Arctic Peoples

Oqaasileriffik – the Greenland Language Secretariat launches the first version of Kukkuniiaat, an intelligent Greenlandic spell checker and hyphenation tool, which can be used in Microsoft Word and other programs in Office.
Read the rest of this entry »

Arctic Council Ministerial meeting" id="image75" title="Indigenous Leaders at the Arctic Council Ministerial meeting" src="http://www.arcticpeoples.org/wp-content/uploads/2006/10/pp_salekhard.jpg" />

At the Arctic Council Ministerial meeting in [GP:Salekhard], Russia, Indigenous Leaders from the circumpolar Arctic region delivered strong messages to the Arctic Council .

Watch the statements here in their original languages. Russian/English transcripts will be added later.

Read the rest of this entry »

NEWS RELEASE 26/10/2006

Leaders of Indigenous Peoples from around the Arctic wrapped up their meeting with the Arctic Council in [GP:Salekhard] today. The end of the meeting marks the end of Russia’s two-year chairing of the eight-nation Council. It was attended by Foreign Ministers from several countries, as well as the Indigenous Leaders. While the Indigenous Leaders praised the achievements of the Council over the past two years, they also took the opportunity to point out to the Ministers that many pressing issues in the Arctic remain. The Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North ( RAIPON ) told Ministers that development pressures, particularly in areas such as the Amur River watershed are facing development pressures and pollution that are threatening reindeer pastures, hunting and fishing activities, and sacred sites.

Read the rest of this entry »

Interview with Chief Gary Harrison, International Chair of the Arctic Athabaskan Council , on Yamal regional TV during the ongoing Arctic Council SAO-meeting in [GP:Salekhard], Russia.

Read the rest of this entry »

While in some parts of the Arctic, Indigenous Peoples push for self-government, they have a different solution in the Yamal Nenets Autonomous Okrug in Russia. Indigenous Peoples here number just over 34,000 out of a total of more than 500,000 people, but they have managed to secure an impressive amount of control by working within the system. There is a quota system that sets aside positions in the Government of the Okrug for Indigenous Peoples. Sergey Kharuchi is President of the Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North ( RAIPON ). He is also speaker of the Parliament for the Okrug, a powerful position. Kharuchi says the Yamal Nenets Government has passed legislation that supports the position of Indigenous Peoples in their dealings with resource companies.

“We have our own system,” says Kharuchi. “We are not separated, but integrated into the system. We think it is more effective.”

Read the rest of this entry »

The eight states that make up the Arctic Council are meeting along with Arctic Indigenous Leaders this week in [GP:Salekhard], Russia. Much of the discussion to date has focused on what is maybe the biggest issue in the Arctic at the moment, climate change. Indigenous Peoples had hoped that the release of the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment would lead to immediate action on climate change by the Arctic states. However, much of the two years since the ACIA was released has been taken up with discussing what to do next. Chief Gary Harrison, from Chickaloon Village in Alaska, is the Chair of the Indigenous Peoples’ Secretariat, the organization that helps to coordinate the work of the Indigenous Peoples at the Arctic Council . He says that he is particularly concerned that the states should take actions that reduce the production of climate change.

Read the rest of this entry »

An Arctic Council Assessment of shipping in Arctic Waters is taking note of the historic use of those waters by Indigenous Peoples. There had been some concern among Indigenous Peoples, particularly those who traditionally use the sea forSaami Council )" alt="Gunn-Britt Retter (Sámeráđđi/ Saami Council )" src="http://www.arcticpeoples.org/wp-content/uploads/2006/10/gunnbritt_update.jpg" align="right" /> travelling, fishing and hunting, that the assessment would only concentrate on modern use of Arctic waters. Arctic indigenous peoples’ organizations, including the Saami Council and the Inuit Circumpolar Council , have been working hard to ensure that the assessment looks further back in history. Gunn-Britt Retter, Head of the Arctic and Environmental Unit with the Saami Council , says that looking at the historic indigenous use of Arctic waters is important for Saami.

“The Saami have been using the fjords on the Barents Sea for fishing and for subsistence for millennia. In the last twenty years Norwegian commercialisation of the fisheries have put pressure on the traditional fisheries, it has been pressured by commercialisation. That has implications for indigenous rights, the rights of Saami on the coast.”

The organization conducting the Assessment is a working group of the Arctic Council called PAME (Protection of the Arctic Marine Environment).

It intends to not only include indigenous use in its assessment, but also intends to hold “town hall’ meetings in different parts of the Arctic to get information and opinions from Arctic Indigenous Peoples who live on the coast.

Arctic Indigenous Leaders will be in [GP:Salekhard], Russia near the end of October for meetings of the Arctic Council . This is the highest level meeting of the council, held once every two years, in which many of the Arctic states are represented by their Foreign Ministers. These “Ministerial” meetings give direction for the work of the Council for the next two years.

The Indigenous Leaders are hopeful that this meeting will produce a plan that results in real action on climate change by the Council. Following the release of the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment during the last Ministerial meeting, Indigenous Peoples expected that the Council would follow up on the obvious needs for both mitigation and adaptation as responses to the present and coming levels of climate change. In a statement delivered during the last Arctic Council meeting in Syktyvkar, the Indigenous Leaders made a statement on the Council’s climate change action to date, calling it “deeply disappointing”.

The Leaders made some suggestions on how to improve the Council’s climate change response, including the involvement of more experts and the development of “an impacts and adaptation program that includes community-based pilot projects on adaptation, and stresses comparative work on education, outreach and communications, and capacity building.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Press release from Saami Council and Finland’s Sámi Central Organization

The Government of Finland misjudged its position on Sámi issues when it became a member of the new UN Human Rights Council last spring.  On May 9, 2006, Finland was elected to the Council based on its freely given commitment to propose to its parliament, during 2006, legislation to remove all obstacles to Finland’s ratification of the ILO Convention No. 169 concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries, dealing with the unresolved rights of the Sámi over land, resources and livelihood.

So far, Finland has not fulfilled its commitment to the UN, and, thus, is treading on Sámi human rights.  A proposal of legislation, prepared by ministries in June 2006, has not been acted upon. In September, this year, the member of the Finnish Government has publicly announced that the government is not going to submit the Draft Government Bill to the Parliament.
Read the rest of this entry »

AIA has published a newsletter. The focus in this edition of the newsletter is:

Special Interest, Articles:

• Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning Project (PSP)
• Bering Sea Sub-Network (BSSN)

Individual Highlights:

• AIA Staff and Board
• AIA Projects
• Industry Acronyms
• Calendar of Events

The Aleut International Association (AIA) is an Alaska Native not-for-profit corporation registered in the State of Alaska, United States, in 1998.

Read the rest of this entry »