Indigenous Russian Human Rights Defenders Targeted by Russian Government Appeal to United Nations

https://icipr.international/archives/1053

Indigenous Russian Human Rights Defenders Targeted by Russian Government Appeal to United Nations

"We are reaching out to you regarding the egregious act committed by the Russian government, which simultaneously included 55 organizations of indigenous peoples of Russia, fighting for their rights, in the list of extremist and terrorist organizations."

"According to the legislation of the Russian Federation, from now on any participation in the activities of these organizations, cooperation, or even communication with them threatens years of imprisonment for each representative of the indigenous peoples of Russia." Continue reading: https://icipr.international/archives/1053

The Voices of Russia's Anti-War Indigenous Women Denied Credentials at U.N. are Heard Anyway

Photo Yana Tannagasheva addressing U.N. https://vimeo.com/981992869
 

The voices of Russia's anti-war Indigenous activists who were denied credentials were heard anyway at the U.N. Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Geneva. They told the U.N. that Russia needs mineral industries to wage its wars, and is asserting pressure at the U.N.

Oral intervention by Yana Tannagasheva, International Committee of Indigenous Peoples of Russia, to U.N. Expert Mechanism on Rights of Indigenous Peoples 2024. 

Censored News, July 11, 2024

Russian translation

Thank you, Mr./Madam Chair, for the floor.

The Russian government talks all the time about the colonialism of IP (Indigenous Peoples) in other countries but has never said that the IP of the North, Siberia and the Far East were also colonized and continue to suffer. The everyday reality of the Indigenous Peoples of Russia is profoundly different from the rights described by Russian government and some of non-independent Indigenous representatives from Russia.

The Mother Tongue: Countering the Identity Thieves of Canada, Russia, Japan and U.S.

Photo: Indigenous Youth, Food Knowledge and Arctic Change

The Mother Tongue: Recovering Indigenous Languages from the Identity Thieves of Canada, Russia, Japan and United States

By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, July 16, 2024

Updated July 28, 2024: More from Russia and Japan

GENEVA -- Indigenous languages are on the verge of extinction in Russia. An ancient language in Japan is denied recognition by the government, while Native Americans struggle to recover from the torture in boarding schools that was meant to silence them. In Canada, efforts are underway to revitalize Anishinaabe after Native languages and culture were targeted with erasure in residential schools, presenters  told the United Nations Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

With Indigenous languages near extinction in Russia, an Indigenous youth from a reindeer herding community near the Arctic tundra, said newspapers are still  important here and are helping preserve the language, Nenets, among the endangered languages, in the vanishing north.

"Despite the decline in circulation of paper newspapers in the era of digitalization, our national newspaper retains an important role in the life of the people, clearly addressing their current agenda and giving ethnic journalists and language activists the opportunity to write in their native language," Nechei Serotetto, Indigenous youth from the Russian Arctic, told the United Nations Expert Mechanism.

"Moreover, the newspaper allows informing about twenty thousand Nenets of the Autonomous Okrug who are nomadic thousands of kilometers away and do not always have access to satellite internet coverage."

In Japan, speaking an ancient language was punishable by death.

Today, Japan refuses to recognize the language, the Lew Chewan/Okinawan languages, and its people. After Japan's annexation of the Lew Chew kingdom in 1879, the languages faced prohibition, Risako Sakai, ACSILs, told the United Nations.

"During WWII, the Japanese military ordered that speaking in Lew Chewan languages could result in execution, leading to the marginalization and near extinction of our native languages. In fact, the Japanese military executed Okinawans for speaking Indigenous languages, calling us “spy."

Josh Gandier. Photo Southern Chief's Organization, Censored News

"My own hope for this decade is to see the restoration, formation and protection of intergenerational connections between youths, language keepers and communities," said Southern Chiefs Organization's youth delegate Josh Gandier, Peguis First Nation.

Maori Battle for Rights as Racism Spreads in New Zealand, Maori Tell United Nations

Kym Hamilton, National Iwi Chairs Forum, speaking at United Nations in July. Screenshot Censored News

Maori Battle for Rights as Racism Spreads in New Zealand, Maori Tell United Nations

By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, July 26, 2024

GENEVA – The increased racism and white supremacy in New Zealand, and the government’s attempts to diminish Maori treaty rights, are causing a regression in Indigenous rights, Maori told the United Nations Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

"In Aotearoa, New Zealand, we are currently experiencing radical regression of enhanced participation at a state level. The New Zealand government is proposing to repeal the foundations of our treaty that gave them the right of settlement," Kym Hamilton of the National Iwi Chairs Forum told the United Nations Expert Mechanism.

Hamilton said Maori ancestors signed this treaty to protect their sovereignty which was never ceded. The government's proposals would reduce Maori participation and their decision-making on tribal lands and waters, and undermine many of the obligations of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Hamilton told the U.N.

Lakotas for Palestine Attacked in Hate Crime in Rapid City

Lakotas for Palestine Attacked in Hate Crime in Rapid City

Lakota Statement , Censored News, July 24, 2024

RAPID CITY, South Dakota – On Saturday, July 20th, we traveled to Mni Luzahan to support the International Indigenous Youth Council for a peaceful rally for Palestine. The rally was co-sponsored by ally group SD4Pal. Within 5 minutes of our arrival, this worker began heckling us from the lawn of City Hall, where she was working.

Oglala Lakota Youths: 'Peaceful Youth-led Rally for Palestine Attacked by Zionists in Rapid City'

(Above)South Dakota for Palestine in Rapid City, South Dakota, July 20, 2024

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Oglala Lakota Youths: Peaceful Youth-led Rally for Palestine Attacked by Zionists

By International Indigenous Youth Council-Oglala Lakota Chapter

Censored News

RAPID CITY, South Dakota -- On July 20th, a Saturday afternoon, dozens peacefully gathered around the City Hall to call for a ceasefire for Palestine. We were assaulted with spray paint and threatened with a firearm. These violent acts prove exactly what Palestinians have to experience from day to day.

Kayapó Forest Defenders Urge United Nations to Help Halt Illegal Gold Mining in Brazil

Doto Takak Ire, leader of the Menkragnoti Indigenous Land 📷 Fred Mauro/Terra Floresta Filmes/ISA

Kayapó Forest Defenders Urge United Nations to Help Halt Illegal Gold Mining in Brazil

By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, July 23, 2024

GENEVA -- Indigenous from Brazil urged the United Nations to join them and demand Brazil halt illegal gold mining, and its mercury contamination, now destroying the ancestral homelands of Kayapó, Yanomami and Munduruku Peoples, during the U.N. Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Doto Takak Ire, Mebêngôkre, said, "The Kayapó are still warriors and we will always be defenders of the forests."