World Congress of Finno-Ugric Peoples

A Brief Introduction

In the year 2004, the 4th World Congress of Finno-Ugric Peoples is to be convened in Tallinn (at hotel Viru and Estonia Concert Hall).
According to Declaration of Fundamental Principles, Aims and Objectives of Cooperation of Finno-Ugric Peoples of the World, “the World Congress of Finno-Ugric Peoples is a forum of Finno-Ugric and Samoyed Peoples. It is independent of governments and political parties, and aims for the status of a non-governmental organization of the UN Organization” (Syktyvkar, 1992).

The Consultative Committee of Finno-Ugric Peoples as the executive body of the Congress represents the Congress at the Working Groups On Indigenous Populations of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights.
The World Congress of Finno-Ugric Peoples is convened every fourth year. Hitherto, the Congress was held in 1992 in Syktyvkar (Komi Republic, Russia), in 1996 in Budapest (Hungary), and in 2000 in Helsinki (Finland). This time, Estonia has the honour and responsibility of hosting the next Congress. It will be held in 2004 in the Estonia’s capital city of Tallinn. This Congress will be focused on the subject The Youth As the Key To the Future of Finno-Ugric Peoples.

The aims of the Congress are: to develop and protect the ethnic identities, cultures and languages of Finno-Ugric peoples; to promote the co?operation between Finno-Ugric peoples; to discuss and find solutions to their most urgent problems; and to promote the implementation of their right to self-determination in accordance with the norms and principles of the international law.

In addition to Plenary Sessions, there will be five Working Groups at the Congress:

(1) Section on Law and Politics,
(2) Section on Language and Education,
(3) Section on Culture,
(4) Section on Public Health, Demography, Ecology,
(5) Section on the Media and Information Systems.

At its Plenary Sessions, the Congress will adopt the Resolution, while the Sections will adopt their recommendations to the Consultative Committee of Finno-Ugric Peoples. The working languages of the Congress will be Russian, English, and all Uralic languages.

Every people at the Congress is represented by a delegation of its representative body or the national central organisation. Among the participants in the Congress there will be 300 delegates from Russia, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Estonia and Latvia, as well as the Hungarians from Hungary, Romania and neighbouring countries. There will be around 300 observers at the Congress (representing Hungary, Estonia, Finland, and Finno-Ugric administrative units of Russia). Together with guests (from UNESCO, ECOSOC, the European Council, the Nordic Council of Ministers, etc.), heads of states and their escorts, and accredited journalists, the total number of people at the Congress will reach approximately eight hundred.