Indigenous activists in Russia who speak about land rights, extraction or self-determination face harassment, criminal prosecution and forced exile. Indigenous Rights Watch supports the activists and researchers who continue to record what is happening, and brings that evidence to institutions that can act on it.

Part of a global coalition

Batani is a member of Indigenous Peoples Rights International, founded in 2019 to respond to attacks on and criminalisation of Indigenous rights defenders worldwide. Its co-founders are Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, former UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and Joan Carling, former member of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

Within this coalition, Batani runs the Indigenous Rights Watch programme in Russia.