A/HRC/15/37/Add.5 3. Language 72. Article 68 of the federal Russian Constitution guarantees the right of people to preserve and develop their native languages. Importantly, federal Government officials strongly expressed recognition of the importance of preserving and enabling further development of indigenous peoples’ languages. The Russian Federation is currently discussing the possibility of ratifying the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. The Government is consulting with European partners on how the Charter could be adapted to the large number of indigenous languages in the Russian Federation; pilot programmes have been initiated in Dagestan, Altai and Mordovia. 73. The Special Rapporteur witnessed several successful and positive initiatives enacted by regional governments and educational institutions to document, preserve and teach native languages, but also heard accounts of endangered and dying languages. There are efforts to support publishing of books and textbooks in native languages, and to develop a methodology for teaching indigenous languages. Many institutions of higher learning and cultural centres have set up laboratories or departments for the study of indigenous languages. Even when textbooks and books in native languages are printed, however, they may not reach the remote settlements where the languages are used. 4. Health 74. As of 2002, the average life expectancy of indigenous people in Russia was 15 years less than the Russian average,14 the unemployment rate was above 50 per cent in places, and the suicide rate up to four times the Russian average.15 Despite some signs of improved heath indicators for the indigenous population over the last few years, there are still some alarming reports of the health situation of indigenous communities. 75. In part as a result of the health situation of indigenous communities, many indigenous groups have experienced a drastic decline in population, and some have reached the brink of extinction. Even though the populations of the Nenets, Orok, Selkups, Khanty, Yukaghirs, Negidals, Tofalars, Itelmen, Kets, together with the overall population of indigenous people are slowly growing, some indigenous groups are still endangered.16 Academic literature notes that several indigenous groups have already become extinct in the past century in Russia; there exists a disagreement, however, about whether certain groups have disappeared or are being included as subgroups under larger related ethnic groups. Better information should be available after the results of the forthcoming nationwide census to take place in October 2010, which will provide an opportunity for all Russians to indicate their ethnic identities. 76. The challenges in health care are largely related to the remoteness and small size of settlements, which affect access to and the expense of medical care. In many instances, regional governments provide access to health in remote areas by building medical clinics headed by nurse practitioners in compact settlements, and by flying in periodic shift medical brigades via helicopter periodically to administer routine exams, vaccinations, and other care. In emergency situations, telephone and satellite communication are utilized, medical brigades are flown to remote settlements, or patients are flown to nearby hospitals. However, there are many reports of villages, specifically in Kamchatka, that have not had 14 15 16 18 Aleksandr Shapovalov, Straightening Out the Backward Legal Regulation of “Backward” Peoples’ Claims to Land in the Russian North: the Concept of Indigenous Neomodernism, 17 Geo. Int’l Envtl. L. Rev. 435 (2005). Ibid. Concept Paper, above. GE.10-14779