The COVID 19 impact on indigenous peoples of the Russian Arctic, Siberia, and the Far East

This is an extended report based on the Aborigen-Forum position paper “COVID-19 in Russia. The impact on indigenous peoples’ communities”, prepared for the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples and the Arctic Consult report “Indigenous Peoples of the Russian North and COVID 19: Challenges in Achieving the SDGs” prepared for the Indigenous Peoples’ International Centre for Policy Research and Education “Tebtebba Foundation.”

An extended report by Aborigen-Forum, Centre for the Support of Indigenous Peoples of the North, Arctic Consult, and Batani foundation – English

Indigenous Peoples of the Russian North and COVID 19: Challenges in Achieving the SDGs

The COVID-19 pandemic hit Russia at the end of March 2020. That was later than for most European countries and gave the Government time to prepare adequately for the health and economic crisis. Russian authorities implemented some measures to prevent the spread of the virus, including closing the border with China, but have failed to stop the infection, which started from big cities that linked closely with European capitals and resorts. In general, the outbreak of COVID-19 became a severe threat to the sustainable development of indigenous peoples of the Russian Arctic, Siberia, and the Far East. The remoteness and transport isolation of indigenous communities became an advantage during the first phase of the COVID-19 spread but could be aggravating factors in the future. Report prepared by Dmitry Berezhkov (Arctic Consult, Norway, June 2020) – English

Acts of intimidation, criminalization and other types of activities with the aim to prevent human rights work of indigenous activists in Russia

During the last years the State, business, police, security services, progovernment mass-media, loyal to State non-governmental organizations (GONGO), including indigenous GONGO have been implementing a lot of efforts to stop or prevent human rights work of indigenous activists both inside Russia as well as abroad. Today Russian authorities have an extended background of criminalization of indigenous human rights activists including criminal prosecution, penalization, and fining as well as jailing of indigenous leaders. These tendencies are accelerating nowadays, according to general reducing of human rights and freedoms in the Russian Federation, intensification of disagreements of official Kremlin with Western countries and growth of spy hysteria in Russia. By Dmitry Berezhkov (Arctic Consult, director) and Pavel Sulyandziga (International fund “Batani”, chair of board) – Russian / English