A/HRC/18/35/Add.2
17.
The Special Rapporteur considers this agreement to represent good practice with
respect to implementation of the duty of States to consult with indigenous peoples, which
provides an important example for the other Nordic countries as well as for countries in
other regions of the world. A few specific concerns related to this mechanism and
consultation in general are addressed in section IV(A)(2) below.
18.
Until recently, the central Government was responsible for the management of lands
and resources in Norway, in cooperation with the municipalities, and Norwegian law did
not recognize special Sami rights, including collective rights, to land and resources. In
2005, Norway passed the Finnmark Act,6 which was a response to many years of struggle
by the Sami and, in part, to the conflict surrounding the development of the AltaKautokeino watercourse in the 1970s. Importantly, the Finnmark Act was developed in
close cooperation between the Norwegian and Sami parliaments. However, the Finnmark
Act remains in certain respects controversial among the Sami, as discussed in section
IV(A)(3) below.
19.
The Reindeer Husbandry Act of 1978, as amended in 2007, recognizes that Sami
have an exclusive right to herd reindeer within pasture areas, but in order to benefit from
the right Sami individuals must meet the required familial linkage to a reindeer-herding
family. The right to reindeer husbandry is a usufruct right that applies over certain land
areas regardless of the ownership of those lands. Importantly, the 2007 amendments sought
to re-establish the siida as an important management tool for reindeer husbandry, thereby
bringing Norwegian law into closer conformity with traditional Sami land management.
The Sami reindeer grazing area covers approximately 40 per cent of Norway and provides
pasture for more than 200,000 reindeer, and about 2,800 Sami take part in reindeer
husbandry in Norway.
20.
In addition to being the first country to ratify ILO Convention No. 169 and voting in
favour of adoption of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in 2007, Norway
has incorporated the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights into its domestic law.7 In
the event of any conflict between these instruments and other Norwegian legislation, the
provisions of the Covenants shall take precedence.8 Finally, Norway is also party to the
Council of Europe’s Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities
(1995) and its Charter for Regional and Minority Languages (1992).
C.
Sweden
21.
Following a recent amendment, as of 1 January 2011, the Swedish Constitution
explicitly recognizes the Sami as a people, distinguishing the Sami as such from minority
groups in Sweden. Constitutional recognition as a people, rather than a minority, had been a
request of the Sami for many years.
22.
In recent years, the Government of Sweden has made efforts to develop a bill to
address issues related to the Sami people.9 However, the draft bill was criticized for not
tackling the most pressing issues for the Sami, in particular those related to land and
resource rights, and for the failure to consult the Sami people on it. Consequently, the
Swedish Sami Parliament and Sami representatives rejected the bill. During the April 2010
6
7
8
9
Act of 17 June 2005 No. 85 relating to legal relations and management of land and natural resources
in the county of Finnmark (Finnmark Act).
Human Rights Act, section 2 (1999).
Ibid., section 3.
Ds 2009:40.
7