Procedures for consultations with indigenous peoples - Experiences from Norway
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The Sámediggi raised the issue of establishing an official qualification system for
Sami interpreters. This will be assessed in the context of a general review of the interpretation services. The Government will come back with a proposal for the contents
and objectives of such a review.
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The project Sámi giellagáldu (“Sami language source”) was discussed. The project
aims, among things, to define terminology for five Sami languages. The Sámediggi
raised concerns about the future funding of the project and it was decided to discuss
this further at the next meeting between the presidents of the Nordic Sami parliaments and the Sami ministers of Finland, Norway and Sweden.
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The possibility of Norway recommending a Sami cultural heritage site for inclusion in
the list of world heritage sites was discussed.
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Based on a report regarding the inclusion of Sami viewpoints at the municipality
level, it had previously been decided to look into the costs related to administering bilingual (Sami–Norwegian) municipalities. At a previous meeting, the Ministry of
Government Administration, Reform and Church Affairs (Fornyings-, administrasjonsog kirkedepartementet – FAD) was tasked with looking into available data, but after
initial research, the ministry concluded that available State and municipal data and
statistics (the so-called “KOSTRA figures”) do not provide relevant data, among other
things because of the Norwegian policy of not disaggregating data by ethnicity. The
parties agreed to ask their respective administrations further to discuss the challenges
of making the additional costs of bilingual municipalities visible, and to present a proposal for follow-up at the next meeting, with the involvement of political representatives (Minutes, 28.06.2013).
In the 2006 guidelines, it is specified that the consultation procedures do not apply to cases
concerning the state budget. This does not mean that the parties cannot discuss matters
related to budgetary issues in the biannual meetings (Norway, 2006:7).
In his 2011 report, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples noted
as follows:
Representatives of the Norwegian Sami Parliament, or Sámediggi, have stated that their
decision-making has at times been constrained by earmarks established by the central
Government in the allocation of financial resources. The Government of Norway, however,
takes a different perspective, stating that new projects and initiatives for funding have
often come from the Sámediggi itself and that it has been granted considerable freedom
in re-prioritizing the use of funds. Also, the Sámediggi has noted with concern that the
consultation procedure (…) does not cover budget-setting (Anaya, 2011: 43).
As already mentioned, international affairs are also discussed at the biannual meetings. For
example, at the meeting in December 2009, the Sámediggi raised the question of the relationship between the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the continuing
negotiations under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. The Sámediggi pointed
out that it expects the Declaration to constitute the basis for international and national processes concerning climate change, adaptation and mitigation, which affect indigenous peoples directly. The Sámediggi noted that, although there had been a good dialogue with the
Ministry of the Environment in the context of the 2009 meeting of the Conference of the
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