Ombudsman of Indigenous Peoples Grigory Dyukarev: "IT camps to appear in Taimyr"

(fedpress.ru ) - At the end of 2023, a new commissioner for the rights of indigenous minorities in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, Grigory Dyukarev, took office. In a video interview with FederalPress, he said what issues he would deal with first of all, how relations between the indigenous peoples of the North, authorities and large investors are being built today, as well as about the development of modern technologies in the Far North.

Explore each territory

Grigory Ivanovich, congratulations on your confirmation in your new position. What tasks are you facing in your new position?

— One of the priorities is to build effective communications between indigenous peoples, local governments, state authorities, law enforcement agencies, and industrial companies. For example, each police department has a public council, and in Taimyr, representatives of the KMNS are part of it. There are similar structures under local governments and the Agency for the Development of Northern Territories and Support for Indigenous Peoples of the Krasnoyarsk Territory. Unfortunately, our countrymen do not always know about such mechanisms in order to get involved in this work and defend their rights and interests in a normal civilized manner. Another priority is to educate indigenous representatives more about their rights, about the tools and mechanisms that they have and do not use. I have already drawn up an approximate work plan for the coming year, and my priority is to travel around the Krasnoyarsk Territory – Tyukhtetsky district, Evenkia, Turukhansky district. I know the territory of Taimyr very well, I have been to each of the 20 villages at least four times. But other territories need to be paid more attention to.

How the North will change

How do you assess the level of protection of the rights of indigenous minorities in the Krasnoyarsk Territory today?

— It differs from many regions in that a good legislative framework has been formed here, although not all provisions always work properly. For example, the law on native languages provides for support for teachers, but the procedure for providing it has not yet been prescribed. And there are many similar nuances where, in our opinion, law enforcement practice should be more effective and efficient. At the same time, we have a fairly large program to support indigenous peoples with a total amount of 900 million rubles, but we note from year to year that the administration of this program by the executive authorities of municipalities, and sometimes regional authorities, leaves much to be desired. In previous years, up to 100 million rubles of budget funds were not mastered. These are colossal amounts, therefore, to properly dispose of funds and provide support to indigenous peoples is one of the goals that we, together with deputies of the legislative assembly of the region, with regional authorities, will achieve. In the Krasnoyarsk Territory, quite weighty mechanisms have been formed to defend the rights and interests of the  indigenous peoples of the North – there is a profile committee in the legislative assembly of the region, since 2008 the institute of the Commissioner for the rights of the  indigenous peoples of the North has been functioning, the Agency for the Development of Northern Territories and Support of Indigenous Peoples has been working in the executive authorities of the region, the Civic Assembly of the Krasnoyarsk Territory has a Public Chamber of Indigenous Peoples of the North. I have yet to figure out how effectively and how well these structures work together.

If we say that the situation with the rights of indigenous peoples looks good, fellow countrymen can reproach me – there are not enough houses of proper quality in the villages, and sometimes there are no necessary specialists, and there are problems with clean drinking water. There are regions where the situation is even worse, but it is not quite right to focus on such regions and convince yourself that we are still doing well. There is an experience of Yamal, Yugra, Yakutia, where more attention is paid to indigenous peoples.

One of the projects that I studied in the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug is IT camps. In some of our districts, this experience may be useful. Stationary satellites are installed in the camps. Where possible, they use cellular communication modules. Representatives of indigenous peoples get access to telemedicine, educational projects, state and municipal services, get the opportunity to report violations of environmental legislation, interact more effectively with their fellow countrymen and relatives in chat rooms. I was pleasantly surprised when a local businessman negotiated food supplies to cafes and restaurants right from his campsite. He doesn't need to go out to discuss any details. There are quite a lot of such examples, they need to be accumulated, landed on the territory of the Krasnoyarsk Territory and implemented.

It is necessary to use the preferences that the status of a resident of the Arctic zone gives. There is also a need to create transport and logistics centers. As part of the northern delivery, our remote villages are already experiencing a shortage of food for the main groups by November-December. Our eastern neighbors in Yakutia have built five transport and logistics centers in the most remote settlements. It is noted that the cost of food has decreased and the range has expanded. People don't need to stock up until March, they know for sure that they can always buy groceries. Modern technologies can be useful, for example, when grazing deer – we already use satellite collars. They are also hung on wild deer, so that routes can be compared. After all, in past periods it was a problem for us – wild reindeer sometimes took away a pet. There are situations when a pet fights back, gets lost, and it is easier for a reindeer herder to find it along the tracks. Another plus is that you can understand which pastures and how long the deer has been in, where you can go so as not to create an unnecessary load on the deer pastures.

Is it possible to maintain interethnic unity in the Krasnoyarsk Territory at the present time?

— This is our common task. Discord arises when people misunderstand the culture of other nations. The Reindeer Herder's Day was held in Dudinka in 2019, and then the Azerbaijani diaspora, on its own initiative, provided food packages to Nenets reindeer herders. This is a concrete step that unites people of different nationalities. We actively cooperate in Taimyr with the Kyrgyz, Kazakh, Chuvash diaspora, and with the Ukrainian community. During the events, we also form friendly ties: we communicate, treat each other to dishes of national cuisine. There are not so many indigenous peoples nationwide – about 300 thousand out of 140 million, but these are 40 peoples out of about 120 living in Russia. That is, we represent at least one-fourth of the country's cultural diversity.

It's easier with big business

In the Krasnoyarsk Territory, many investment projects have been announced and are already being implemented in the Far North. To what extent is it possible to find compromises in the interests of investors and indigenous peoples?

— Of course, we understand the tasks that the state sets when implementing investment projects. On the other hand, we sometimes have disagreements with exploration and production companies. And first of all, with those who have not developed and adopted a policy on interaction with indigenous peoples, do not consider it necessary to adopt a code of ethics in dealing with them. Norilsk Nickel is a good example. They can be said to have made a powerful leap in building respectful relations with indigenous peoples. Their experience is probably the best, unique and advanced even at the global level.

The state creates preferences for residents of the Arctic zone, and it will be fair if the state reduces taxes, it will simultaneously raise the social bar of requirements. We propose to assign the status of a resident of the Arctic zone to those who have developed and adopted a policy on interaction with indigenous peoples. Another important point is that, of course, large companies own the license areas, but they often involve small and medium–sized companies as subcontractors, and it is much more difficult with them. Large companies operate in accordance with the ESG agenda, but those who work under contract and subcontracting agreements ignore these standards in terms of ecology, social policy, and corporate responsibility.

Is it possible to combine tradition and technological progress in the places where indigenous peoples live? You can! For example, the northernmost railway has been built in Yamal in places where thousands of deer graze. And sometimes reindeer herders jokingly say that the train accompanies the deer during the nomadic period. There are examples when tens of thousands of domestic deer pass through the Bovanenkovskoye field in Yamal. This is a huge complex of concrete, iron, asphalt, equipment, and even a number of processes stop here these days – the company is meeting the reindeer herders halfway. And we hope that when the Vostok Oil project is fully operational in Taimyr, roads will be built, stable cellular communications, paramedic and obstetric stations, shops will appear - and it will be easier for our reindeer herders to drive up, sell their products or take them to canteens, get medical help, use cellular communications, buy gasoline. Most likely, it will be so, but at the construction stage, so far we often note the displeasure of our fellow countrymen: fish volumes are decreasing, sometimes reindeer herders, fishermen, hunters are forbidden to pass near the infrastructure facilities of companies. And in my position, I will be obliged to respond to every case of violations of the rights of indigenous peoples, involve the prosecutor's office, police and other government agencies to solve their problems.

To what extent has the dissemination of ESG criteria given an impetus to companies to build a dialogue?

— Over the past three years, it was the Krasnoyarsk Regional Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North that initiated round tables, conferences, forums on the topic of ESG responsibility of companies and interaction with the CIS. And if three years ago representatives of large industrial companies made big round eyes and said: "And what do you have to do with it?", today there are fewer and fewer of them. We are quite literate people, we are opening GRI indexes (Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) – a global initiative, common reporting standards and recommendations that disclose non-financial performance indicators. – Editor's note) on the need to interact with local communities, we tell you that the ESG agenda is based on 17 Sustainable Development Goals, which are adopted by the United Nations and which are cultivated all over the world and include access to water, a clean environment, assistance to local economies, which include indigenous business, clean air and much more other things. And today, companies are interacting, and we, for our part, can help them formulate and compile a report that will satisfy any of their partners and stakeholders.

Recently, the issue of coffee and cocoa supplies has arisen in some European countries. It turned out that child labor was used in bean harvesting and production. And according to ESG standards, these batches must be destroyed. And we also know that there are Russian companies that rate and put up indexes, and our task is to enter into a dialogue with national rating agencies and tell them that the interests and opinions of the CMNS should be taken into account in reporting. With the introduction of Western sanctions, some companies and senior officials have formed the opinion that the ESG agenda should either be canceled or transformed. But at the same time, we hear the speech of President Vladimir Putin, who sets the task of becoming carbon neutral by 2060, and this topic accompanies the ESG agenda. We hear Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, who says that mining is vital for our country, but environmental issues are also important. Here I would like to recall the words of one of the governors of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug: successful oil and gas production in Yamal is possible only if the well-being of the indigenous peoples in whose territory these riches are extracted.

A holiday for everyone

How do the traditions of celebrating the New Year penetrate into the environment of indigenous peoples, which traditions are borrowed, which are processed taking into account the local culture?

— Of course, it is necessary to recall the Soviet period here. The researchers note that many indigenous peoples from 1917 to 1991 have come a long way from the tribal system to developed socialism. For the  indigenous peoples of the North  this meant, among other things, getting an education. The number of persons with secondary vocational and higher education among the CMNS was higher than that of indigenous peoples in the USA, Canada, Finland and other European and North American countries. It left its mark. Because an educated person who joined the Komsomol movement or became a member of the CPSU lived and worked in accordance with the traditions, rules, and norms established at that time. This also applies to holidays. Together with the whole country, we celebrated the anniversary of the Revolution, the day of the formation of the USSR, Constitution Day, May 1 and 9, and many other holidays.

The very content of the New Year among indigenous peoples sometimes differs from what people in cities understand by it. I had a case when I asked the reindeer herders how this holiday was celebrated. They answer: "Okay. At 10 p.m. we went to bed, got up in the morning – New Year." We don't put up big Christmas trees, and reindeer herders rarely use glass toys in the tundra or taiga either. They are difficult to transport over long distances in the conditions of nomadism in the Far North. But for the festive table, reindeer herders order fruits, sweets, and sweet gifts for their children. Not to mention that the authorities do not forget us either, handing gifts to our children. There are also presents from industrial companies. But it should also be noted a counter process – representatives of large ethnic groups are increasingly interested in the holidays of indigenous peoples. For example, it is not the first year that a Big Argish has been celebrated in Norilsk. It is celebrated in November, on the days of the arrival of the polar night. During the week, Norilsk residents and guests of the city get acquainted with the traditions, customs, and holidays of indigenous peoples.