The case of traditional hunting, or The first experience of protection of the rights of indigenous peoples in the Russian Constitutional Court

The Russian Constitutional Court’s Judgment (Postanovlenie) of May 28, 2019 No.21-P on traditional hunting is analysed in the paper. This decision for the first time protects the rights of the indigenous peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East. The author reveals the features and constitutional status of these peoples, describes the reality of respect for their rights in Russia. The importance of the protection of these rights by means of constitutional justice and, above all, by using a constitutional complaint is explained. The admissibility of such complaints is justified. The special questions examined in the paper include the legal positions of the Constitutional Court on the recognition of the small indigenous peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East as a special group of indigenous minorities taking into account their environment, economy and life support systems; the right of all persons belonging to these peoples – including persons who keep the traditional way of life, and persons who do not keep it – to traditional hunting, which is the basis of their existence and identity; the legal regime of traditional hunting implementation of which is linked to the transfer of grounded preferences for indigenous peoples; on recognizing it possible for the community of these peoples to decide on the methods of conducting traditional hunting, including which of its members-hunters will lead this hunt in the interests of the community as a whole within the limits set for its use of wildlife objects. In the context of the Judgment, proposals have been formulated for improving the legislation on hunting in order to ensure the maintenance of the traditional way of life and the implementation of traditional economic activities in terms of clarifying the subjects of such hunting and specifying some of its other elements, concretization of the regime of its free exercise within the framework of hunting resources for the satisfaction of personal consumption and some other elements of this type of hunting.

About the author: Vladimir Kryazhkov – Doctor of Sciences in Law, Professor, Public Law Disciplines Department, Higher School of Economics, Honored Lawyer of the Russian Federation, Moscow, Russia.

Citation: Kryazhkov V. (2019) Delo o traditsionnoy okhote, ili Pervyy opyt zashchity prav korennykh malochislennykh narodov v Konstitutsionnom Sude Rossii [The case of traditional hunting, or The first experience of protection of the rights of indigenous peoples in the Russian Constitutional Court]. Srav­nitel'noe konstitutsionnoe obozrenie, vol.28, no.4, pp.116–130. (In Russian).

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