| Information Centre of Finno-Ugric Peoples | 30 Press release |
|
| Press releases |
Youth to be Main Theme of Finno-Ugrian Congress in Tallinn
The session of the Consultative Committee of Finno-Ugric Peoples ended yesterday in Inari, Finnish Samiland. The participants in the session included representatives of the Youth Association of Finno-Ugric Peoples as observers. The delegations of all 20 peoples represented agreed to the proposal presented by the Estonian organising committee to concentrate the themes of the (4th World) Congress (of Finno-Ugric Peoples) on problems relating to youth. The final formulation of the main theme will be approved by the Committee in Khanty-Mansiisk in March. (The 4th World Congress of Finno-Ugric Peoples is due to be held in Tallinn, Estonia in 2004.) The Committee decided that besides the plenary sessions, the Congress will have five sections: on social and political issues, on language and education, on culture, on the media, on health, ecology and demography respectively. Instead of the planned section on economic issues, arranging a forum on economic issues was found. The forum is to be organised by the chambers of commerce and industry of the countries involved. The project of the forum will be elaborated by the Committee's working group on economy on its session in Budapest later in the year. Momentous items in the working plan of the Consultative Committee include participation in the United Nations permanent forum as well as working groups on indigenous peoples, seminars on cross-cultural communication, the usage of Finno-Ugric minority languages and the health of Finno-Ugric peoples. The Consultative Committee will be one of the organisers of next year's international folklore festival in Tver, Russia, the 3rd congress on Finno-Ugrian history in Yoshkar-Ola (Republic of Mari El, the Russian Federation) as well as many other events. The reports presented by Finno-Ugrians from the Russian Federation revealed that their situation has not improved. Much concern was expressed about the population census in the Russian Federation, due to be held in October. Although representatives of minority peoples were consulted and several meetings held, the agreements reached have not been heeded. At the last moment, the question on the first language in the census was replaced with the question "Do you speak Russian?". Further, the participant in the census has to note which other languages he or she is proficient in. Thus the census precludes gaining any knowledge on the number of people speaking Finno-Ugric languages as their first language. A seminar was held before the session of the Consultative Committee on September 17, with Knut Furuheim, vice president of the company Fortum, presenting the joint venture of Fortum and Lukoil, situated in the Finno-Ugric territories of the Russian Federation (the Republic of Komi and the Nenets Autonomous District). Fortum will mine oil and gas allegedly in a more environment-friendly manner and with more consideration for indigenous peoples as compared to previous practice. Vladimir Zorin, co-ordinating minister on minority peoples of the Russian Federation, spoke on the ethnic policies of the Russian Federation, leaving a positive impression. Unfortunately, on the following day, correspondent Pekka Lehtonen of the the Finnish news service STT published a report from Moscow which stated, referring to Vladimir Tashtamyshev, chairman of the union of republic and autonomous district parliaments of the Russian Federation, that the centralisation policy pursued by President Vladimir Putin will lead the small peoples of the Russian Federation to imminent extinction. A bleaker frame was given to the optimistic reports by Pekka Aikio, chairman of the Saami Parliament in Finland, and the representative of the Mansi Tatyana Gogoleva from Siberia. The first Saami of Finland clearly stated that the Saami claim from the state of Finland their land, which has belonged to them by law, but the state does not agree to their claims. Similar problems are faced by the peoples of Siberia. Following the passing of the new Land Codex by the parliament of the Russian Federation, local regulations which provided the Khanty and Mansi the rights of use and disposal of their lands, have been suspended. The indigenous peoples have been left defenseless in the face of powerful oil companies. Andres Heinapuu |
|