At its recent session which ended on May 16th the UN Committee on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has expressed concern at the
situation of indigenous peoples living in the Russian North, Siberia and
the Far East. Two thirds of Russia's vast northern and eastern territories
are inhabited by about 30 "small" indigenous peoples which number from
only 200 (Enets) up to 50.000 (Nenets) people.
Most of Russia's natural resources like oil, gas, timber, diamonds, coal
and gold are found in their territories. Large scale industrial
development has lead to the reduction of traditional food and income
sources like fish, reindeer and forest products. The live expectancy of
indigenous people is 10-20 below the Russian average which after the
breakup of the Soviet Union has fallen to the lowest level of all
industrialized countries.
Especially alarming is the situation in the areas occupied by the oil and
gas industry. Today international financial institutions like the World
Bank and the IMF are urging the Russian government to increase oil
production and exports in order to cover the state's debts. In its
concluding observations the Economic Rights Committee states:
"The Committee expresses its concern at the situation of the indigenous
peoples of the State party, many of whom live in poverty, and have
inadequate access to food supplies, and some of whom suffer from
malnutrition. The Committee is particularly concerned for those whose
food supply is based on fishing and an adequate stock of reindeer, and who
are witnessing the destruction of their environment by widespread
pollution. It is alarmed at reports that the economic rights of
indigenous peoples are exploited with impunity by oil and gas companies
which sign agreements under circumstances which are clearly illegal, and
that the State party has not taken adequate steps to protect the
indigenous peoples from such exploitation. (...)
The Committee recommends that action be taken to protect the indigenous
peoples from exploitation by oil and gas companies, and more generally
that action be taken to ensure their access to traditional and other
sources of food."
The complete document can be downloaded from the UN human rights website
http://www.unhchr.ch/
More information on the human rights situation of Siberian indigenous
peoples can be found in a parallel report which FIAN (FoodFirst
Information and Action Network) and INFOE (Institute for Ecology and
Action Anthropology) have submitted to the UN Committee. The report is on
the Web at http://www.koeln-online.de/infoe/report.html
Information concerning inadequate agreements between oil companies and
reindeer herders: http://www.koeln-online.de/infoe/nenets.html
--
INFOE
Institute for Ecology
and Action Anthropology
Melchiorstr. 3; D-50670 Cologne, Germany