Our team
Alexey Tsykarev
ChairAleksei Tsykarev serves as chair of the Center for Support of Indigenous Peoples and Civic Diplomacy «Young Karelia», an NGO recognized with special consultative status by United Nations Economic and Social Council. A lifetime activist for the rights of indigenous peoples in Russia, Tsykarev previously led the International Youth Association of Finno-Ugric Peoples, and has served as an independent expert in several United Nations capacities.
Tsykarev is a former Member and Chairperson-Rapporteur of the United Nations Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, a subsidiary body of the UN Human Rights Council. He also served on the International Steering Committee for the UN’s 2019 International Year of Indigenous Languages, led by UNESCO. Tsykarev holds a Master of Linguistics from Petrozavodsk State University, in Russia, and his academic publications focus on indigenous peoples’ rights, particularly in the areas of language and culture. In Spring 2019, he was a Visiting Scholar at the University of Colorado in the United States. Most recently, Tsykarev was appointed by the United Nations Economic and Social Council to serve as Member of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues for a three-year term starting on 1 January, 2020.
Tsykarev advises global institutions, including the World Bank, as well as think tanks and scientific organizations, regarding indigenous peoples’ rights. He has been active in a range of indigenous organizations, and has participated in regional and international forums, including the World Conference on Indigenous Issues, World Conference on Youth, the World Congress of Finno-Ugric Peoples, and the Global Indigenous Youth Caucus. Tsykarev has coordinated a number of international projects in the sphere of human rights, culture, and civic diplomacy, and serves on advisory councils to government ministries and offices. Tsykarev lectures on indigenous peoples and human rights at universities around the world, as well as in various bodies of the United Nations.
Natalia Antonova
Member of Board
Natalia Antonova graduated from Petrozavodsk State University with a degree in Philology: Karelian and Finnish Languages and Literature. Currently, she works as a methodologist in the ethnocultural center "Elämä" of Pryazha National District and cooperates with the newspaper "Oma Mua".
Natalia has a long-term experience in coordinating interregional, republican and local projects: "The musical incubator of Finno-Ugric youth", "Youth Karelian culture - towards the villages", "Puppet theater in Karelian language "Ciciliusku". She has organized language summer camps, festivals, seminars, master classes and trainings on preservation and promotion of national culture. Natalia worked as the regional coordinator of the Finnish-Russian project "Finno-Ugric Languages and Cultures in Preschool education" and the coordinator of the Russian-Finnish project "Promotion of the Baltic Finnish publishing in the Republic of Karelia".
Natalia is an active member of civil society, consultative and advisory councils with different authorities: Council of Representatives of Karelians, Vepsians and Finns under the Head of the Republic of Karelia, Civic Council of the National Theater of Karelia, International Consultative Committee of Finno-Ugric Peoples, Council for State Support of the Study of National Languages under the Ministry of Education of Karelia.
