30.07.2019

Report regarding the situation with Shor people and other indigenous peoples of Russia (CERD)

In July 2019 ADC Memorial, Mysky local civic organization “Revival of Kazas and Shor people” and Institute for Ecology and Action Anthropology (Germany) submitted information regarding the situation with Shor people and other indigenous peoples of Russia to Committee on Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD).

The report was submitted as a parallel information regarding the implementation by the Russian Federation urgent recommendations of CERD in 2017.

In end of 2012 the coal company ‘Yuzhnaya’ from the holding ‘Sibuglemet’ started excavations next to Shor village Kazas (Kemerovo region). The company bought the land and houses from the inhabitants of the village. In 2013 five houses of Shor people who refused to sell their houses and land were burnt. As a consequence the village was ruined, the saint mountain of Shor people Karagay-Lyash was exploded, the cemetery is left in the territory closed for visits nowadays. In 2018 Yana and Vladislav Tannagashevy, Shor activists were forced to leave the territory of Russia due to persecution.

In August 2017 the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination expressed its concern that the rights of Shor people from Kazas village were not restored. The Committee recommended the government of the Russian Federation to organize consultations with Shor people, to provide compensations for lost land and houses, and to provide access to indigenous land and cemetery as well as to respect the principle of free, prior and informed consent in all the decisions that affect the Shor people. In April 2019 the government provided its implementation report, in which it stated that the rights of indigenous people are observed, and that the situation with Shor people and the village of Kazas have been resolved.

During its next session in August 2019 the Committee will take decision whether Russia has indeed implemented its recommendations.

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