On April 15-26, the 23rd session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues was held in New York.
Delegations from organizations of indigenous peoples of Yamal, Kamchatka, Yugra, Krasnoyarsk Territory, Yakutia, Karelia and Murmansk region took an active part in the session.
The delegates targeted the issues of modernization of traditional economic activities, involvement and support of young people from among small indigenous peoples, participation in decision-making through Councils of Representatives and other advisory bodies.
In the realm of interaction between business and indigenous peoples, the need to develop corporate policies and standards, the experience of Norilsk Nickel
in developing policies in the field of interaction with indigenous peoples and holding consultations on the planned lithium development project in the Murmansk region was noted.
The presentations included points on the need for members of the Permanent Forum to inform and consult with indigenous communities in advance before publishing their research, in order, to avoid errors and interpretations that indigenous peoples may not support.
Antonina Gorbunova, Deputy Chairman of the UN Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, called on the UN mandates to jointly continue to develop practical guidelines to assess the effectiveness of the Action Plan for the International Decade of Indigenous Languages. The expert announced a panel discussion on the topic of languages at the upcoming annual session of the Expert Mechanism in July, noting this as an opportunity to analyze the progress made in the first three years of the Decade.