Submitted on April 4, 2023 by Cultural Survival, IWGIA, International Committee of Indigenous Peoples of Russia (ICIPR), Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) Switzerland
Executive summary
The Russian Federation is home to 46 legally recognized Indigenous Peoples and a number of ethnic groups that while meeting the characteristics of Indigenous Peoples are not legally recognized as such by the State. Legally recognized Indigenous Peoples comprise around 0.2 percent of the population. Their rights are continually violated as the State defines who is Indigenous in culturally inappropriate and inaccessible ways and as their homelands experience development without their consent. Regulation of and limitations to access to traditional ways of life, along with environmental destruction, violate Indigenous Peoples’ rights to sustainable livelihoods, health, and nutritious food. Indigenous Peoples are also being denied their rights to their own languages and to education. Indigenous children are especially vulnerable to the impacts of these rights violations. These rights are enshrined in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) Arts. 3, 14, 15, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25, 26, 27, and 32. The Russian Federation has accepted a number of recommendations in previous UPR cycles regarding the rights of Indigenous Peoples, but these have not been meaningfully implemented to date.