Pavel Sulyandziga at the UN: “Entire Peoples Are Being Left Without a Voice”
Updated: 5 hours ago
At the 25th session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in New York, Pavel Sulyandziga, a representative of the Udege people and Chair of the Board of the Batani Foundation, spoke about the health of Indigenous Peoples in Russia, linking the issue not only to access to healthcare but also to the loss of traditional lands, the criminalization of traditional livelihoods, and political repression.
The session was held under the theme “Ensuring the health of Indigenous Peoples, including in situations of conflict.” The Forum’s official programme examined health as a comprehensive issue encompassing physical and mental well-being, as well as broader determinants such as land, culture, language, and self-determination.
In his statement, Sulyandziga emphasized the particularly difficult situation regarding the mental health of entire Indigenous communities. He said that several generations have been living with the consequences of a lack of rights and adequate protection, while under the current political conditions in Russia, speaking openly about these problems has become dangerous.
He also highlighted the lack of reliable official statistics on the situation of the Indigenous Peoples of the North, Siberia, and the Far East. According to Sulyandziga, the official picture differs substantially from the reality revealed by independent research.
He cited the example of one Siberian community where, according to an independent study, not a single adult man over the age of 18 had no criminal record. Most of the criminal cases, Sulyandziga said, were related to poaching.
He linked this situation to the loss of Indigenous peoples’ access to their traditional lands and resources. For many communities, hunting and fishing remain essential sources of food and income. Yet people can find themselves criminalized for activities that have traditionally provided for their families.
“How are people expected to feel when they are exiled from their own lands and prosecuted and criminalized for carrying out their traditional activities and speaking the truth about this?” Sulyandziga asked.
Another part of his statement focused on the repression of independent representatives of Indigenous Peoples in Russia. He recalled the mass searches carried out against activists across Russia in December 2025. As a result of that campaign, Daria Egereva and Natalia Leongardt were arrested and remain in detention. They have been charged under Part 2 of Article 205.5 of the Russian Criminal Code, which carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison.
Sulyandziga stressed that the persecution of activists has forced many people to remain silent or leave the country.
“Entire communities and peoples are being left without a voice,” he said.
At the end of his statement, Sulyandziga called for the release of all political prisoners, including Daria Egereva and Natalia Leongardt.
Full video of Pavel Sulyandziga’s statement:
Pavel Sulyandziga’s statement at the 25th session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues
Free Daria and Natalia!
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