Dmitry Semushin: Who and how began to reject the Russian Arctic from Russia?
A political act that opened the way for cooperation in the Arctic of the USSR (Russia) and Western countries and the creation of the so-called The Barents region, was the speech of the Secretary General of the CPSU, Mikhail Gorbachev 1 October 1987, in Murmansk. In it, in particular, he said: "Issues related to the interests of the indigenous population of the North, with the study of its ethnic characteristics, the development of cultural ties between northern peoples require special attention."
So, for the first time in the modern era in the subarctic region, the question was raised about the modern interstate cooperation on the problem of the "indigenous peoples" of the Arctic. We note the terminological ambiguity in the speech of Mikhail S.Gorbachev, which is very characteristic for the whole epoch of perestroika, and so-called. "new thinking". On the one hand, in his speech there is the traditional for Soviet law concept of "northern nations" (compare: "small nations of the North"). And, on the other hand, the innovation is “the indigenous people of the North”, under which its students in Murmansk, the Soviet people, could perceive themselves. So, apparently, it happened, because they interrupted this fragment in a speech by the Secretary General of the CPSU with applause. But, as the next steps of the first and last president of the USSR showed, the “indigenous population” still meant the former Soviet “small nations of the North”.
Two years later, in 1989, the USSR joined the ILO Convention No. 107 "On the Protection of Indigenous and Other Populations Leading a Tribal and Semi-Tribal Life Style in Independent Countries". The concept of "indigenous people" was introduced into the domestic legal field. It was used in the basic document when establishing the transboundary Barents region in 1993 - the “Declaration on Cooperation in the Barents Euro-Arctic Region”, adopted at the Conference of Foreign Ministers of Russia, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Iceland in Kirkenes 11 in January 1993 In the special section "Indigenous people" of the declaration we read: "The participants reaffirmed their commitment to ensuring the rights of the indigenous people of the North in accordance with the goals set out in the 26 section on indigenous peoples Agenda 21 of the 21st century. They expressed their commitment to strengthening the indigenous communities of the region and assured them that the cooperation they are starting to take into account the interests of the indigenous population. "
However, if we turn to the original text of the Kirkenes Declaration on Cooperation in the Barents Euro-Arctic Region in English, then in all cases the term “indigenous peoples”, i.e., “indigenous peoples”, is used there. The section itself is so called - "Indigenous peoples". Let's compare the text in the marked fragment in English: "26. 21. XNUMX. "Indigenous communities of the region,"
Thus, from the international legal point of view, the Russian side, represented by then Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev, proceeded from the interpretation of the concept of "indigenous people" given by the ILO Convention No. 107 1957 (the Convention on the Protection and Integration of Indigenous and Other Populations Leading and semi-tribal lifestyle, in independent countries "). And the Western signatories of the Declaration, in particular the Norwegians, from the interpretation of the concept of "indigenous people" from the ILO Convention number 169 ("Convention on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries). Recall that in the latter case," indigenous people “are understood the descendants of those“ who inhabited the country or geographical area of which the country is a part, during its conquest or colonization or during the establishment of existing state borders. ”(Conv. ILO No. 169. Art. 1. § 1 b). Compared to this, under the "root the population "in the USSR Convention ILO No. 107 1957 adopted by the USSR was understood only the population" leading a tribal or semi-tribal way of life "(Conv. ILO No. 107. Art. 1. § 1 b).
Thus, there is a mismatch of concepts allowed by the parties that signed the "Declaration on Cooperation in the Barents Euro-Arctic Region" in the section on "indigenous people" / "indigenous peoples", which is unacceptable for international cooperation documents. Moreover, in the Russian text of the section on the "Indigenous Population", the use of the concept of "indigenous people" was three times permitted, in fact, at that time, not yet adopted in Russian legislation, which has not yet been adopted. Therefore, it’s illegal for the Russian side to look at the obligation in this section of the Declaration “to exchange information about the current and upcoming legislation regulating the situation of indigenous peoples in their countries”.
So, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Andrei Kozyrev, in the considered examples showed incompetence and made fatal, unusual for the former Soviet diplomacy of the Gromyko epoch, blunders bordering on, in fact, an official crime. At the same time, we must pay tribute to the diplomatic dexterity of the Norwegian Prime Minister Thurvald Stoltenberg, who managed to draw Russia in the Barents region on the delicate "national issue" into the Western game. As one Russian Scandinavian diplomat pointedly noted: "The Declaration of Cooperation in the Barents Euro-Arctic Region, dubbed the Kirkenes, was recognized by leading politicians as an art of the possible."
The international legal error, the consequences of which became apparent to us only in recent years, was fixed at the same time in Kirkinesse when the heads of the Arkhangelsk and Murmansk regions signed a protocol establishing the Barents Regional Council. Together with them, the aforementioned document was signed by representatives of the Norwegian provinces Finnmark, Troms and Nordland, Finnish Lapland, and the Swedish Norbotten. The complete diplomatic failure of the heads of the Russian regions was manifested in the fact that they even agreed to use the concept of “indigenous people” in the Russian translation - “to take into account the interests of indigenous peoples and ensure their active participation in the multilateral development of the region”. Moreover, they did not object when, in addition to the heads of the Norwegian, Finnish and Swedish regions, the designated document as an authorized representative was also signed by a representative of the so-called. Sami Parliament of Norway. This precedent allowed by the heads of the Russian regions made it possible for a similar Aboriginal body to appear in the Russian Federation. We will write off the mistake to the incompetence of the heads of Russian regions in international affairs. But where were the Russian diplomats at that time? In 2010, the local “Sami parliament” was created in the Murmansk region. However, the legal reason for its existence was given when the Barents Region was founded. Is not it?
So, the officially announced program of activities of the Norwegian Barents region in Russia includes five areas. The third direction is “recognition of the traditional and cultural needs, values and interests of the indigenous peoples of the Arctic”. However, the key concept of "indigenous people" is legally differently understood by the main participants of the "Barents cooperation". From the point of view of the Norwegians, the “indigenous peoples” of the Russian, as they say, sectors of the Barents region live in conquered and colonized territory. They occupy a non-dominant, dependent and discriminated position. Indigenous peoples do not sufficiently enjoy their collective rights. In this they need help. After the publication of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, adopted at the 107 plenary meeting of the UN General Assembly 13 September 2007, the Norwegians, in addition, began to act on the basis of a slightly different strategy, which assumed that only the “disadvantage” of the indigenous peoples could be overcome by “restoring” them as “nations” —that is, integral social systems that have a land and resource base for self-sufficient development and their own institutions of power, which constitute a special national territory General level of management along with federal and regional.
As for the Russian side, until recently it has been engaged in clarifying the concept of “root”, however, doing so in a completely different direction than the Norwegian one. Only eleven months after the creation of the Barents region in the Constitution of the Russian Federation of 1993 in article 69 the concept of “indigenous people” appears. In the federal law "On the Foundations of State Regulation of the Socio-Economic Development of the North of the Russian Federation" of June 19, 1996 (No. 78-FZ), this concept received the following clarification: "Indigenous peoples of the North - peoples living in the territories of traditional residence of their ancestors, preserving an original way of life, numbering less than 50 thousand people in Russia and realizing themselves as independent ethnic communities. " The report "On the Basics of State Policy of the Russian Federation in the North" at the meeting of the Presidium of the State Council of April 28, 2004 additionally formulated the concept of "indigenous people of the North", which meant "people born in the North and permanently residing there at least one generation. " The divergence with the Norwegians in the interpretation of the concept of “indigenous people” was continued at the disposal of the government of the “Concept for the Sustainable Development of the Indigenous Minorities of the North, Siberia and the Far East of the Russian Federation” dated February 4, 2009. The introduction gave its own Russian understanding of the key concept of the subject of national politics, including, we note, in the Barents region: “The Russian Federation is one of the largest multinational states in the world with more than 160 peoples, each of which has unique characteristics of material and spiritual culture. The overwhelming majority of the country's peoples have developed over the centuries as ethnic communities on the territory of Russia, and in this sense they are indigenous peoples who played historical role in the formation of the Russian state. "
Thus, the discrepancy in the interpretation of the basic concept in the field of cooperation on "indigenous people" (Russian version) or "indigenous people" (Norwegian) inherent in the founding of the Barents region in its main document - the Declaration did not diminish over time, but even increased. becoming a legal basis for conflict.
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