UN committee urges Finland to strengthen Sámi rights

The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has urged Finland to improve Sámi rights and ensure that all Sámi groups, including Forest Sámi, can enjoy those rights equally, Yle reports.

The committee issued recommendations at the end of August on how Finland should better protect the human rights of minorities. It welcomed the reform of the Sámi Parliament Act and the completion of the final report by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

The committee said Finland should monitor how the principle of free, prior and informed consent, known as FPIC, is implemented in practice. It recommended enforcing the new Sámi Parliament Act in a way that upholds Sámi self-determination and the Sámi right to determine membership of their own people.

Recommendations cover land, education and services

The committee recommended that Finland should:

Ensure the implementation of the revised Sámi Parliament Act.

Adopt a sufficiently funded and time-bound plan to implement the measures proposed by the Sámi Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Ensure that the principle of free, prior and informed consent is applied to measures concerning the Sámi.

Ensure that all Sámi groups, including Forest Sámi, can enjoy their rights equally.

Improve statistical tools for assessing the situation of the Sámi.

Safeguard and protect Sámi rights to land, territories and natural resources.

Carry out adequate cultural, environmental, social and human rights assessments.

Protect and support traditional livelihoods.

Provide sufficient resources for Sámi language nests.

Guarantee Sámi-language education for all Sámi children across Finland.

Expand the recruitment and training of qualified Sámi-language teachers.

Support the revitalisation of the Kemi Sámi language.

Allocate additional resources to Sámi-language healthcare and social services.

Update curricula and teaching materials to include, among other things, the history and culture of the Sámi and Roma.

Consider ratifying International Labour Organization Convention 169.

Concerns over land use

Pirita Näkkäläjärvi, chair of the Sámi Parliament, welcomed the committee’s reference to Sámi rights to traditional lands, territories and natural resources.

“It is important that new threats linked to land use, such as the green transition and various energy and mining projects, have been taken into account,” she said, according to Yle.

Under the recommendations, such projects should not be approved without free, prior and informed consent in line with the FPIC principle.

The committee also called for the Sámi and the Sámi Parliament to be able to participate genuinely and effectively in decision-making processes.

According to Näkkäläjärvi, the new duty to cooperate and negotiate creates good opportunities for influence and cooperation with the state. She referred to Section 9, under which negotiations should aim to reach consensus with the Sámi Parliament or secure its consent before decisions are made.

She also called for additional state resources to implement the committee’s recommendations. The Sámi Parliament currently has a strong position in promoting Sámi matters but limited resources, she said.

Committee highlights Forest Sámi situation

Forest Sámi have not been recognised as a separate Sámi group. They are represented by the Finnish Association of Indigenous Sámi, whose chair, Merja Mattila, said she hoped the committee’s comments would improve their position.

“This is the first time that the position of the Forest Sámi has been raised internationally,” Mattila said, according to Yle.

The committee’s report said the amended Sámi Parliament Act might not sufficiently take the situation of the Forest Sámi into account.

“This is completely true, because the Sámi Parliament Act does not take all Sámi people in Finland into account,” Mattila said.