The Sámi people (also spelled Sami or Saami) are an indigenous people inhabiting the territory of Sápmi, which today covers the northern parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland and the Kola Peninsula in Russia. The number of Sámi is estimated at 80,000, with about 8,000 on Finnish territory.
AN HISTORICAL CHALLENGING CONTEXT FOR SÁMI PEOPLE
Finnish law defines a Sámi as a person who identifies as Sámi and who is either a native Sámi-speaker or has at least one parent or grandparent who learnt Sámi as a first language, though this definition has been subjected to some discussions and modifications.
The rights of the Sámi were reinforced in the Finnish Constitution in 1995, when their status as indigenous people was recognised, as well as their right to protect and develop their languages and culture.
Protected under international human rights law, the Sámi are characterised as indigenous people, as they have their own culture, own language, own livelihoods and especially, a clear connection to their traditional land and water areas.
One of the crucial issues facing the Sámi is the ownership and use of their land: recently, the construction of a railway network – which would cut their territory in two by a 520-kilometre rail corridor – was opposed by the Sámi who expressed that “the railroad would be a catastrophe for reindeer herding because it will cut our reindeer grazing area in two and it will create a lot of conflicts here”.
According to the former president of the Sámi Parliament in Finland, Tiina Sanila-Aikio, the construction of such a railway network is contrary to Finnish law, which guarantees the Sámi the right to “maintain and develop their own culture”. It should be noted that the culture of these indigenous people is largely based on hunting, fishing, and reindeer herding.
This railway project has been abandoned, but the problems and threats to the Sámi are no less present: the people have no control over access to resources on their historic territory, which is 90% owned by the Finnish government.
However, institutions have repeatedly addressed the issue: in 2002, the Sámi Parliament published a report on land ownership, arguing that “Finnish claims to land ownership within the Sámi Homeland were based on judicially untenable grounds”. To this, the government suggested the establishment of a working group including the three Nordic countries to draft an agreement. In 2016, the Finnish Parliament passed an act that effectively allowed a company to clear areas of forest essential to the Sámi without prior consultation.
In 2019, the United Nations Human Rights Committee found in two decisions that Finland violated the rights of the Sámi under the International Covenant in Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). The Committee particularly noted that Finland had violated the Sámi’s rights to political participation and recalled the 2007 UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People, which provides that “indigenous peoples have the right to determine their own identity or membership in accordance with their customs and traditions . . . and the right to determine the structures and to select the membership of their institutions in accordance with their own procedures”.
At the heart of the issue is the fact that the recent Sámi Parliament Act confirmed by the Supreme Administrative Court of Finland expanded the Sámi Parliament’s electorate to include 93 individuals whom the Parliament had previously established as unentitled to vote. The Committee demanded that Finland review the Sámi Parliament Act to ensure voting eligibility criteria are defined in a way that respects the Sámi’s right to internal self-determination under the ICCPR.
A NEW HORIZON IN THE PROTECTION OF SÁMI’S RIGHTS
Since the Committee “only” issues opinions and recommendations, states are technically not obliged by international law to follow the guidance given. As the Committee is not a court of law, it can only recommend that the state concerned make full reparation for the damage suffered or to conduct an investigation.
However, on 11 May 2021, Finland took an important step towards strengthening the rights of the Sámi people. Implementing the views of the Committee and other human rights monitoring bodies, a government commission drafted amendments to the Sámi Parliament Act. Innovations in these proposals include an explicit recognition of the Sámi right to self-determination, the implementation of this right in the electorate of the Sámi Parliament, and the creation of a new Sámi tribunal for electoral appeals. The report also included a reference to Finland's explicit recognition of the authority of the Committee's recommendations, and Finland's obligation to implement them.
While these proposals do not directly address other issues faced by the Sámi – such as the unavailability of their resources and territory – it is hoped that these measures will pave the way for more effective protection of Sámi and indigenous peoples’ rights.
Eglantine previously graduated from the Université Paris Nanterre, France with an LL.M. in International Relations Law and European Law, where she wrote her Master thesis on the exclusion of asylum seeker from the refugee status for terrorist acts. She is currently enrolled at Leiden University in the Advanced LL.M. in Public International Law and is specialising in International Criminal Law. She has a particular interest in Refugee Law, prison conditions and International Criminal Law.