VLADIVOSTOK, September 13. /TASS/. A federal law on ethnological expertise will regulate relations between subsoil users, authorities, low-numbered indigenous peoples and industrial areas' residents, experts told TASS.
"A federal law [on ethnological expertise] will provide an opportunity to improve the effectiveness of the state policy in relation to low-numbered indigenous peoples, and will guarantee their rights. The federal law will be helpful in strategic planning of the socio-economic development in the territories where ethnic groups live," said Sergey Nikonorov, Doctor of Economics, Professor of the Environmental Economics Department, the Economics Faculty at the Lomonosov Moscow State University.
Yakutia is the only region with a local law on ethnological expertise. It is applicable to plans of interaction between businesses and the indigenous peoples. Such plans include cutting the facility's possible impact at the pre-project stage, compensation for damage, and sustainable development measures.
Habitat preservation
According to the expert, the independent federal law will outline the ethnological expertise, which will be supplemented and specified in every region. "Thus, it will be possible to monitor and evaluate changes in the social, cultural, economic, and other spheres of the indigenous peoples life, to assess effectiveness of decisions taken by state and local authorities, as well as to analyze how industrial companies influence the ethno-cultural situation in the region," the scientist added.
The expert is confident such a law will favor recording changes in the quality of life in connection with the activities of businesses and authorities. "If uniform requirements and procedures of ethnological expertise are consolidated at the federal law level, it would be possible to monitor all types of interactions between parties, and to establish a balance of interests of the indigenous peoples, businesses and authorities," he said.
The federal legal regulation in this area will create stable conditions for the preservation and development of the ancestral habitat and socio-cultural environment. "Noteworthy, the goals of the ethnological expertise legislation, as well as the expertise itself, are first of all not to compensate in monetary or any other form for the damage to indigenous peoples, but to ensure the implementation of mechanisms that would contribute to the preservation of ethnic groups, the transmission to future generations of their traditional original culture, traditions and customs, the traditional way of life," he said.
Alternative to federal law
According to Natalia Novikova, a leading researcher at the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, a federal law is necessary, but there are no chances it would be adopted yet. "The discussion about [adopting] such a law began in 1999, when legislators adopted a law on rights of indigenous minorities, which contains an article defining such an examination. Nowadays, regional laws may be of great importance - the regions are more flexible, and they are more focused on local conditions. If we adopt regional laws on ethnological expertise in the Yamalo-Nenets and Khanty-Mansi Regions, this would be an important step forward," the expert noted.
On the other hand, she continued, an expertise may be effective only in conjunction with other legislative acts. "Why the law in Yakutia is effective? Yakutia has adopted a law not only on ethnological expertise, but also on the support of a nomadic lifestyle. As a rule, nomadic indigenous peoples experience most problems with industrialists. Yakutia, and later on Chukotka have further on adopted laws on social and environmental responsibility of subsoil users. It is necessary to follow a path where the ethnological expertise law in combination with such acts could become part of the country's legal system," she added.
"In Yakutia, this law has been adopted, examinations are being conducted. However, still exists a disparity between financial and social obligations of companies. Supervisory and public authorities monitor compensation payments, paying less attention to what policies those companies will be implementing. The second aspect all the northern regions face is relations with small companies, like, for example, gold mining teams. It is difficult to monitor them due to a lack of general legislation," the expert noted.
According to Irina Samsonova, Head of the Geosystems' Ethno-social and Ethno-economic Studies Department at Yakutia's Academy of Sciences, an alternative to the ethnological expertise law could be addendums to the existing federal law on the indigenous peoples' rights. "It would be a big step" if we could expand a little the ethnological expertise concept, describe cases of its application and the subject of research, she added.
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The 8th Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) is running in Vladivostok on September 10-13, 2023. The slogan for this year’s forum is: On the Path to Partnership, Peace and Prosperity. The Roscongress Foundation is the event organizer. TASS is the forum's general information partner.