The Sámi Parliamentary Council appeals to Prime Minister Marin to ensure the right of the Sámi to self-determination

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The Sámi Parliamentary Council (SPC) asks Prime Minister Marin to promote the realisation of the rights of the Sámi to self-determination and understanding of indigenous rights together with the state leadership of Finland, Sweden and Norway. The petition was presented to Marin on Thursday morning in Brussels as she was visiting the Summit of Barents Euro-Arctic Indigenous Sámi People. The SPC also urges state leadership to remember the Sámi people in Russia as the war continues.

The SPC highlights recent examples of challenges related to the right of the Sámi to self-determination in various countries, including the reformation of the Sámi Parliament Act in Finland. The SPC asks states to ensure that indigenous rights to self-determination are understood on all levels of decision-making: locally, nationally and at the level of the European Union. Furthermore, the SPC expresses concerns over the difficult situation faced by the Sámi people in Russia as Russia’s offensive war against Ukraine continues, and asks for their plight not to be forgotten.

The petition has been signed by Presidents of the Nordic Sámi Parliaments, Tuomas Aslak Juuso, Silje Karine Muotka and Håkan Jonsson, who also acts as the President of the SPC. Presidents Jonsson and Muotka handed the petition to Prime Minister Marin together with Anni Koivisto, First Vice Chair of the Sámi Parliament of Finland.

The petition of the Sámi Parliamentary Council is available here.

Further information:
Tuomas Aslak Juuso
President
+358 40 687 3394
tuomas.juuso(at)samediggi.fi

Inka Saara Arttijeff
Secretary for International Affairs
+358 50 574 7629
inka-saara.arttijeff(at)samediggi.fi

President Juuso: “The State of Norway must respect the rights of indigenous people”

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Young Sámi people have protested against wind farms at Fosen at the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy of Norway in Oslo. The protest started on Thursday 23 February, 500 days after the Supreme Court of Norway stated in its judgment that the wind farms at Fosen had been built without a valid operating licence, violating the rights of the Sámi to enjoy their own culture. The protesters demanded the enforcement of the judgment of the Supreme Court and the demolition of 150 illegal wind power plants in their area. Juuso concurs with the demands of the Sámi in Norway on the enforcement of the judgment.

President Tuomas Aslak Juuso. Image: Sámi Parliament / Johanna Labba.

President of the Sámi Parliament Tuomas Aslak Juuso understands the frustration of the Sámi in the wind farm issue well. “I support the Sámi in Norway with their demands. The rights of the Sámi as an indigenous people must be respected and implemented in reality. In the Fosen case, the Government of Norway must enforce the decision of the Supreme Court without delay,” says Juuso.

The protest started when 500 days had passed from the judgment with no measures whatsoever having been taken. In fact, President Juuso wonders why the State of Norway has not implemented the decisions of its own judicial system. “I find it inconceivable, and it does not show that the State of Norway would respect the rights of indigenous people,” Juuso says.

In its judgment, the Supreme Court of Norway found that the State of Norway violated Article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) of the UN that protects the culture of indigenous people. ICCPR is also legally valid in Finland.

Further information:

Tuomas Aslak Juuso
President
040 687 3394
tuomas.juuso(at)samediggi.fi