About Us

URALIC Centre for Indigenous Peoples was established in 2017 by Oliver Loode - activist of the international Finno-Ugric movement, former Expert Member of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) and head of Cultural Programmes at Minority Rights Group International (MRG).  Read here more about Oliver's background in indigenous issues. 

Even though the roots of URALIC Centre are in cultural and civic cooperation of Uralic (i.e., Finno-Ugric and Samoyedic) peoples, the Centre's mission is global: to protect and promote rights and sustainable development of indigenous peoples in accordance with international law and norms, and specifically the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). However, due to the Centre's location in Estonia our work focuses on the Baltic states, Nordic countries, Eastern Europe and Russia. 

URALIC Centre fulfils its mission through long-term partnerships with indigenous peoples whose aspirations we share and whom we can support in practical and meaningful ways. This may include capacity-building for international advocacy (including the UN system), designing transnational projects for promoting language and cultural rights of indigenous people and developing creative strategies for raising awareness and promoting human rights of our indigenous partners domestically and internationally. Read more about our ongoing projects here. 

URALIC Centre is at the beginning of its journey and is open to new partnerships and collaboration models. Contact us if you'd like to work with us to support world's indigenous peoples.