« Transferring Indigenous peoples: Olivia Doyle, Hiroshi Maruyama, ‘”Why did our ancestors have to leave home?” Revisionist and decolonial histories of the 1875–1876 forced relocation of Karafuto Ainu and the struggle for human dignity and rights’, The International Journal of Human Rights, 2026

Registration! Ekaterina Zmyvalova, ‘An informational tool, not a legal guarantee: the federal registry of Indigenous persons in Russia’, The Polar Journal, 2026

13Oct26

Abstract: The establishment of a Unified Federal Registry of Individuals Belonging to Indigenous Small-Numbered Peoples of Russia in 2022 was a necessary step to regulate the rights of Indigenous peoples. The lack of a formal procedure for verifying Indigenous identity had hindered the implementation of their rights and complicated resource monitoring by environmental and law enforcement agencies. This gap previously allowed non-Indigenous individuals to exploit Indigenous rights, leaving legitimate members unprotected. The Registry aimed to streamline the process of claiming rights, facilitating the realisation of social and economic entitlements, including the protection of traditional habitats, customary ways of life, and territorial self-governance. The idea behind creating the Registry was to allow Indigenous individuals to establish their ethnic identity once, avoiding the need to repeatedly submit documentation when accessing rights related to traditional subsistence activities and state support. However, judicial practice shows that the Registry has not fully addressed the issue of formalising Indigenous identity and access to rights. It functions primarily as an informational tool, rather than a legally binding one, limiting its effectiveness. Courts continue to rely on discretionary interpretations and additional documentation, highlighting the ongoing challenges faced by Indigenous groups, like the Shor, in asserting their rights.


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