Training course "Education in the Field of Human Rights and Rights of
Indigenous Peoples" was held on 26 May – 13 June 2008. The training
course took place in Dudinka, the capital of Taymyr Dolgan-Nenets
Autonomous District (previous training courses were held in
Krasnoyarsk). 8 representatives of Taymyr small indigenous peoples
took part in it.
1. Aksinya Porotova, Dolgan, Community of Small-Numbered
Indigenous Peoples "Mukustur", president (Dudinka).
2. Sergey Kashov, Nenets, Culture and leisure center, art gallery
manager (Dikson).
3. Raisa Kayarina, Nenets, Kindergarten, teacher (Tukhard).
4. Sergey Espek, Dolgan, Community of Dolgans "Daasi", member
(Khatanga).
5. Lyubov Naltanova, Dolgan, Community of Dolgans "Bultchut",
president (Dudinka).
6. Maria Chepalova, Nganasan, Ust-Avam shcool № 13, teacher
(Ust-Avam).
7. Taisia Panova, Dolgan, President of local public organization
"Taymyr Dolgan-Nenets Municipal District Dolgan Union", district
doctor (Dudinka).
8. Elena Vasylyk, Dolgan, Recreation center, director (Khatanga).
The training course included a number of standard educational
blocks, meetings with public agents and representatives of public
organizations of indigenous peoples. Both organizers and interns carried
out much work.
I may wish interns to succeed in future work and employment of
acquired knowledge.
Elena Nechushkina,
Director of Informational Legal Center of Indigenous Peoples of
Krasnoyarsk Krai
Coming Changes
I came from Khatanga settlement. I am a member of a family
community "Daasi". Our fishing point "Oboinaya" is 90 km away from
Khatanga. My elder brother and I fish there.
There are a lot of socio-economic problems in Khatanga: high price
of food, fuels and lubricants; heavy unemployment; agriculture decline.
It is widely debated but things are still where they started.
A. Khloponin, governor of Krasnoyarsk Krai, visited Khatanga in
July 2008 and now we hope the situation will get better.
It is important for communities, hunters, and fishermen that bag
and catch is marketed at worth price to cover expenses and upgrade
material and technical basis. I think Krai and district authorities should
solve the problem in conference.
It was properly managed in Soviet times. There was a big fish
factory in Khatanga. Special boats reached fishing points and all
fishermen had to do was fish and deliver the catch to agents. And now
they are to carry the catch to Khatanga and try to sell it in addition.
After that the fish becomes "gold", that is income do not cover expenses.
Therefore only a few people fish. We depend on single small sales. We
hope that Krai will help to solve agricultural problems since our district
has confederated with Krasnoyarsk Krai. Our district is rich in
ecologically pure whitefish and wild reindeer, so everybody will profit by
that.
Sergey Espek
Native Tukhard
Tukhard appeared on the map of Ust-Yenisey District of Taymyr
Autonomous District in the seventies. The settlement is situated on the
bank of the Bolshaya Kheta. The place was called Kisly Cape formerly,
Afanasiy Palchin, a reindeer breeder lived there. The population of
Tukhard is 865 people. Only 245 of them live in the settlement, the rest
of them lead nomads' life in Tukhard tundra.
Today really good workmen live in Tukhard tundra. Native
population (Nenets mainly) has preserved its original national culture,
they cherish traditions and customs of ancestors. They still breed
reindeer and fish. Reindeer breeding is the main component of
traditional northern economy. There are 22 thousand reindeer pasturing
in Tukhard tundra at present. Tukhard tundra is famous for outstanding
reindeer breeders who love and take care of their parents and children. I
am proud to represent a famous reindeer breeders' family of the
Kayarins. Young generation carries on traditions successfully, take the
lead in family farms, artels, and brigades. Once a year reindeer breeders
gather together at the settlement to celebrate Reindeer Breeder's Day.
Nomads from the whole neighborhood and guests from the center come
to Tukhard.
But, of course, there are a lot of problems in our life. It is a pity that
Tukhard tundra is used more for industry – gas production and not for
life of indigenous peoples. Tundra is more and more crossed with
pipelines. Soon they will begin to build a new gas pipeline connecting
Dudinka with Pelyatka gas field. Many wild deer will not be able to
jump over the pipeline. Reindeer breeders will have to change their
routs again. Indigenes will have to struggle more to survive on their land.
Therefore we hope local and government public agents to work out
and accept standard acts and development programmes that will protect
indigenous peoples and let them live their traditional life.
Raisa Kayarina
Conclusion
I belong to the youngest Taymyr small indigenous peoples –
Dolgans. I graduated from Krasnoyarsk Medical Institute (Krasnoyarsk
Medical Academy) after school. I have been a head doctor of a rural
district hospital of my home village Kheta for fourteen years. It was my
dream to be a doctor of zemstvo. I think my dream has come true.
I am still worried about unsolved social problems as my village's
fate is not all the same to me. Gradually, changes made indigenous
peoples feel they became economically dependent on decisions of
authority. During perestroika kolkhoz land where everyone had a share
went to no one knows whom. Kolkhoz reindeer as well as private ones
were slaughtered in the form of an order. People lost their land,
reindeer, and right to hunt. It was a no-win situation for anyone. Public
officers had to think of new purpose of life for indigenous peoples.
Enough of experiments! Let people live their life the way they lived from
everlasting. There are many gaps in legislation concerning rights of
indigenous peoples. There are a lot of laws and act that are not applied in
regions because of lack of financing, for example.
Bonuses to teachers of natural language are not described in
municipal target programme "Taymyr Peoples 2008". These people are
aged at present. Their knowledge and experience disappear without
trace, they are to teach successors. We cannot delay in this matter.
Support of national culture should be organized in preschool
institutions and schools. Pupils should to study how to survive and give
first aid, they should learn how to hunt and fish at manual training.
Youth festivals are to be held to reveal and support the most active
creative youths.
I think 87 million rubles appropriated for our district in the bounds
of the target programme is a small amount of money and it will not be
able to improve life of indigenous peoples. It is necessary to search for
additional financing. I suggest recourse to government, as government
experiments' damage amounts to many millions.
I find closing of North Departments under institutes of
Krasnoyarsk wrong, because now we receive fewer specialists. There
should be a man in Small Indigenous Peoples of the North Support
Agency who would not just send our students but give them moral and
other support, collaborate with dean's offices and institutes
administrations. It is desirable to train large number of various
specialists to increase efficiency.
Lack of housing development in villages is a pressing problem. It
would have sold a number of problems:
1. Improvement of social position of indigenous peoples;
2. lowering of psychological tension;
3. Decrease of a number of children in children's home
"Romashka" (Dudinka);
4. Attraction of new interns to villages;
5. Outflow of youth to towns.
It is necessary to decide a question about allotment of land to
indigenous peoples, the land they legally took up in kolkhoz.
We are going to make statements, appeal for grants
and attract attention and obtain funds in order to solve Taymyr small
indigenous peoples' problems.
Taisia Panova
Native Ust-Avam
I live in Ust-Avam village, Dudinka town (former Dudinka District).
Principally two small indigenous peoples – Nganasans and Nenets – live
in our village. I am Nganasan. I am a laboratory assistant at school. This
year I graduated from education department of Taymyr College and
now I have a specialized secondary education. In autumn I am going to
enter an institute of higher education. I am sure it will let me to get a
good job, achieve my aims, and bring up my son.
There are a lot of unsolved problems in our village. Sometimes we
get food ration tickets instead of wages. We can turn them into food in a
shop. But they have a poor purchase power as compared with money.
Moreover they sell spoiled goods quite frequently. But villagers can do
nothing but buy tainted herring. We complained to local authorities
about it but that produced no results yet. Communication is weak in the
village and there is no cellular communications. Doctors do not always
see patients in the village hospital. They refuse to prescribe authorized
free remedies. In general there are a lot of problems in our village as well
as probably in other Taymyr villages.
Nganasans used to be nomadic people in the past; they drove
reindeer herds to the far north. Now Nganasans' reindeer breeding
disappeared and it cannot be revived any more. Migration routes of wild
reindeer have changed and the great bands of wild reindeer crossing this
region may carry domestic ones with them. People can no longer breed
reindeer; some lost the skills of reindeer-breeding and some just do not
want to. Young people are not interested in it at all. And without
reindeer-breeding Nganasans are not anything like they used to be. And
formerly Nganasans used to be the first and most numerous people in
Taymyr. Even scientist cannot say who inhabited the territory before
them. There are about 800 Nganasans left in the whole world. Most of
them live in Ust-Avam and neighboring Volchanka village. I don't want
Nganasans to die out but it looks to me as if we cannot escape it. Only
exhibits in museums, photographs and library pictures will remain.
Maria Chepalova
Culture
I have been a director of Recreation Center in Khatanga for many
years. It was all in a lifetime but of late years I have an impression that it
is getting worse and worse. I mean low level of concern of our state for
culture institutions. All great occasions of Khatanga are held by our
Center. Amateur study groups, chat rooms, rehearsals, and concerts are
held inside the Center. People sing, draw, and dance within the walls of
the Recreation Center from morning till night. It is nice to watch it and
be glad for fellow-villagers. People still have taste for the beautiful and
nostalgia for spiritual food. But the Center's building is in bad condition.
It goes to ruin and becomes dilapidated year after year. There is no
money in district budget for face-lift, never mind capital repair. It
happens that children play ball and break the window by accident
(anything may happen during classes), and the Center has no money to
glass in. It is no good to take money from children, there is nothing for it
but to pay own funds. It is the same story with equipment – some is
broken and some goes out of date. There are no conditions to conduct
studies. And it is a very negative tendency, because there is no nation
and future without culture.
The situation in villages is in exactly the same way. For example in
Khatanga there is a number of villages where only one small indigenous
people Dolgans live. Villages are eager to preserve and cultivate their
national culture, but they nave no place to do it. There are no special
buildings, wage rates for specialists, equipment, and money to organize
traditional arts practices. Some enthusiasts arrange national study
groups. But you can not get very far on enthusiasm, it needs government
support. As for me, I offered to establish ethno-cultural centers in
villages more than once. They may become centers of traditional
national village culture. There would be a paid specialist, good
equipment to preserve our creative works for posterity, fancywork
materials, etc. In general it would become a hospitable place where
everyone could find occupation to enjoy oneself. I suggested
establishment of such centers for many times and drew up projects, but
apparently officials are not interested in our culture, our centers, and
our future.
Everything needs a place, our Khatanga culture also needs a place
– a Recreation Center, and villages need ethno-cultural places.
Elena Vasylyk
Why does a Reindeer Breeder Need Vodka?
Honestly, why? It does not make him wiser, stronger, and
hard-working. It is quite the contrary. Of course, it is up to a man
whether to drink or not. But when he is constantly offered cheap vodka
and his friends tell him it is nice to have a drink after a hard working day
even an abstainer will believe there is no harm in having a drink and it
will be all right. And in practice everything is in a different way. Glasses
turn into bottles and there are quarrels with family. It is a good thing a
man is calm and right away goes to sleep. The next morning he has a
hangover and indifferent state of health, therefore the work stops. And
there is a lot of work in tundra and it can not be put off till tomorrow.
Those who have grown up children are lucky because they can manage a
household themselves. And what if a family is young? Or, what make it
worse, children also like to finish a day with a drink. I don't mean to
accuse anyone, but it is a man to blame for this as nobody pour vodka
into his mouth by force, he agrees to drink himself. When he comes to
visit his relatives in the village they welcome him with a great drinking
party. Even if a man does not want to drink they begin to persuade to
him and accuse him of disrespect. They begin to argue in favour of a
right drinking and taking a drink "the morning after". What is a right
drinking if a drunken man begins to look like a heartless creature and
attacks people with an axe? He gives up household, sells reindeer, and
lives a settled life to go on with the right drinking. And then they are
asking questions: why is reindeer breeding declining; why is local
population being assimilated; and why do indigenous peoples forget
their customs and language? You are right when you put all the blame
on "demon drink" and those people who sell a great deal of cheap and
affordable vodka. There is much talk about people becoming drunkards
but not about their salvation and sobering up.
Probably one can justify those who drink on festal occasion or, God
forbid, with grief, as they drink to express feelings and not to smack. But
one can not justify those who come to the shop and buy a bottle of vodka
at first and only then some food for their children. The question is –
either government hold an interest in healthy people or in huge profits
on the sale of vodka and people who think their life becomes if not a lot
but better after a couple of drinks…
P.S. Please do not consider everything written above the ultimate
truth. Everyone has his own opinion and has the right to express it. If
someone agrees with me while reading these articles I will be glad he
shares my ideas.
Sergey Kashov
Employment of Women in Villages
Unemployment is a nagging problem in Taymyr. This problem
especially concerns indigenous women in villages. Male villagers can
hunt or fish. Some women also hunt and fish but by all means all women
can do it. And what about widows, divorcées, aged and unmarried
women? The number of female vacancies is strictly limited by the
number of budget positions in institutions of community and consumer
facilities. And they are scarce.
I've been a private entrepreneur for many years. I am a head of
"Mukustur" community. Our community makes and sells folk trades
products, clothes, utensils, baloks (balok is a kind of a skid indigenous
hut). We started from winning international grant of 170,000 rubles
several years ago. We bought goods and necessary equipment with it and
began to work. Now a small locally recruited staff is under my authority.
We have a little shop next to our department in Dudinka, we are
planning to set up another one in Norilsk. We are also going to present
an e-shop. In 2007 we won the right to build baloks for indigenous
peoples in the bounds of municipal target programme "Taymyr
Peoples". At the same time our products entered the competition "The
Top 100 Russian Goods". Quality committee chaired by E. Akbulatova,
deputy governor of Krasnoyarsk Krai, recommended women's high fur
boots decorated with Nganasan ornament, beaded women's high fur
boots, and embroidered children's high fur boots for federal level of the
competition.
Being experienced in organization of production of handicrafts I
more than once addressed to Taymyr authorities and came forth with
suggestion to employ indigenous women in villages by means of
establishment of small home workshops. The estimate indicates it does
not cost much money to set up a small tailoring shop manufacturing
handicrafts. One only should outlay money on consumable materials
(kamus, beads, thick felt, cloth, leather, glue, fells, sheet wadding, etc.).
But it has many advantages. It guarantees jobless women earnings,
preserves traditional trades, and popularizes traditional culture. I know
from experience it will be much in demand. I am ready to held how-to
seminars for women concerned and teach them how to set up in business,
recommend materials, share curves and models with them. But it is
difficult for a village indigenous woman to make a decision, become
organized, and find initial capital. I have a firsthand knowledge of all the
challenges one should face to become successful. I am ready to share my
experience, knowledge, and skills but authorities' support is also
necessary in this matter.
I hope my suggestions will get an understanding reception some
day, because life is not easy for indigenous women in Taymyr villages.
Aksinya Porotova
Interns' Views
Sergey Espek
I liked the training course very much. I've learned a lot of
interesting and instructive information including rights of small
indigenous peoples of the North.
E.N. Nechushkina gave us lectures on rights of small indigenous
peoples. They helped me to realize we have more rights than we expect
and we should exercise them freely.
We had interesting meetings with officials and heads of public
organizations, they told us about legal and socio-economic situation of
indigenous peoples in the district and growing trends.
V.H. Vengo reassured us that Krai authorities had already began to
discuss socio-economic problems of Khatanga.
Targeting was the topic of psychology classes. Darya Semenovna
taught us to see into our life in 10 or 20 years. And to make it real we
should define at first general goals and then long-term, short-term, and
everyday ones. We had a step-by-step instruction as a result. She also
taught us positive thinking and how to manage negative thoughts. You
have to have a special kind of personality to reach a goal. If you don't
have it you should impose it artificially so that it can become part of you
with the lapse of time.
It gave me great pleasure to meet E. Nechushkina. I want to thank
her and L'auravetl'an Information and Education Network of
Indigenous Peoples for such training courses that provide people with
legal knowledge and self-reliance. Had your training courses never
existed I, villager, could not have learnt so many useful things.
Taisia Panova, Aksinya Porotova
We were glad to take part in the training course. We've learnt a lot
of useful things. We knew some things already, as we live active social
life. But repetition did us no harm. Study of International Labour
Organization Convention No 169, its history and ratification were of
peculiar interest. We hope to live till the time when Russia ratifies it. We
could address vital questions directly during many interesting and useful
meetings. All interns took part in the meetings and officials could not
make empty promises. At face-to-face meetings you may be promised
many things and your heart fills with joy, but in practice they are in no
hurry to deliver the goods. We are glad the training course took place
straight in Dudinka. We knew about such training courses in
Krasnoyarsk, but we could not leave our families and children for a
month and go to Krasnoyarsk to take part in them. And in Dudinka we
could easily attend classes and come home in the evening. We even
remembered our student days.
Sergey Kashov
For many people the words "training course" seem empty and
meaningless. For others these words mean something that can give them
important and useful information. And both parties think they are right.
The first think there is no sense to waist time on something of no use
(except refresher training). The second consider the information of the
training course useful and helpful in rising up the ladder of
advancement and carrier. There may be a lot of judgments but the truth
is that training courses are necessary for those who think they are useful.
There is also another sort of people who are interested in
certificates they may show their household and friends to boast. They are
not interested in knowledge but in documents that prove they have taken
the training course.
Training courses in the field of human rights are necessary for
people. This especially concerns people living in remote villages and
settlements. Ordinary people know practically nothing their rights, with
the exception of those individuals who know legislation and stand upon
their rights by occupation. I am under the impression that the less
people know their rights the more soundly the authorities sleep. As a
matter of fact people have many rights. They are written and talked of a
lot. And in practice nobody knows and exercises them. Probably those in
power consider there is no need for anyone to know about them, but they
are sure everyone should know his obligations. Pay taxes and sleep the
sleep of the just; give up your life for your motherland – and we rush to
the attack shouting "hurrah" (except wars against invaders where there
is no sin in dying for the motherland); the price of food is up – we
tighten our belts and try to stand it; there is graft and corruption – it's
all right, we also take bribes.
Many people never know they have rights. They may be had no
opportunity to obtain a knowledge of human rights and may be they did
not want to. But, frankly, most people do not want this knowledge
themselves, for everybody thinks in the same way. Does an ordinary
fisherman need to know he has the right to land if he knows that he will
never be able to become a prosperous farmer and profit from it? Fish in
the river and its purchasers are his first priority.
But if people think and say that nothing depends on them it will be
true. And people will never achieve their dreams to be a free and
independent society that can decide its fate and be out of authorities'
whims.
Elena Vasylyk
It is necessary to hold such training courses. It would be better if
they were held in the places where indigenous peoples live. Local
population is ignorant in legislation. To live in constitutional state people
have to know the rights and take part in their forming at both the
federal and local levels.
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