76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly
UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues
Delivered by the Permanent Representative of Estonia to the UN, H.E. Mr. Sven Jürgenson
April 27, New York
Mr Chair, Mr Special Rapporteur,
The protection of the rights of indigenous peoples is a vital part of Estonia’s human rights policy. We strongly support the work of the Special Rapporteur, the Permanent Forum of Indigenous Issues, EMRIP, and the UN system as a whole in this regard.
At the outset, I would like to express our solidarity and support to the indigenous peoples of Ukraine. We recall that the Crimean peninsula, the home of the three indigenous peoples in Ukraine – Crimean Tatars, Karaites and Krymchaks, has been occupied and annexed by the Russian Federation since 2014, accompanied by the suppression of civil and political, cultural and educational rights. Estonia strongly condemns Russia’s large-scale, unprovoked, unlawful and unjustified war of aggression in Ukraine. We reiterate the demand of the General Assembly and the ICJ to Russia to put an end to its war, which has also a devastating impact on the indigenous peoples of Ukraine.
Mr Chair,
We are deeply concerned about the evidence, also presented to this Forum, that the progress towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals has largely been stalled or reversed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. This also concerns the goals that are central to the well-being of indigenous peoples, such as those addressing poverty, informal sector employment, environment and access to health care. We need to counter this trend. In this respect, we consider the inclusion and the voice of indigenous peoples’ representatives and organisations in meetings of all relevant UN bodies highly important.
Estonia continues its consistent support to the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Peoples. We also strongly support the International Decade of Indigenous Languages. There is an urgent need to protect, revitalize and promote indigenous languages around the world. In going forward, we emphasise i.a. the importance of making use of modern technologies to advance the promotion of linguistic diversity, multilingual internet and language technologies that take into account indigenous languages.
Mr Chair,
Estonia remains concerned about the situation of Finno-Ugric indigenous peoples. The number of people actually speaking Finno-Ugric languages in the Russian Federation is declining constantly. It is caused i.a. by the government’s hostile stance and therefore very limited opportunities, if any, for the Finno-Ugric peoples of Russia to preserve their languages and cultures.
We wish all the success to UNESCO in coordinating the activities of the decade. I am also glad to note that several events connected to the Decade are already in plan in Estonia, including a special opening event on 6 May.
Thank you.