Background
Industrial oil and gas recovery, gold mining, wood harvesting and extraction of other resources are made on the territories of indigenous peoples, as a rule. Due to this, indigenous peoples are quickly losing their traditional lands and waters, traditional lifestyle, getting apart from the present life of the country and under the poverty line. Falling down of the old system of governmental support cut them from the world and from each other.
The idea of establishment of some kind of mechanism joining indigenous communities and the places of dense residence of indigenous peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East of the Russian Federation with each other and with the world had been discussed for quite a long time during many official and non-official meetings of indigenous peoples of Russia.
The International Decade of indigenous peoples of the world proclaimed by the United Nations contributed to establishment of the Center. The idea of organizing some indigenous information center in Moscow was one of the proposals of the UN Conference with indigenous peoples of Arctic and Siberia (6-10 September 1993, Khabarovsk, Russia). It was included in the report of the UN Commission on Human Rights as Recommendations No 68 and 69: “Indigenous peoples need access to information at all levels. This includes legal information and other information inside the country, as well as all relevant information in other countries and international organizations”. It was recommended, that “in every country a center on indigenous issues should be established”.
L’auravetl’an Information Center (‘L’auravetl’an’ – ‘Man’ – is the self-name of Chukchi) was planned and established in 1996 in Moscow by Oleg Egorov, representative of the United Council of Chukchi Elders of Chukchi Region of Chukchi Autonomous District. L’auravetl’an Information Center was founded due to hard situation of indigenous small-numbered peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East of the Russian Federation. 30 indigenous small-numbered peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East have the territory of traditional living, which is 65% of total territory of Russia, and are separated from each other with huge distances.
In 2003 L’auravetl’an Information Center created the interregional public organization “L’auravetl’an Information and Education Network of Indigenous Peoples”, which now includes indigenous organizations of five regions of Russia: the Altai Republic, Altai Krai, the Karelia Republic, Krasnoyarsk Krai, and Kuzbas. LIENIP was founded in the frameworks of implementation of the project on establishment of “Network on Promotion and Protection of Social, Economic and Cultural Rights of Indigenous Peoples of the Russian Federation”. The headquarters of the project is located in Altai. The main aim of the project is creation of indigenous information centers in the regions of dense residence of indigenous peoples of Russia: Altai people, Kumandins, Tubalars, Telengits, Chelkans, Shors, Veps, Kets, Dolgans and Evenks. Read more about the project in the part “Projects” of our web-site.
The initiative of establishment of L’auravetl’an Information Center was supported by Sami Council and the “The Northern Expanses” magazine, which became the partners in establishment of the Center. Since 1996 our donors were TASIC, the Government of Canada, Diakonisches Werk der EKD (Germany), Fred Foundation (Netherlands), Netherlands Center for Indigenous Peoples (Nehterlands). Since 2003 LIENIP has been expanding its network to Russian regions, joining indigenous organizations and making them LIENIP members.
Aims and objectives
The main aims of LIENIP are raising the abilities of indigenous communities of the North, Siberia and the Far East to participate more actively and equally in the multinational society of Russia and reduction of discrimination at all levels, as well as creating a mechanism, which lets indigenous communities and settlements of the North, Siberia and the Far East to communicate with the outer world and with each other, despite their remoteness and isolation.
These aims are achieved in following ways:
Indigenous representatives from the North, Siberia and the Far East, chosen by their grass-roots organizations, arrive to regional capitals for a month-and-a-half training courses. Regional Centers cover the expenses for their trips, accommodation and pay scholarships. During the training, every intern study the basis of human rights and rights of indigenous peoples both at Russian and international levels. It is held via acquaintance with international, federal and regional laws and documents related to indigenous peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East. They bring this knowledge to their communities or organizations. Being at Regional Centers, the interns from very remote and isolated places of living meet each other and establish working contacts for the future. This helps indigenous peoples to improve their cooperation with each other for mutual assistance and support. Also this helps them to understand the situation of their own people not only in the places of their living, but in the state and global context as well. One of the main results of the training course is spreading of the knowledge acquired by the interns in the Center among their fellow-countrymen and relatives, which gives people good self-confidence and ability to orientate themselves in the present world. The interns also present in the information bulletins in Russian and English the unique information about culture of their peoples, about social and economic situation of indigenous peoples in their regions, about the cases of violation of laws and human rights. This information is the main step to building mutual understanding between indigenous and non-indigenous parts of the society. This understanding, in its turn, will contribute to reducing the possibility of ethnic conflicts, improving intercultural cooperation inside Russian society, will give the possibility to indigenous peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East to become active participants of the process of democracy building and destroy the isolation of indigenous communities, which will develop their abilities to protect their rights independently.
What do the interns study?
Starting from September 1996 up to present every intern had the possibility for a month and a half:
a) to study international and federal legal documents related to indigenous peoples and human rights;
b) to study the structure and work of the federal bodies of the executive authority via meetings with the officials including deputy ministers;
c) to study the work of both the chambers of the Federal Parliament via meetings with the deputies and heads of the committees;
d) to participate in all the Parliament hearings related to indigenous small-numbered peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East;
e) to study the work of the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation;
f) to study the work and structure of intergovernmental organizations, such as UN and European Parliament;
g) to get acquainted with Russian, foreign and international non-governmental organizations working in the fields of human rights and rights of indigenous peoples;
h) to participate in the seminars, conferences and meetings on human rights and rights of indigenous peoples in Russia and abroad.
Thanks to all these things the interns not only received valuable information and knowledge, but also established direct contacts with necessary people in legal, political and administrative structures of the Russian Federation and abroad. Very often such contacts can be vital for changing the situation of a certain village or the whole ethnic group. For example, in 1997 the UN Economic and Social Council used the bulletins of the Center in its evaluation of the report of Russia on implementation of the Pact about Social, Economic and Cultural Rights and European Parliament in the report about the situation of the indigenous small-numbered peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East of Russia.
Information bulletins
Every group publishes one bulletin, which is composed by the interns themselves without any interference of the heads of the Center. The average volume of every bulletin is 10 pages in Russian and 5 pages in English. All the articles are written by the interns and their countrymen. The texts of the articles are not edited or changed so that not to lose the trust of the people who don’t have experience in writing articles. The list of correspondents in Russian contains about 500 addresses, in English – 50. Some organizations in Russia and western countries, by preliminary consent of the Center, publish some articles from the bulletins on their web-pages or in printed publications.
The Center is not responsible for the content of the articles, this is fully authors’ responsibility.
Choosing the interns
The communities and grass-roots organizations of indigenous small-numbered peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East choose the interns without any interference of the heads of the Center or the project. Choosing their candidate a community or an organization should be guided only by their own needs and priorities.
The program of training courses
Studying federal and international legal documents on democratic reforms, civil society and indigenous peoples (daily).
Weekly seminars on human rights, social and economic problems of indigenous small-numbered peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East.
Studying the work of federal ministries, committees and other executive authority bodies.
Studying mass media and their experience of covering the problems of indigenous peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East.
Establishment of working contacts with non-governmental organizations. Establishment of contacts with some deputies and committees of Federal Parliament.
Collecting information from the regions on social, economic situation of indigenous peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East. Collecting international information.
Publishing information bulletins.
Computer courses.
Studying Internet.
LIENIP staff
The staff includes LIENIP President, five directors of Regional Centers, an information manager and a web-master.
The President coordinates and runs the general work and strategy of the Center. It acts as a political representative with Russian and international organizations. The President is also a coordinator of the project, she coordinates and monitors the activities of the Regional Centers on day-to-day basis. Moreover, she has to travel to the regions to assist the interns and directors in the work of the Regional Centers. The assistance should also include development of draft laws on promotion and protection of human rights, indigenous rights in the regions, organizing seminars on initiation of legislative proposals. The project coordinator is directly responsible for successful implementation of the project in Russia.
The directors of the Centers in five regions are directly responsible for efficient work of Regional Centers, all the training program of the interns and employment of necessary specialists-lecturers, organization and carrying out of weekly seminars on human and indigenous rights. They also give computer classes.
Information manager is a person responsible for collection, processing and exchange of information between LIENIP, Regional Centers with ministries, Federal Parliament, institutions on human rights, NGOs, international agencies, etc. He/she is also responsible for giving information upon requests from abroad about observing human rights with respect to indigenous peoples. The manager should command fluent English and be a contact person in relations with foreign and international partner and donor organizations.
Former directors:
Kara-Kys Arakchaa, Tyva, 1996
Galina Volkova, Ulchi, 1997-1998
Arat Khaidyp, Tyva-Todge, 1998-2003
Since 2003 the President of LIENIP is Gulvayra Shermatova, Kumandin, project coordinator.
Evaluation of the work of the Centers
At the end of a month and a half period every group together with the heads of the Center evaluates efficiency of the carried out training course. The interns make suggestions, which are discussed by the entire group. Involvement of the interns in the evaluating process of efficiency is one of the most important elements of the work. Thanks to their fresh impressions, the interns who just completed their course can introduce new, more effective methods of training for the future groups. The ideas and suggestions from peoples and organizations that sent their interns can be implemented during the courses by the interns themselves.
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