Land and water rights proposed for Sámi people in Nordic countries

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A joint Nordic group of experts proposes that the indigenous Sámi, or Lapp people of Finland, Norway, and Sweden should have rights to land and water areas that have been traditionally used by them.
      According to the proposal for a Nordic Sámi treaty, the obligation of the state would be to define the areas for which the Sámi would have users’ rights. The Sámi would also be given the right to take part in the public administration of these areas.
      The proposal was submitted on Wednesday to the ministers responsible for Sámi affairs in Finland, Sweden, and Norway. It was received on behalf of Finland by Minister of Justice Leena Luhtanen (SDP), and on behalf of the Nordic Sámi Parliament by Pekka Aikio, chairman of the Finnish Sámi Parliament.
     
Finnish representatives on the panel found it difficult to accept some parts of the proposal, including those on land rights and reindeer herding. However, Finland did not submit any dissenting opinions.
      Various interested parties are now being asked to comment on the proposal, after which further revisions can be made to the text. Officials at the Finnish Ministry of Justice estimate that the treaty could be ready in a couple of years.
      The parts of the draft treaty concerning land and water rights follow the lines of the Indigenous People’s Treaty of the International Labour Organisation (ILO). Finland has not ratified the ILO treaty, nor has the Finnish Ministry of Justice taken a stand on the new proposal for a Nordic Sámi Treaty.
     
According to the proposal, the Nordic Sámi Treaty would be an agreement among the states in question, which means that the Sámi people themselves would not be a party to the treaty. The paper would also not apply to Sámi living in Russia, but it would apply to Russian Sámi living in the Nordic Countries.
      Ratification of the agreement would require the approval of the Sámi parliaments of the three countries.
      The basic idea of the treaty is that the Sámi are an indigenous people who live on the territory of several countries. The states are given the responsibility to provide the Sámi with adequate conditions. The Sámi must be given the possibility to preserve and develop their language, culture, livelihoods, and societies with minimum interference from state borders.
      As a people, the Sámi would have autonomy, the implementation of which is in the hands of the Sámi parliaments of the various countries. Under the agreement, authorities of the countries would be required to consult the Sámi Parliament before making decisions affecting the Sámi.
      Under the proposal, Norway and Sweden would preserve and develop reindeer herding as the exclusive right of the Sámi. In Finland, where reindeer herding is not the exclusive right of the Sámi, the state would commit itself to strengthening the position of Sámi reindeer herding.


Links:
  National Minorities of Finland, The Sámi (Virtual Finland)

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