Who we are
The International Indigenous Fund for Development and Solidarity “Batani” was created on the initiative of Indigenous peoples in 2004. Over two decades it has run economic development programmes in Sakhalin and across the Russian Far East, built negotiation mechanisms between Indigenous communities and private business, and connected Indigenous peoples of Russia with communities in the United States, Canada, Norway and Bolivia.
Our history
2004
Founded
Established on the initiative of Indigenous peoples to run development projects in Russia. Early programmes focused on economic development in Sakhalin and the Far East.
2008
Consultative status with the UN
Granted special consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).
Through the 2010s
Free, prior and informed consent
The Fund’s central work: defending the right of Indigenous communities to give — or withhold — consent to industrial projects on their traditional lands, and their ability to say no to extraction and pollution.
2015
Designated a “foreign agent”
The Russian government applied the foreign agent label to the Fund.
2017
Liquidated by court order
The Moscow City Court liquidated the Fund at the demand of the Russian Ministry of Justice. Several staff members were forced to leave the country and sought political asylum in the United States, Norway and Sweden.
Since then
Re-registered in the United States
Batani was re-established as a non-profit organisation in the US and continues its work: protecting Indigenous rights in Russia and worldwide, and supporting community-led development programmes.
2022
SIRGE Coalition
Batani became a founding member of the Securing Indigenous Peoples’ Rights in the Green Economy coalition.
May 2025
Declared “undesirable”
Russian authorities designated the Fund an undesirable organisation — criminalising cooperation with it inside Russia.