to a hotspot, the Southern Military District, in the North Caucasus region of Russia.” This region is especially fraught with conflict, and Sulyandziga knew his son was being punished because of Sulyandziga’s actions.
Sulyandziga is from the Udege nation, an Indigenous group of about 1,700 people. Most of the Udege population lives in the Primorsky Krai and Khabarovsk regions in Russia’s far east.
Many Indigenous groups in Russia are part of established republics, which offer some form of state representation. But for smaller, more remote communities, the Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North (RAIPON) acts as the defender of their rights and interests. RAIPON represents 42 Indigenous groups, seven of which have fewer than 1,000 members.
In 2001, Sulyandziga was elected as a first vice-president of the organization, which is internationally recognized and a permanent participant in the Arctic Council. But he now says that RAIPON is no longer a legitimate, independent one that represents Indigenous interests.
“RAIPON is now a pawn for the government, used to shut down activism and independent leaders who want to do things democratically,” he says.
On March 1, RAIPON announced that they “unanimously supported” Putin’s war in Ukraine.
Fuelled in part by that move, Sulyandziga formed a new organization with six others called the International Committee of Indigenous Peoples of Russia (ICIPR).
“All of these people are political refugees now, they’ve all been forced to leave the country because of their views,” he says.
ICIPR aims to be a voice for those who can’t speak freely about the challenges that Indigenous peoples face in Russia. This includes environmental protection and safety for Indigenous people and activists, among other things. Sulyandziga says these are challenges that RAIPON would prefer to ignore in order to protect Russia’s image.
The trouble with RAIPON began in 2012, when Russia’s Ministry of Justice shut it down for six months, citing illegal activities. When it reopened in 2013, some important changes had been made. While previously, the delegates were elected democratically by each Indigenous group, now they were chosen for these communities from a pre-approved list.
In international settings, like the United Nations, Sulyandziga says “the FSB representative present at the UN meeting gives people who work for RAIPON a list of things that they have to say, [and tells them] when and how to say them.”
Around this time, the threats against Sulyandziga began. He wasn’t staying quiet about what he thought were important challenges that Indigenous peoples were facing in Russia — and in December 2013, he was ousted from RAIPON because of it. He continued to speak out despite this.
When Sulyandziga would visit his son at the army base where he was stationed, the FSB would confiscate his son’s passport so that he would be unable to leave. “The six months my son was in the North Caucasus were among the most difficult in my life and I was extremely scared,” he remembers.
After collaborating with a commander in the army and mailing his phone to a friend so that he couldn’t be tracked, Sulyandziga was able to sneak his son out of the area in the middle of the night.
His family left Russia in 2015, and Sulyandziga followed in 2016. Today they live in Maine, where Sulyandziga works as the founder and president of the International Indigenous Fund for Development and Solidarity (Batani). Batani began in Russia in 2004, but was liquidated by the state in 2017 after being labelled a “foreign agent” (a common strategy used by Russia to eliminate NGOs and silence activists). Today, Batani works toward implementing community development programs in Indigenous communities and fighting for Indigenous rights worldwide.
“Everyone who is part of the opposition in Russia and activists all experience the same [thing],” he says. “And obviously, they don’t just threaten opposition leaders, it goes as far as threatening the families of those people, not just the people involved.”
Yana Tannagasheva is another member of ICIPR. She now lives in Sweden, after fleeing with her family in 2018. She’s a member of the Shor — an Indigenous group in southwestern Siberia with a population of about 12,000. The majority of Shor live in Kemerovo Oblast, a federal subject of Russia also commonly known as Kuzbass.
Her activism began in 2013, when Yuzhnaya, a coal company mining near Kazas, Tannagasheva’s family village, tried to buy out the landowners who lived there. The coal mines near Kazas had already destroyed the forests and dirtied the water, making traditional practices like hunting and fishing nearly impossible. Her father and four other families refused to sell their homes.
“He got his house from his father, my grandfather,” she says. “And his father said, ‘in the future, please don’t sell our house.’ It is our village, our place.”
Those who refused to sell were threatened by the company. And then, between November 2013 and March 2014, all five remaining houses burned down. Even though the only way to enter the village was through a checkpoint with security cameras, nobody was ever charged.
Now, residents are not even allowed access to the cemetery where their ancestors are buried. These graves are all that is left of Kazas.
Tannagasheva tried every avenue available to her to protect the rights of her people: local representatives like mayors and governors — and RAIPON, the organization that is supposed to work on these very issues.
“The president of RAIPON, Grigory Ledkov, went to the region, to Kuzbass. But instead of meeting with the families, especially the elderly people, who suffered and saw their homes being burned down…they only went to the people who would confirm that everything is okay,” Tannagasheva says. “They just had no interest in talking to the actual survivors.”
In a 2018 document submitted to the United Nations, Russia says that the residents of Kazas were resettled and are “wholly satisfied” with their new village. It claims that the decision to suspend the criminal investigation into the acts of arson were based in law. Lastly, it states that Kazas is fully accessible to visitors, including the cemetery.
“After 2017, it was worse and there were a lot of threats to my children,” Tannagasheva says. “After one year we decided to flee. And two years ago, Sweden gave us status here … but we cannot visit our country, visit Russia.”
“[Those] who are now in Russia, they tend not to have a big, good voice [for] Indigenous Peoples — it’s so, so dangerous to speak about [the] war [in Ukraine] there. And they said to us, ‘We want Indigenous peoples to speak about it, but only you who are now abroad and in another country can speak about it loud,’” she says.
Sulyandziga, Tannagasheva, and the five other members of their group are working towards a safer Russia for Indigenous peoples and a strategy for the future, one where they have a voice in their own country.
As Sulyandziga says, “We think we can use our voice to express how people who are being silenced feel [in Russia].”
Emily Standfield is a writer in Toronto.
Russian translation provided by Albina Retyunskikh