United Nations Radio

Chukchi Native Elder

In October, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous People spent two weeks in Russia, meeting with members of indigenous communities living in remote settlements. James Anaya explained to UN Radio's Diane Bailey that the Russian government maintains that most Russians are indigenous to the country. Yet the government acknowledges what it calls "small numbered indigenous peoples' - groups that are culturally distinct from the majority population. These groups - the Aleuts, the Chukchis, among others have a history of discrimination and suffer the same problems as indigenous peoples in other parts of the world.

ANAYA: There are 46 of these identified by the government throughout the Russian Federation, mostly in Siberia, and mostly in the northern part of Siberia, a wide diversity of such groups. I was struck by how similar many of these groups are to indigenous peoples found in North America in terms of lifestyles, crafts, art work, and general demeanor, I must say. So it's a wide diversity of groups with vibrant cultures that are struggling to survive on their traditional lands and confront the forces of modernization as they affect their day to day lives increasingly.

DIANE: What did they tell you about their own concerns?

ANAYA: They are confronted with many of the same issues and problems that indigenous peoples elsewhere are confronted with, they happen to live as many in the areas that are resource-rich in terms of oil, gas and so a lot of the oil and gas development that is occurring throughout the country is on their traditional lands. That's a challenge for them - how to confront these development issues that are very aggressive and at the same time maintain their ways of life but also develop according to their own design.

But there are some interesting practices in place, agreements that have been struck, and there's a good basis for moving forward, for extending these good practices that exist.

DIANE: You mentioned that there are some interesting agreements in place. Could you give us an example of something that could potentially work?

ANAYA: Well in the region of Katamansisk the indigenous organizations have a framework agreement with the regional government and within that there are a number of specific agreements with oil companies that define certain compensation arrangements for incursions on indigenous lands and also limit certain activities. These are a basis, I think, they not perfect or entirely adequate but a basis for building more equitable arrangements.

DIANE: Was there anything else that stayed with you from this visit?

ANAYA: The sheer beauty of the territories that they live on and the vibrancy of the cultures, that's really great to see. People have a real sense of identity and a desire to continue that identity while moving forward, not freezing their cultures in any one place or time. These are vibrant cultures with wonderful people I was able to meet. Certainly many of the encounters I was able to have with them on their land will stick with me.

PRES: James Anaya, law professor at the University of Arizona in the US, is the UN expert on indigenous people.

Producer: Diane Bailey
duration: 2'34"