Thesis by Ekaterina Zmyvalova
Abstract:
This thesis is dedicated to the issue of realization and implementation of indigenous children’s right to learn their language at school. My focus is on the Nenets Autonomous Okrug- one of the territories where the Nenets people – one of the indigenous peoples of Russia – is located. The Nenets people is the biggest group of the indigenous peoples in Russia. According the Official statistics there are less and less in the Nenets population who speak the Nenets language. Moreover, mostly they are elderly people. The young do not know the Nenets language even though they learn it at school. I argue that among other reasons there are legal issues. In particular, inappropriate implementation of international commitments into the national legislation and ineffective realization of the national legislation in practice are among the reasons of the decline of the Nenets language in the indigenous population. I researched this issue by using such methods as the legal method and the interview. The method of interview I employed during my fieldwork in two schools in the villages Indiga and Krasnoye of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug where indigenous children learn the Nenets language. I applied the theory of non- discrimination to consider implementation and realization of the right in practice. I regard my thesis to be a contribution to the clarification of the causes of the native language situation in indigenous peoples’ communities in Russia.
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