Oil Industry and Reindeer Herding: The Problems of Implementing Indigenous Rights in the Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Russia Anna Degteva Thesis submitted for the degree: Master of Philosophy in Indigenous Studies Faculty of Social Science, University of Tromsø Spring 2006 Co-funded by “The Challenge of Indigenousness: Politics of Rights, Resources and Knowledge”. Oil Industry and Reindeer Herding: The Problems of Implementing Indigenous Rights In the Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Russia Anna Degteva Master Thesis Spring 2006 Master of Philosophy in Indigenous Studies Faculty of Social Sciences University of Tromsø Co-funded by: ““The Challenge of Indigenousness: Politics of Rights, Resources and Knowledge.” Centre for Sami Studies, University of Tromsø i ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank many people and institutions without whom this thesis would never have come true. First, I am grateful to the University of Tromsø (UiTø) for the opportunity to do the Master Programe in Indigenous Studies and for the resources available. I am thankful to Indra Øverland for his initial help in launching this project. For considerable financial support a special thanks goes to the research project “The Challenge of Indigenousness: Politics of Rights, Resources and Knowledge” at the Centre for Sami Studies, UiTø. I am most thankful to Professor Ivar Bjørklund at Tromsø Museum for supervising this paper with consistency, patience and good humour. I am grateful to Winfried Dallmann at the Norwegian Polar Institute, who has spent many hours helping me to make the maps for this thesis. Thank you also for the front-page picture. My deep gratitude goes to the people I met during my fieldwork in Khorey-Ver and Naryan-Mar. Particular thanks and warm regards to Fedot Kusteshev without whom I would not succeeded. Many thanks to the family of Lageiskie, especially to Zhanna and Tatyana, for accommodation and for making my time in the Khorey-Ver village nice and unforgettable. I am grateful to the governmental and non-governmental organisations of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug for fruitful collaboration, and personally to Ludmila Laptander, Alexander Belugin and Andrey Vokuev. I am thankful to my colleagues at the Master Program and to all my friends in Tromsø who were the best source of inspiration and support, especially to Lena Susanne Gaup, Erika Satta, Marte Nermark, Ekaterina Zelina and Yury Kiselev. Thank you for giving me a wonderful time. With all my heart, I want to thank Camilla Brattland for being a friend indeed during these years, as well as for thorough reading through this paper and true encouragements. The most sincere gratitude to all my friends who gave me a hand in proofreading and doing last- minute corrections. Thank you very much! And, finally, I would like to thank my friend and ‘psychologist’, Per Klemetsen Hætta, for staying by my side during both good and bad times. iii TABLE OF CONTENT 1 INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………………………1 1.1 General problem statement and research question………………………………1 1.2 Presentation of the case………………………………………………………….1 1.3 Structure of the thesis……………………………………………………………2 2 SOME THEORETICAL COMMENTS………………………………………………………5 2.1 Comparative perspective………………………………………………………..5 2.2 Ethnicity and politics: the case of the Sami……………………………………..6 2.3 Theorizing ethnicity: studies in Norway and in Russia…………………………7 3 ON METHODOLOGY………………………………………………………………………11 3.1 The fieldwork……………………………………………………………….…..11 3.2 Data collection……………………………………………………………….....12 3.3 Problems faced and lessons learned………………………………………...….14 4 THE INTERNATIONAL LEVEL………………………………………………………..…17 4.1 International Indigenous Movement …………………………………………...17 4.2 New global economic regime and the indigenous peoples…………………….19 4.3 International legal standards concerning indigenous peoples………………….21 5 THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION (THE FEDERAL LEVEL)………………………………26 5.1 The State and the indigenous peoples……………………………………..…...26 5.2 Indigenous ethnopolitical movement (RAIPON)…………………………..….30 5.3 ‘From central planning to free capitalism’…………………………………….32 5.4 Russian legislation regarding indigenous peoples…………………………..…35 5.5 Summary……………………………………………………………………….40 6 THE NENETS AUTONOMOUS OKRUG (THE REGIONAL LEVEL)……………….…41 6.1 The Nenets Autonomous Okrug: introduction………………………………….41 6.2 The basis of economic development: reindeer herding, oil, or both?..................41 6.3 Regional politics and legislation………………………………………………..46 6.4 Regional ethnopolitical movement (Yasavey)………………………………….49 6.5 Summary ……………………………………………………………………….54 7 THE KHOREI-VER VILLAGE (THE LOCAL LEVEL)………………………………….55 7.1 The story of the SPK “Put’ Il’icha” and the Khorei-Ver village……………….55 7.2 Resource management: tradition and/or modernity……………………..……...57 7.3 “Surviving economy”…………………………………………………….……..63 7.4 Oil companies: ambiguity of their activities…………………………………....64 7.5 Ethnicity and its management at the local level: “The lack of indigenousness”..69 7.6 Summary………………………………………………………………………..72 iv 8 CONCLUSION….…………………………………………………………………………..74 8.1 Comparison with the Sami case: finding the answers to the research question….74 8.2 The problems with implementation of indigenous rights in Russia: realising the causes………………………………………………………………………...75 8.3 Implications for the Global level…………………………………………………78 Literature……..…………………………………………………………………………………80 Appendix…………………………………………………………………………………………85 Map no.1 Oil development and reindeer pasture lands in the Nenets Autonomous Okrug Map no.2 Pasture lands of SPK “Put’ Il’icha” v 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 General problem statement and research question The last decades, called the ‘Globalisation era’, have been characterised by a dramatically increased flow of goods, services and technology across national borders. Along with products and capital, ideas and cultures circulate more freely. As a result, laws, economies and social movements are being formed at the international level. Recently, along with this flow of ideas and cultures has come an increased awareness of indigenous issues. The international community has recognised that indigenous peoples, despite the diversity of situations they face, have in common that been socially and economically disadvantaged for several centuries. In order to redress the harm done, indigenous peoples’ rights have been considered and international standards have been set. The main concerns indigenous peoples and international organs (Permanent Forum, the UN Working Groups) have are: control over and safeguard of land and natural resources; the right to preserve culture, language, tradition and lifestyles; the right to practice and benefit from economic and social development in accordance with indigenous views; health protection; and administration of justice. However, in spite of the acknowledgment of indigenous peoples’ rights at the international level, allegations of violations of their human rights and fundamental freedoms are being received form different parts of the world. Obviously, there are some problems with the implementation mechanisms since indigenous peoples still face discrimination, poverty, poor health, detachment from their traditional land, etc. And the key question is what these problems are, or in other words: “Why is it so difficult to implement international standards concerning indigenous rights?” In the present paper I would like to contribute to answering the question I have just raised by discussing the example of one region in Russia – the Nenets Autonomous Okrug, where, at this point, the interests of oil and gas companies clash with the needs of Nenets and Komi reindeer herders for land resources. By no means do I claim to present a universal explanation since, despite some common trends, indigenous peoples’ experiences differ to a great extent when talking about the situation around the world. Nevertheless, it is vital to identify and analyse the factors that trouble implementation of international legal standards at the grassroots level in order to consider them in international and national law making. 1.2 Presentation of the case Oil extraction and transportation endangers traditional occupations and, hence, the culture and livelihood of the indigenous Nenets reindeer breeders of the “Put’ Il’icha” reindeer herding farm in the Khorei-Ver village. This village, with about 900 people, is situated in the western part of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug (‘district’ - hereafter NAO). The oil companies’ impact is quite ambiguous and 1 covers several dimensions: environment, economic condition, social situation, and local reindeer and land management. The local population, however, perceives the activities of oil companies as more positive than negative. This is in spite of the concretely negative consequences, such as: reported flora and fauna loss and environmental pollution caused by oil activities; the insufficiency of the compensation policies and potential social problems (so-called “consumers’ attitude”, social tensions because of feeling of injustice); direct obstacles for reindeer management due to oil pipeline and roads cutting off part of their pastures. The positive impact - the current financial support - is perceived as more important. This, as we will see, has to do with the fact that cash income helps people to overcome the economic crises and seems to give an opportunity for future survival. The situation reindeer herders face can be described by following: the Nenets indigenous population constitutes half of the total local population on the land that has