Nornickel gets free, prior and informed consent to relocation and development programme from Tukhard residents

The Company has held a third round of consultations on the Tukhard relocation and development programme. First launched in the Russian Arctic in October 2021, the Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) process saw Nornickel and Tukhard residents sign an agreement on FPIC regarding the Tukhard relocation and development programme. Nornickel is conducting this procedure, which is not directly incorporated into the national legislation of the Russian Federation, in line with the standard of responsibility for Russia’s Arctic zone residents based on the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

The consent follows three rounds of extended direct consultations with the community. After the second round, a Council of Representatives elected by the residents became part of the process, coordinating all the negotiations and discussions among the residents as well as the consultations with the Company.

Founded back in the 1970s for the construction workers of the Norilskgazprom project, Tukhard gradually became home to the Nenets, an indigenous people of the Taimyr Peninsula. According to regulatory requirements, a sanitary protection zone is established around the manufacturing facilities, and permanent settlement there is prohibited by law. The Company has proposed construction of a new settlement with modern infrastructure that includes facilities for nomadic reindeer herders.

There were two main items on the agenda of the third round of consultations: first — relocation programme, in particular the location of the future settlement and its infrastructure; second — Tukhard residents’ free, prior and informed consent to the relocation and development programme. After the attendees voted unanimously to participate in the programme, the Council of Representatives, on behalf of the residents, and Norilskgazprom’s General Director Mark Shilykovsky signed an agreement on granting the FPIC. The agreement had been drafted based on international standards and sets out the terms of relocation and compensation, as well as the Company’s material obligations towards the residents. It provides for monitoring and assessment of the relocation programme and participation of the Council of Representatives at all stages of the implementation.

The attendees included both settlement residents and tundra reindeer herders, who share close cultural, social and economic ties with Tukhard. There was a vote on the first item regarding the location for the construction of a new Tukhard, and the residents also voiced their preferences on the future settlement’s infrastructure.

Head of the Tukhard Council of Representatives Igor Yamkin commented on the outcome of the third round: “Over the recent months, the Council of Representatives has held consultations with all the residents to discuss relocation, new infrastructure and the location for the new Tukhard. There is a lot of work ahead as the Council is the key link between the Company and the residents. In the coming years, we together are going to oversee construction here in Tukhard and agree on its parameters. I think it is very important that we as the indigenous Nenets people and the residents of Tukhard are making our choice right now and deciding on the place and the way our children will live.”

Like the previous stages, the third stage of the FPIC process involved independent Russian and international experts, including Aleksei Tsykarev, Deputy Chair of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, Mikhail Todyshev, indigenous rights protection lawyer, and Antonina Gorbunova, Executive Director of KMNSOYUZ (the Union of Indigenous Peoples SOYUZ). KMNSOYUZ was also the organiser of the FPIC process in Tukhard.

Aleksei Tsykarev, Deputy Chair of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, commented: “The agreement signed today is what the FPIC negotiations were aimed at in accordance with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which states that no relocation shall take place without the free, prior and informed consent of the indigenous peoples concerned, signing of an agreement and approval of conditions. It is a necessary stage before the Company and the residents can go ahead with the relocation programme.”

“Today, the Company and Tukhard residents have taken a huge step unprecedented in the Russian Arctic. In October 2021, at our first meeting, we told the people about the FPIC process and started discussing the relocation. Now we have signed the FPIC agreement and can put all the discussions into action. We have a long journey ahead to agree on architectural and infrastructure solutions for the new settlement and the construction itself,” said Andrey Grachev, Vice President for Federal and Regional Programmes at Nornickel.

Consultations on architectural solutions will start as early as this year. The construction is to be completed in 2026.