Experts and representatives of municipalities will discuss preparations for the International Year of Indigenous Languages

Experts from Russia, Estonia, Switzerland and the Nordic countries will gather in the capital of Karelia to discuss preparations for 2019 - International Year of Indigenous Languages. Discussions will take place within the framework of the international workshop “Realization of the rights of indigenous peoples at the municipal level”, which the Center for Support of Indigenous Peoples and Civic Diplomacy “Young Karelia”, in collaboration with the Youth Information and Legal Center for Indigenous Peoples “Nevond”, holds on October 4-5, 2018 hotel "Peter Inn" (Petrozavodsk, Sq. Gagarin, 1).

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Several members of the Steering Committee of the International Year of Indigenous Languages, UN and UNESCO experts, representatives of the Presidential Council on Interethnic Relations, leaders of indigenous organizations, scholars and practitioners will offer their own vision of how plans that have received support at the highest level of the UN General Assembly can be implemented at the level that is closest to indigenous peoples - the level of settlements and communities. Many municipalities of Karelia and neighboring regions sent their representatives to the workshop, the task of which is to exchange best practices, successful projects and ideas for the future.

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The workshop will act as an educational platform for activists and representatives of government bodies and institutions at the municipal level. Presentations of new initiatives and creative projects will take place at the workshop.

The international workshop is an important stage in the implementation of two projects of the Young Karelia Center. One of them - “Finno-Ugric peoples of Karelia: development of civic diplomacy and strengthening of internal potential” - was supported by the Ministry of National and Regional Policy of the Republic of Karelia. It is aimed at the development of the organizational and expert potential of public organizations and movements of the Finno-Ugric peoples of the Republic of Karelia for their more effective participation in relevant regional, interregional and international processes. The project will also allow informing citizens of the republic about the agenda and the work of the national movement of Karelians, Vepsians and Finns of Karelia.

The second project - “Indigenous peoples’ and ethnic minorities’ cooperation and networking increase facility in the Nordic countries and Northwest Russia - started in 2017 with the support of the Nordic Council of Ministers. The project created conditions for the exchange of experience and mutual learning of organizations of indigenous peoples of the North-West of Russia and the Arctic.

Programme of workshop