The Indigenous World 2023: Russia
Indigenous Peoples are not recognized by the Russian legislation as such; however, Article 67 of the current constitution guarantees the rights of “Indigenous Small-Numbered Peoples”. The 1999 Federal Act “On Guarantees of the Rights of the Indigenous Small-Numbered Peoples of the Russian Federation” specifies that Indigenous Small-Numbered Peoples are groups of less than 50,000 members, perpetuating some aspects of their traditional ways of life. According to this and two other framework laws that were enacted during the late 1990s, Indigenous Small-Numbered Peoples have rights to consultation and participation in specific cases.
There is, however, no such concept as “Free, Prior and Informed Consent” enshrined in legislation. The last two decades have seen a steady erosion of this legal framework and a heavy re-centralization of Russia, including the abolition of several Indigenous autonomous territories.
Of the more than 160 peoples inhabiting the territory of contemporary Russia, 40 are officially recognized as “Indigenous Small-Numbered Peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East”. One more group, the Izhma Komi or Izvatas, is actively pursuing recognition, which it continues to be denied, and at least one other, the Kerek, is already extinct. Together, Indigenous Small-Numbered Peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East number about 260,000, less than 0.2% of Russia’s total population (of which ethnic Russians account for 80%). Other peoples, such as the five million Volga Tatars, and many groups populating the North Caucasus are not officially considered Indigenous Peoples, and their self-identification varies. Since the Russian annexation of Crimea, several ethnic groups who self-identify as Indigenous have come under Russia’s control, even though Russia has not recognized this self-identification: the Crimean Tatars, the Krymchaks and the Karaim.
Two-thirds of Indigenous Peoples are rural and depend on traditional subsistence strategies such as fishing, hunting and reindeer herding although Russia on a whole, is a highly urbanized country.
Civil society is affected by continually shrinking spaces as the country’s secret police, the FSB, has gradually been gaining power. Since 2013, NGOs that receive foreign funding can be officially classified as “foreign agents”, which led many of them to close down in order to minimize exposure to legal risks. Since 2018 the same practice has been extended to individuals as well. Many foreign NGOs have been banned as “undesirable organizations”. Following the start of the war in Ukraine, the Russian government has intensified its crackdown on dissenting voices, leading to the closure of many civil society organizations and independent media.
Russia’s export revenues are largely generated from the sale of fossil fuels and other minerals, often extracted from territories traditionally inhabited or used by Indigenous Peoples. The country’s development strategy is largely geared towards further increasing the exploitation of the Arctic’s natural resources. Like many resource-rich countries, Russia is heavily affected by the “resource curse”, fuelling authoritarianism, corruption and bad governance, and this negatively on the state of Indigenous Peoples’ human rights in many ways and limits opportunities for their effective protection.
Russia has neither ratified ILO Convention 169 nor endorsed the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The country inherited its membership of the major UN Covenants and Conventions from the Soviet Union: the ICCPR, ICESCR, ICERD, ICEDAW and ICRC. It also has ratified the Council of Europe’s Framework Convention on the Protection of National Minorities (FCNM).
This article is part of the 37th edition of The Indigenous World, a yearly overview produced by IWGIA that serves to document and report on the developments Indigenous Peoples have experienced. The photo above is of an Indigenous person in Tanzania. This photo was taken by Geneviève Rose, and is the cover of the Indigenous World 2023 where this article is featured. Find the Indigenous World 2023 in full here.
Impact of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine on Indigenous Peoples
In 2022, Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, officially known as the special military operation by the Russian authorities to avoid the word “war” (the use of which was criminalized in relation to the invasion of Ukraine soon after the invasion[1]) has, among other things, radically exposed the colonial realities in which the country’s Indigenous Peoples, including the small-numbered Indigenous Peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East, are living. Their territories have been treated as resource colonies since the 16th century, providing Russia with a large portion of its revenues. In Russia’s war against Ukraine, it is the largely impoverished Indigenous Peoples who are suffering a disproportionate share of the casualties compared to the majority ethnic Russian population.[2]
In a context where the Russian government has previously successfully brought the entire movement of Indigenous Peoples in Russia under tight control, the overwhelming majority of Russia’s domestic Indigenous organizations and actors, as well as Indigenous representatives in State bodies, from Russia’s federal legislature down to the municipal councils, have publicly expressed their support for the war and the changing justifications for it. In this context, Russian Indigenous activists in exile are practically the only Indigenous activists who have publicly denounced the aggressive war on Ukraine.
In response to the enthusiastic support for the special military operation against its neighbouring country among government-controlled organizations and personalities, a group of Indigenous activists in exile formed the International Committee of Indigenous Peoples of Russia (ICIPR). In its first statement,[3] the ICIPR denounced the war and, in August, the Committee published a report[4] detailing the impact of the Ukraine war on the small-numbered Indigenous Peoples of Russia.
Organizations in exile representing larger Indigenous groups not recognized as such by the Russian government, such as the Buryat, Tyvans, Sakha or Kalmyk, have also been vocal in their opposition to the war. Arguably the most visible among them was the US-based Free Buryatia Foundation,[5] which described the war as “colonial efforts on two fronts”.[6] Some exiled activists are pointing to the need to “decolonize Russia”, effectively understood as the disintegration of Russia, presented as an alternative to its transformation into a giant isolationist autocracy.
The war is expected to affect the work of Indigenous organizations and peoples whose ancestral territories extend into Russia, especially the Sámi and Inuit. On 10 April, the Saami Council announced that the participation of its Russian member organizations in the work of the Council had been suspended.[7]
Indigenous Peoples in the Russian army
Like other non-Russian ethnic groups in Russia, small-numbered Indigenous Peoples are suffering a disproportionate level of casualties in Russia’s war in Ukraine. Due to lack of work opportunities Indigenous young men are more likely to seek employment in the army than youth from other parts of the country, especially the wealthy urban centres. The testimony of one young man from Yamal Nenets Autonomous Region, one of Russia’s most resource-rich regions where Indigenous Peoples still live in abject poverty says: “I had to take such a risky step and sign up – there was no other way out. It was either starvation or this. Now it has simply become unbearable, people are going to war. A lot of people are doing this, I'm not the only one.”[8]
According to the Act on the Guarantees of the Rights of the Indigenous Small-Numbered Peoples, Indigenous Peoples have the right to an alternative civilian service that could be applied to avoid mobilization into the army fighting in Ukraine. However, in practice this right has only been implemented in two regions: Sakha (Yakutia) and the Nenets Autonomous Region (NAO).[9] For example, the Yamal Nenets Autonomous Region (YaNAO), which borders with the NAO, has not taken such a step. The news portal URA.ru writes: “The reindeer herders of the YaNAO are not granted a deferment from partial mobilization for the time being. […] As a government source notes, one of the reasons why the authorities have not raised this issue is that livestock breeding is not a critically important branch of the region’s economy.”[10] The result of such inaction is that, for the Indigenous Peoples, some of whom number only a few dozen, the war is turning into a threat to their very existence as distinct peoples.
In Khabarovsk Krai, the chair of the regional branch of the Indigenous umbrella organization RAIPON, Lyubov Ozyal, appealed, without denouncing the war itself, to the president to stop the mobilization of Indigenous minority peoples, stating that “the total number of small peoples is only 1.7% of the territory's population.” According to the text, five of its ethnic groups – the Orochi, Nigidals, Ulchis, Udege and Nivkhs – are “in the process of extinction”.[11] Similarly, Sergei Bezdenezhnykh, senator from Khabarovsk Krai, said during a meeting of the Federation Council (the Upper Chamber of the Russian Parliament) in December: “The mobilization of people living in Russia's Far East and North should be banned.” In his view, “Because of the shrinking population in these territories, mobilization could be catastrophic for the small-numbered peoples.”[12] While this is, to some extent, an expression of discontent, it is not an expression of opposition to the war as such. There is no known response by the Russian Federal Assembly to this statement.
Indigenous Peoples blamed for the brutality of Russia’s forces
Both Russian supporters of the criminal aggression against Ukraine and Western opponents of the war are united in blaming its brutality on Indigenous Peoples within the Russian army and exculpating ethnic Russians. Following the discovery of evidence of the Bucha massacre of Ukrainian civilians, a video went viral in which a certain sergeant from Buryatia says: “I got scared and shot a peaceful Ukrainian.” [13] In the interview, he tells how he was initially told that he was only going on a military exercise but ended up in Ukraine. He describes how Russian soldiers killed Ukrainian civilians and how he ended up shooting one of them.
Although later journalists have discredited the narrative of the brutality being exclusively committed by the Indigenous Peoples and ethnic minorities,[14] messages with such allegations have been trending on Russian language social media and abroad. The idea that the cruelty is to blame on Indigenous Peoples has spread so widely that it even misled Pope Francis who, during an interview, accused Chechens and Buryats of particular cruelty which, in his words, was alien to ethnic Russians. The Vatican later apologized for the statement.[15]
Land rights of Indigenous Peoples
The continued failure of the Russian government to establish nationally-recognized Territories of Traditional Nature Use (TTNU)[16] and, at the same time, the lack of full recognition of the locally-established TTNU by the national government, contributed in 2022 to conflicts over the use of land and resources between companies, regional authorities and Indigenous Peoples maintaining traditional livelihoods and ways of life.
In December, Khanty shaman and environmental defender, Sergey Kechimov, known as the steward of the sacred Lake Imlor, was sentenced to six months of community service. Kechimov was accused by workers of oil giant Surgutneftegaz of threatening them with an axe. The day after the court’s ruling, Kechimov was stopped by police on the way home. After the police tried to accuse him of driving a snow mobile under the influence of alcohol, the Indigenous activist broke free and ran away. He was later arrested and issued with a fine for resisting the police.[17]
According to Kechimov, Surgutneftegaz wants him to leave his camp near the sacred lake and stop interfering with the development of the oil field in the area. One of the key factors behind the case is that the TTNU where the lake and Kechimov’s camp are located has been established by the Khany-Mansi Autonomous Region and is not recognized as such by the national government, while the oil company has obtained a state licence for exploration, oil production and the construction of an oil production structure in this region.
In the Republic of Khakassia, a conflict around a TTNU established by the Republic’s administration has been ongoing since 2020 when the national government granted licences to gold mining companies to prospect for gold on land included in the TTNU without consulting the Indigenous Shor communities to whom the territory has been titled by the local government.
In October 2022, a meeting was held between the local administration, the gold miners and the Indigenous communities at which the miners presented their plans and offered compensation to the community. During the meeting, the compensation plan was unanimously adopted by the administration-controlled Council of Small-Numbered Indigenous Peoples. Further, the participants of the meeting were informed about the amendments introduced by the Government of the Republic of Khakassia on 20 June 2022 to the regional legislation that had established the TTNU in 2016. According to the amendments, the main condition for admitting companies to the TTNU is that there is a compensation agreement signed by the company, the regional administration and the Council of Small-Numbered Indigenous Peoples (a body whose composition is controlled by the administration). The amendment was adopted by the administration of Khakassia without any consultation with the Indigenous Peoples affected.[18]
Fishing rights
In 2022, the authorities in Khabarovsk Krai in the Russian Far East continued to infringe upon Indigenous Peoples’ fishing rights. In November 2021, the Supreme Court had nullified restrictions introduced in 2020 by the fishing authorities (Rosrybolovstvo), and this decision was upheld by the Appeals Chamber on 1 March 2022.[19] Despite the court’s decision, the regional commission regulating fishing quotas for migratory species had still refused to establish the quota for the region’s Indigenous communities by June, when the fish migration had already half passed.[20]
It is worth noting that the rulings of the Supreme Court uphold the right of small-numbered Indigenous Peoples to traditional hunting and traditional fishing regardless of their place of residence and registration, or occupation.[21]
The situation whereby government agencies are putting obstacles in the path of Indigenous Peoples’ exercise of hunting and fishing rights is not limited to Khabarovsk Krai. For example, in January, Murmansk Region authorities refused to facilitate the exercise of fishing rights to prominent Sámi activist, Andrei Danilov, despite the fact that the activist had referred to the Constitutional Court ruling in his favour in his application.[22]
Implementation of the List of Indigenous Persons
In 2020, Russia enacted legislation that introduces a List of Indigenous Persons. According to the legislation, the new system was to come into force by 7 February 2022. The procedure for Indigenous people to get inscribed on the list is excessively bureaucratic and yet, under the new legislation, the list essentially limits the rights of Indigenous Peoples and grants access to many benefits reserved for Indigenous Peoples to those individuals inscribed therein.[23]
In June, at an extended meeting of the State Duma Committee on Nationalities, the Deputy Head of the Federal Agency for Ethnic Affairs (FAEA), Anna Kotova, informed parliamentarians that over 70,000 representatives of Russia's small-numbered Indigenous Peoples had applied to be included, with almost 25,000 citizens already included on the list.[24]
At the time of this official communication, i.e. two years after the adoption of the Federal Law “On Registration of Persons Belonging to Small-numbered Indigenous Peoples” and four months after the List of Indigenous Peoples entered into force on 7 February 2022, less than 25% of more than 300,000 representatives of small-numbered Indigenous Peoples living in the Russian Federation had therefore submitted their application to be included on the list and less than 10 per cent were actually included on it. The low number of applications could at least partially be explained by the strict requirements and complicated application process. As for the low number of applications processed, according to FAEA the main reason the process is so slow is its ongoing automation.[25]
International human rights mechanisms
In 2022, the only international human rights mechanism that published a decision regarding Russia was the UN Human Rights Committee/Committee on Civil and Political Rights (CCPR).[26] It had originally scheduled a discussion on the List of Issues for the Russian Federation for the March 2022 (131st session). However, when the European Union, as part of the sanctions against Russia, blocked its airspace to flights from Russia, the Russian delegation declined to attend.[27] Responding to this situation, the Committee initially moved the discussion to the summer but there is no record that such discussion did, in fact, take place.[28]
The consideration of Russia’s State report was held during the Committee’s 136th session[29] and the Committee published its concluding observations on 1 December.[30] The document fails to call Russia’s aggressive war against Ukraine a war, instead referring to it as an “armed conflict initiated by the State Party” with regard to which it expresses its “extreme concern” (Para 6). Regarding Indigenous Peoples, it denounces the forced mobilization of, i.a., Indigenous Crimean Tatars (para 38). The paragraphs dealing with small-numbered Indigenous Peoples of the North are paras 40-41. Following remarks regarding general infringements of land rights, decision-making rights and the lack of Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC), the Committee specifically refers to the Centre for the Support of Indigenous Peoples of the North (CSIPN), one of the most respected independent Indigenous organizations from Russia which was forcibly closed by the Russian government in 2020. The document repeats its request for answers from Russia regarding other persecuted Indigenous rights defenders, all questions which have gone unanswered.
On 16 November, Russia’s 7th Periodic Report on the implementation of the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights was published. [31]
Under the Council of Europe’s Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (FCNM), Russia is still listed as undergoing the 5th reporting cycle, despite having exited from the Council of Europe in connection with its invasion of Ukraine.[32] In theory, Russia is still obliged to participate in the reporting process.
Olga Murashko is a Russian anthropologist and one of the co-founders of the former IWGIA local group in Moscow. She has been working to support Indigenous Peoples’ rights in Russia since the early perestroika years. She works as a consultant for the Centre for Support of Indigenous Peoples of the North (CSIPN).
Johannes Rohr is a German historian who has been working with Indigenous Peoples’ organizations in Russia since 1995, focusing on their economic, social and cultural rights. He is currently working as a consultant for INFOE (Germany). In 2018, the Russian intelligence service FSB banned him from the country for 50 years.
This article is part of the 37th edition of The Indigenous World, a yearly overview produced by IWGIA that serves to document and report on the developments Indigenous Peoples have experienced. Find The Indigenous World 2023 in full here.
Notes and references
[1] Simon Scott. “Russian law bans journalists from calling Ukraine conflict a 'war' or an 'invasion'.” NPR, 5 March 2022, https://www.npr.org/2022/03/05/1084729579/russian-law-bans-journalists-from-calling-ukraine-conflict-a-war-or-an-invasion
[2] Sulyandziga, Viktor. “Alexey Bessudnov. Ethnic and regional inequalities in the Russian military fatalities in the 2022 war in Ukraine.” Batani, 20 December 2022, https://batani.org/archives/2270
[3] Statement of the International Committee of Indigenous Peoples of Russia. The Polar Connection, 11 March 2022, https://polarconnection.org/international-committee-of-indigenous-peoples-of-russia/
[4] Sulyandziga, Viktor. “Russian Aggression against Ukraine and Indigenous Peoples of Russia.” Batani, 24 August 2022, https://batani.org/archives/2156
[5] Fee Buryatia Foundation, https://www.freeburyatia.org
[6] Sulyandziga, Viktor. “Russia's war on Ukraine: Colonial efforts on two fronts.” Batani, 30 September 2022, https://batani.org/archives/2207
[7] “Cooperation with Russian side on hold.” Saami Council, 10 April 2022, https://www.saamicouncil.net/news-archive/cooperation-with-russian-side-on-hold
[8] “V ubiistve cheloveka net grekha, kak i na okhote: rasskaz nentca-olenevoda, kotoryi edet voevat iz-za dolgov.” Cherta, 1 September 2022, https://cherta.media/story/nenec-podpisal-kontrakt-na-vojnu/
[9] “Conscription of reindeer herders suspended in Yakutia – deputy.” Sakha Life, 12 November 2022, https://sakhalife.ru/v-yakutii-priostanovlen-prizyv-olenevodov/
[10] “Vlasti YaNAO: olenevodam ne predostavliaetsia bron’ ot mobilizatcii.” Ura.ru, 14 October 2022, https://ura.news/news/1052595084
[11] ““Umoliaem proiavit miloserdie. Korennye narody Khabarovskogo kraia prosiat otmenit mobilizatciiu.” Indigenous Russia, https://indigenous-russia.com/archives/25241
[12] “Senator Bezdenezhnykh: Mobilizatciia mozhet byt katastrofichna dlia malykh narodov.” Sakha Life, 3 December 2022, https://sakhalife.ru/senator-bezdenezhnyh-mobilizacziya-mozhet-byt-katastrofichna-dlya-malyh-narodov/
[13] “Ya ispugalsia i vystrelil v mirnogo ukraintsa.” Linvideo, 1 May 2022, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4hpX_rfPJg
[14] Newman Dina. “The ‘Savage Warriors’ of Siberia: How an Ethnic Minority in Russia Came to be Unfairly Blamed for the Worst Crimes in Ukraine.” Media Diversity Institute, 12 August 2022, https://www.media-diversity.org/the-savage-warriors-of-siberia-how-an-ethnic-minority-in-russia-came-to-be-unfairly-blamed-for-the-worst-war-crimes-in-ukraine/
[15] “How the Pope’s Racist Comments Parrot Russian Propaganda.” Batani, 6 December 2022, https://batani.org/archives/2250
[16] Murashko, Olga., and Johannes Rohr. “Russia.” In The Indigenous World 2022, edited by Dwayne Mamo, 537-548. Copenhagen: The International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs, 2022, https://www.iwgia.org/en/russia/4682-iw-2022-russian-federation.html
[17] “V Khanti-Mansijskom okruge policiya zaderzhala khranitelya svjashhennogo ozera Imlor Sergeya Kechimova.” Indigenous Russia, 15 December 2022, https://indigenous-russia.com/archives/28797
[18] “V Khakasii sostoialos zasedanie Soveta predstavitelei korennykh malochislennykh narodov.” 27 October 2022, https://r-19.ru/news/obshchestvo/137539/
[19] Apelliatcionnoe opredelenie Apelliatcionnoi kollegii Verkhovnogo Suda RF ot 01.03.2022 N APL22-18. https://legalacts.ru/sud/apelliatsionnoe-opredelenie-apelliatsionnoi-kollegii-verkhovnogo-suda-rf-ot-01032022-n-apl22-18/
[20] Ne ukaz. Kak Vlasti Khabarovskogo Kraya ignorirujut reshenie Verkhovnogo Suda RF i prava korennykh malochislennykh narodov. CSIPN, 16 June 2022, https://www.csipn.ru/glavnaya/novosti-regionov/6015-ne-ukaz-kak-vlasti-khabarovskogo-kraya-ignoriruyut-reshenie-verkhovnogo-suda-rf-i-prava-korennykh-malochislennykh-narodov
[21] See Russian Federation Government Order No. 631-r of 08 May 2009 (as amended on 09.04.2022): On Approval of a List of Traditional Occupations and Traditional Economic Activities of Indigenous Small-numbered Peoples of the Russian Federation and a List of Types of Traditional Economic Activities of Indigenous Small-numbered Peoples of the Russian Federation. http://www.consultant.ru/document/cons_doc_LAW_87690/beb7e7f131a7ff3656b71b7b30c30454fc1fdde7/
[22] Ministerstvo Murmanskoj Oblasti osparivaet reshenie Konstitucionnogo Suda Rossii. Indigenous Russia, 20 January 2022, https://indigenous-russia.com/archives/18275
[23] Murashko, Olga., and Johannes Rohr. “Russia.” In The Indigenous World 2021, edited by Dwayne Mamo, 545-556. Copenhagen: The International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs, 2021, https://www.iwgia.org/en/russia/4246-iw-2021-russian-federation.html
[24] “Bolee 70 tys. rossijan podali zajavlenie v federal'nyj spisok korennykh narodov”. TASS, 9 June 2022, https://tass.ru/obschestvo/14872671
[25] Report on the Observance of the Rights of the Legal Interests of Indigenous Minorities of the North, Siberia and the Far East in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) for 2021. Yakutsk, 2022, 54 - 55 (32), https://iu-upkm.sakha.gov.ru/uploads/66/ca796a04ecfb9fe14b0866bca1fe0289fc6173f8.doc
[26] UN Treaty Bodies Database. Human Rights Treaty Bodies. Reporting status for Russian Federation, https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/TreatyBodyExternal/countries.aspx?CountryCode=RUS
[27] “Russia: UN Human Rights Committee postpones country review.” OHCHR press releases, 3 March 2022, https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2022/03/russia-un-human-rights-committee-postpones-country-review
[28] United Nations. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. List of issues in relation to the eighth periodic report of the Russian Federation. Human Rights Committee, 14 August 2022, https://undocs.org/CCPR/C/RUS/Q/8
[29] Documents for the session available at: UN Treaty Bodies Database. Human Rights Treaty Bodies. CCPR – International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. 136 Session, 10 October – 4 November 2022, https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/treatybodyexternal/SessionDetails1.aspx?SessionID=2575
[30] United Nations. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Concluding observations on the eighth periodic report of the Russian Federation. Human Rights Committee, 1 December 2022, https://undocs.org/CCPR/C/RUS/CO/8
[31] United Nations. Economic and Social Council. Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Seventh periodic report submitted by the Russian Federation in accordance with articles 16 and 17 of the Covenant, due in 2022. November 2022, https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=E%2FC.12%2FRUS%2F7&Lang=en
[32] Council of Europe Portal. National Minorities. Monitoring: Russian Federation, https://www.coe.int/en/web/minorities/russian-federation
Tags: Global governance
