Speaking as Equals

Talk of a crisis in the UN human rights system is becoming more frequent. The withdrawal of the United States from many UN bodies is alarming, including UNESCO, the UN Human Rights Council, the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), the UN International Law Commission, the UN Democracy Fund, and structures dealing with gender equality and women’s empowerment, child protection, and others. The very existence of the United Nations is also threatened by a financial crisis: in December 2025, Secretary-General António Guterres reported that total arrears of UN member states amount to about $1.586 billion—only 145 of 193 member states had fully paid their 2025 contributions (Russia was also among the debtors). The UN’s financial crisis could have especially negative consequences for vulnerable groups for whom special bodies were created within the UN system. I mean Indigenous peoples—who, as a rule, due to an unresolved colonial past, are very poorly represented in their own countries and cannot fully participate in decision-making on issues that affect them.

The Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (2000) and the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007) are relatively new UN bodies, as the need to protect Indigenous rights and overcome historical injustice was recognized by the international community only recently. Key documents on Indigenous rights were adopted 20–35 years ago: the ILO Convention No. 169 on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries (1989), the Convention on Biological Diversity (1993), the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (1994), and the main document in this field—the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007). In Russia, the laws protecting small-numbered Indigenous peoples were also adopted in the late 1990s and early 2000s—directly resulting from international cooperation and exchange of experience, opportunities that opened for Indigenous peoples in Russia after perestroika. Climate issues are especially important for Indigenous peoples, as climate change primarily affects their traditional territories—therefore it is vital that, at least within the UN, they can speak with governments on equal terms and appeal to international solidarity.

Russia has no intention of leaving the UN—on the contrary, it behaves dominantly, promoting its position while not defending human rights but insisting on “traditional values” and justifying anti-Ukrainian aggression, including via structures related to Indigenous rights and climate. Through loyal activists from among Indigenous peoples, Russia seeks sanctions relief, and at the recent 30th UN Climate Change Conference, in coalition with other conservative countries, it fought over every word in the Gender Action Plan—specifically against the commonly accepted concept of gender that allows non-binary identities. Russian state delegations readily appear before various UN committees and defend the state’s position—speaking about Indigenous peoples, Russian representatives are very proud of the state achievements and react nervously to criticism. This makes Russia’s real policy toward Indigenous peoples appear all the more cynical, because persecution is applied for speaking in international bodies created specifically for them.

In December 2025, raids took place across the country—from Saint Petersburg to the Republic of Sakha—targeting activists, journalists, and human rights defenders who had spoken not only locally but also in UN bodies. In the Murmansk region, a search was conducted at the home of Valentina Sovkina, a well-known Sámi activist and member of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. She was forced to leave Russia and, in her statement (23 December 2025), emphasized:

“We must call things by their proper names: this is not a fight against terrorism, it is political revenge. This is direct punishment by the state for the fact that Indigenous representatives dare to appeal to the UN, speak about violations of their rights, participate in international bodies, and tell the truth about what is happening in Russia. The Russian authorities are deliberately criminalizing the very idea of cooperation with the United Nations. Today, the space for free and independent opinion in Russia is practically destroyed. Any criticism, any dissent, any independent civic activity is harshly suppressed. It is especially cynical that the blow is aimed at the most vulnerable—small Indigenous peoples of Siberia and the Arctic, who are socially unprotected, live in remote settlements under harsh natural conditions, lack political weight, and are invisible to the ‘greater society.’ Our peoples cannot defend their rights except through international law. And that is precisely why we are being punished today.”

In Moscow, after a search, Darya Egereva, a representative of the Selkup Indigenous people, was taken into custody. Unfortunately, she was not protected from repression by the fact that she is a member of the UN Indigenous Coordination Body; since 2023 she has been Co-chair of the International Indigenous Peoples’ Forum on Climate Change; in November 2025 she spoke at the annual Conference of the Parties to the Climate Convention (COP30) in Brazil. On the contrary—this work became the basis for charges of “participation in the activities of a terrorist organization” (Article 205.5, Part 2 of the Criminal Code, carrying a sentence of 10–20 years in prison). The International Indigenous Peoples’ Forum on Climate Change (IIPFCC) condemned her unlawful arrest and demanded her immediate release, calling the actions of Russian authorities “revenge for her lawful and peaceful participation in COP-30 and other UN processes.”

One hopes that the UN’s financial crisis will not affect structures designed to protect Indigenous rights—as without sufficient funding, equal participation of Indigenous peoples in the global agenda is impossible. Guides like to say in the UN building in Geneva: the UN may seem overly bureaucratic and its budget inflated—but compare it with global military spending, and it becomes clear that maintaining the UN is far cheaper than spending enormous sums on armies and bombs.

It will be difficult to replace the UN with anything else because its creation was the result of long processes and prior experience, including the League of Nations, and some of its bodies are truly unique (such as the aforementioned mechanisms for protecting Indigenous peoples).

The UN’s primary declared goal is the prevention of wars and the peaceful resolution of international conflicts. The painful history behind these ideas can be seen in the very wording of the UN’s founding documents. The UN Charter begins:

“We the peoples of the United Nations determined to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind, and to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights…”

And the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted shortly after the UN’s founding (1948), begins:

“Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,
Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people…”

This is especially important for Indigenous peoples, who have no alternative—while some other vulnerable groups may have other sources and avenues for international protection, many Indigenous peoples simply have no adequate representation anywhere except within the United Nations.