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Addressee: Finland, Sweden, Norway
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The Permanent Forum notes that various United Nations treaty bodies have repeatedly called on the Governments of Finland and Sweden to clarify and affirm the Sámi people’s rights to land and fishing, including hunting and reindeer grazing rights. The Forum urges Finland and Sweden to take action in accordance with these recommendations, without further delay. The Permanent Forum further calls on Norway to reach an agreement with the Sámi Parliament on the draft mineral act.
Responses
Finland reports(2010): The ILO Convention No. 169 on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples requires, inter alia, that a state party adopts special measures in order to safeguard the culture and language, as well as the social and economic position of indigenous peoples.
In Finland, legislative solutions have been searched for a long time to the question pertaining to the rights of the Sámi people as an indigenous people to land and traditional livelihoods within the Sámi Homeland. According to the Government’s Report to the Parliament on Human Rights Policy 2009, the objective of the Government’s on-going attempts to settle the question on the rights the Sámi people to the regions traditionally used by them is to reach a balanced solution that would comply with Finland's international obligations and fulfil the requirements of also the ILO Convention no. 169.
The Government appointed after the parliamentary elections of 2007 is committed to ensuring the right of the Sámi to maintain and develop their language and culture based on their self-government set out in Section 17 of the Constitution. The Government is in the process of developing grounds on the basis of which the development of the rights of the Sámi people as an indigenous people could be continued. In this context, the Ministry of Justice has continued the preparation of the issue with other relevant ministries by examining, whether some of the proposals made at different times could provide a solution compatible with the current legislation for the administration of the Sámi Homeland area and supporting the traditional livelihoods of the Sámi. The Government intends to initiate negotiations with the Sámi Parliament as soon as possible.
Final Report of UNPFII Session 8 (2009)
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