Introductory speech - UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues

Dear Members of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues

First, I would like to thank you for this opportunity to give a presentation of Norwegian policies towards the Sami. I will start with a short briefing on some historic milestones of development in Sami Policy, before I go on to the present policy and main elements in the Government’s Sami policy today.

The Sami have lived in what are now the northern and eastern regions of Norway, for several thousand years. There are somewhere between 40 000 and 80 000 Sami in Norway, as well as several thousand in Sweden, in Finland and in Russia. There are close ties and cooperation between the Sami in the four countries.

From the early 19th century and up until after World War 2, the policy of the Norwegian state towards the Sami was assimilation or “Norwegianization”.

The assimilation policy changed slowly from around after 1945, and from the 1960ies the Sami language was taught in schools, and was gradually also used as the language of instruction. Over the same period of time, the first Sami NGOs were established, the first Sami museums and institutions opened, and the state-owned broadcasting company started to send radio programmes in the Sami language.

A controversy regarding the building of a large hydro-electric power plant in a Sami area, Alta, around 1980, was a starting point for the introduction of a set of new legislation regarding the Sami. In 1987, the Constitution was amended, so that the state now has a constitutional obligation to establish the conditions necessary for the Sami to uphold and develop their culture, their language and their way of life. A separate Sami Act was adopted, language rights secured, and the Sami Parliament was established in 1989, as a representative political body, serving the interests of the Sami people, and also carrying out administrative tasks delegated from national authorities or by law.

Since its establishment, the Sami Parliament has strengthened its status, among other ways by collaboration with county authorities and other bodies. A number of Sami institutions have been established, including regional culture centres and language centres that constitute important Sami power centres. The development of Sami institutions in local communities has played a part in confirming the Sami presence and making it visible. An increasing number of children grow up taking their Sami identity for granted. Sami culture workers and musicians have made themselves known both at home and abroad. There has been a growing understanding and awareness of the Sami presence in Norway, and Sami culture has become part of the general cultural scene here.

Section 110 a of the Norwegian Constitution, together with the Sami Act, form the basis for the Government’s goal of taking steps to ensure that the Sami people can maintain and develop their language, culture and way of life. Norway has obligations to the Sami population pursuant to international conventions, particularly Article 27 of the UN Convention on Civil and Political Rights, and ILO Convention no. 169 concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries. These conventions are ratified by the Norwegian state. The Norwegian authorities have also played an active part in the work on the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

In 2005, the Finnmark Act was adopted, after time-consuming consultations between the Norwegian Parliament, the Sami Parliament and the Finnmark County Council. The Act is based on the report of the Sami Rights Committee, submitted in January 1997.

The Finnmark Act establishes that all formerly so-called “state-owned” land in Finnmark is transferred to a new entity called the Finnmark Estate (Finnmarkseiendommen/Finnmárkkuopmodat), governed jointly by the Sami Parliament and the Finnmark County Council.

For your information, Finnmark, where we are assembled today, is the northernmost county in Norway, where most of the Norwegian Sami live, alongside a majority of ethnic Norwegians.

Before, around 95 per cent of the land in Finnmark was managed by Statskog SF, a state-owned enterprise. When the Act came into force, this area, which totals almost 45 000 km², was placed under local ownership through the Finnmark Estate. The Act establishes the Finnmark Estate, a private legal entity, with mostly the same relationship to the public authorities and public law as other landowners. However, certain provisions in the Act establish the right to exploit natural resources on the land, including hunting, fishing and cloudberry picking, for residents of Finnmark. The extent of such rights is dependent on how closely one is associated with the resources. For example, one has a greater right to exploit natural resources in the municipality where one resides. However, it must be emphasized that the Finnmark Act is ethnically neutral in the sense that the legal position of an individual is not dependent on him or her being Sami, Norwegian, Kven, or a member of another population group.

The Finnmark Commission will investigate the rights to the land that the Finnmark Estate has taken over from Statskog SF. The Commission shall not assign rights that do not already exist. The investigation shall be conducted on the basis of current national law as this has been developed through long legal usage.

If there is still disagreement concerning rights in areas investigated by the Finnmark Commission, the parties may bring the case before the Uncultivated Land Tribunal for Finnmark. This is a special court that passes legally binding judgments.

While land rights matters are mostly a matter of the legal rights of private persons and groups, the matter of consultations between the state and representatives for the Sami take place within the realm of public policy and decision-making.

According to ILO Convention No. 169 Article 6, the Government shall consult the peoples concerned through appropriate procedures and in particular through their representative institutions whenever consideration is being given to legislative or administrative measures which may affect them directly.

The need to build a framework for contact between the Sami Parliament and the Government became evident when working on the Finnmark Act.

In 2005, representatives from the Government and the Sami Parliament evaluated how consultations best should be carried out in order to meet the provisions of Articles 6 and 7 of the ILO Convention. In order to meet these provisions, the Government and the Sami Parliament reached agreement on the “Procedures for Consultations between the State Authorities and the Sami Parliament of 11th May 2005”.

The procedures have several objectives. First of all, the procedures are intended to contribute to the practical implementation of the State’s obligations to consult indigenous peoples under international law. Secondly, agreement shall be sought between the State authorities and the Sami Parliament whenever consideration is being given to legislative and administrative measures that may directly affect Sami interests. The third objective is to facilitate the development of a partnership perspective between State authorities and the Sami Parliament that contributes to the strengthening of Sami culture and society. Finally, the intention is to develop a common understanding of the situation and of the developmental needs of Sami society.

The scope of the agreement is extensive. The consultation procedures apply to the Government and its ministries, directorates and other subordinate State agencies or activities. Furthermore, they apply in matters that may affect Sami interests directly.

The substantive scope of the consultations may include various issues, such as legislation, regulations, specific or individual administrative decisions, guidelines, measures and decisions. The obligation to consult the Sami Parliament may include all material and immaterial forms of Sami culture. It is important to underline that the agreement applies in matters concerning the material basis for the Sami culture, including land administration, competing land utilization and land rights. The obligation to consult the Sami Parliament is applicable to traditional Sami areas.

The procedures also contain general provisions concerning the consultation process. The consultations shall be undertaken in good faith, with the objective of achieving agreement to the proposed measures. Furthermore, the state authorities shall as early as possible inform the Sami Parliament about the commencement of relevant matters that may directly affect the Sami, and identify those Sami interests and conditions that may be affected.

After the Sami Parliament has been informed on relevant matters, the Parliament shall notify the State authorities as soon as possible as to whether or not further consultations are required. The Sami Parliament may also independently identify matters which in its view should be subject to consultation.

In cases where the State authorities and the Sami Parliament agree that further consultations are to be held, they shall seek to agree on a plan for such consultations. Sufficient time shall be allocated to enable the parties to carry out genuine and effective consultations and political consideration of all relevant proposals.

The parties have agreed that consultations shall not be discontinued as long as the Sami Parliament and the State authorities consider it possible to achieve an agreement. When a matter is submitted for consideration to the Government, the ministerial submission document shall clearly inform other governmental ministries about the concluded agreement with the Sami Parliament and, if necessary, also include information about matters where agreement has not been reached. In governmental propositions and reports to the Norwegian Parliament on matters where the governmental position differs from that of the Sami Parliament, the view and positions of the Sami Parliament shall be reflected in the documents.

Several meetings have been held between the Sami Parliament and the State authorities concerning questions in need of consultation. In some of the consultations processes the Government and the Sami Parliament have reached an agreement, and other processes have been concluded without achieving such an agreement. I will now give a presentation of two of these processes.

There has been an ongoing process over 15 years to try to reach a new Mineral Act. Consultations concerning the Mineral Act have taken place in the period of 2007 – 2008 between the Government, The Sami Parliament, and the Sami Reindeer Herder’s Association of Norway. The consultations were conducted in accordance with the Procedures for Consultations between the State authorities and the Sami Parliament, thus the consultations have been conducted in good faith, with the objective of achieving agreement to the proposed measures. However, an agreement between the parties could not be reached, and consultations on the topic have therefore been concluded.

The following topics had a central place in the consultation process:

• The sections of the draft bill that particularly ensure Sami rights and interests limit protections for the Sami to the county of Finnmark only. Sami rights and interests outside the county of Finnmark are addressed in the report of the Sami Rights Committee II. The report itself and the follow-up process will make the basis for considering future legal amendments concerning Sami rights outside the county of Finnmark.
• The draft bill does not reflect the principle of consultations. The government will consider whether the consulting principle should be established by law as part of the ongoing follow-up of the report of the Sami Rights Committee II. 
• The section providing for benefit sharing states that in the case of mines on the Finnmark Estate’s land, the King may by regulations stipulate a larger fee. Outside Finnmark the question of benefit shares will be evaluated as part of the follow-up process of the report of the Sami Rights Committee II.

The Proposition to the Norwegian Parliament will be submitted this month. The different views of the parties on these topics will be reflected in the Proposition.

Consultations on the Nature Diversity Act have taken place and were concluded by the end of 2008. After several meetings, the Government and the Sami Parliament achieved agreement, and in a plenary session in November 2008 the Sami Parliament endorsed the Act.

Central topics in the consultation process have been as follows:

• Ensuring Sami culture is one of the objectives of the Act. 
• The authorities shall gather traditional knowledge, innovations and practices before making administrative decisions under the provisions of the Act. 
• Substantial weight shall be given to Sami interests when a measure under the provisions of the Act is being considered. 
• The principle of consultations will not be reflected in the Act. 
• Provisions concerning commercial and other utilization of genetic resources ensure indigenous peoples and local communities rights to access and benefit-sharing.

The proposition will be submitted to the Norwegian Parliament later this year.

The Sami Rights Committee was reappointed by Royal Decree of 1st June 2001 according to a recommendation by the Ministry of Justice and the Police.

Its task was to report in general on the questions relating to the Sami population’s legal position as regards the right to and disposition and use of land and water in traditional areas from and including Troms and southwards. Further, according to the mandate, the Committee was to give an account of historic relationships and of the current law as regards the use of land and water in these areas and partly a reasoned assessment of desired changes to the prevailing law.

The Committee delivered its report in December 2006, and thereafter the report has been circulated for a broad round of hearing, with deadline of 15th April 2009.

The Committee suggestions can be summarized as:

The Identification and Recognition Act:
A unanimous Committee suggested the creation of a reporting commission (hereinafter The Identification of Rights Commission/Kartleggingskommisjonen) and an uncultivated land tribunal for traditional Sami areas from and including Troms county and southwards (Utmarksdomstol), modeled on the Finnmark Commission and the Uncultivated Land Tribunal for Finnmark. The Identification of Rights Commission shall seek to map areas in which inhabitants of the area have a claim to have recognized use and ownership rights.

New administrative arrangements for the remaining State lands in traditional Sami areas (The Hålogaland Act):
The Sami Rights Commission split in their proposals about the administrative arrangements. The majority suggests a Hålogaland Common Land, that the geographical scope of the new regime be restricted to the (remaining) State land in Nordland and Troms counties.

For the other areas (Trøndelag countis and Hedmark county), the majority of the members of the Commission suggest the state’s international law obligations associated with the protection of Sami rights and Sami participation in the management system for land and natural resources on state-owned land in the southern Sami areas, can be taken care of by a revision of the Uplands Act (fjellova).

The minority suggests that the Sami traditional areas shall have a common administrative arrangement, modeled as the Hålogaland Common land.

Consultations and procedures for measures that may influence the natural resources in traditional Sami areas:
A unanimous Sami Rights Committee has proposed a new act relating to administrative procedures and consultations in the case of measures that may have an influence on the natural resources in traditional Sami areas (the Administrative Procedure and Consultation Act).

Provisions in the draft bill that may be accentuated:

• The scoop of the application for the provisions are proposed to be valid for legislation, regulations, individual decisions, regulation measures and other measures that may affect the natural resources in traditional areas. 
• The Sami Parliament, together with other Sami right-holders and interests, will have a right to be consulted to the extent they may be directly affected by the measure at issue. 
• Bodies under a duty to consult will be governmental authorities, municipalities and county municipalities; to the extent these are making decisions that may have a direct importance for the exploitation of land and resources in traditional Sami areas. 
• The implementation of the consultations shall be made in good faith and with the aim of achieving agreements in the measures at issue.

The rights to fish in salt water in Finnmark were not solved in the Finnmark Act. As a result of the consultation process that led to the adoption of the Finnmark Act, a committee – Kystfiskeutvalget for Finnmark – was formed in June 2006. The main question for the committee was whether certain rights to fish exist in the sea off the coast of Finnmark. The committee presented its report in February 2008 (NOU 2008: 5). The report provides a comprehensive study of the fisheries in Finnmark; the history of the Finnmark fisheries, the fisheries’ economic and cultural consequences for the region, a study of the Sea Sami people in Finnmark and a study of the public international law concerning minorities and indigenous people’s rights.

Today everyone has the right to fish in the sea with a rod and line and with small nets and lines. In order to engage in commercial fishing you must have a fishing quota. It is established a trade in fishing quotas, and everybody has access to the market. This quota system has had some negative effects on Sea Sami communities though.

The report from the committee contains a proposal for a Finnmark Fisheries Act, which states that the residents of Finnmark have a special right to fish in the sea outside Finnmark. The legal basis for this right is the prolonged use of the sea and international law concerning minorities and indigenous peoples. As the Finnmark Act, the proposal for a Finnmark Fisheries Act is ethnically neutral in the sense that individual legal status is not dependent on whether one is Sami, Norwegian or Kven or belongs to another population group. The report was sent on a broad round of hearing with deadline December 2008. The Government has not yet concluded its work on the report.

In 2002, an expert group was appointed by the Ministers of Sami affairs in Finland, Sweden and Norway and the presidents of the Sami Parliaments in these countries. The expert group submitted on November, 16th 2006 a draft convention on Nordic Sami cooperation.

The draft convention consists of 51 articles divided into seven chapters. The overall objective of the draft convention is to affirm and strengthen the rights of the indigenous Sami people, with particular emphasis on securing and developing the Sami language, culture, livelihoods and society. The draft convention recognizes the Sami people as the indigenous people of the three countries, and as one people residing across national borders. The draft convention contains a set of minimum standards, based on existing and emerging international human rights standards.

The draft convention was circulated for a broad hearing in February 2006, with a deadline of June, 12th 2006. Comments on the draft convention were requested from Sami organizations, institutions, municipalities, and county authorities. The Governments in Finland, Sweden and Norway, and the Sami Parliaments in the three countries, will this year consider how the negotiations on the Nordic Sami Convention can be organized.

To conclude, I will share with you some remarks on the measures taken in order to protect and develop the Sami culture. Recent years have been characterized by work on issues associated with rights, infrastructure and development of institutions in Sami society. The Government will continue this work, inter alia, through follow up of part II of the Report of the Sami Rights Commission, the draft of the Nordic Sami Convention and the Procedures for Consultations between the State Authorities and the Sami Parliament, as well as by initiating extensive legislative work to clarify the formal status of the Sami Parliament.

In addition to this, the Government has chosen to place particular emphasis on deciding how Sami considerations are to be implemented in everyday policy. By this is meant the practical integration of Sami considerations in policy shaping and in measures in all areas of society and at all levels of administration. These thoughts are reflected in a White Paper on Sami Policy, which was presented by the Government last spring. The provision of satisfactory and equivalent services to the Sami population requires that public agencies have knowledge of Sami matters within their own sectors. This knowledge is based on the need to strengthen Sami language and the information in the Sami language provided by public administration and services. Therefore, the Government is now working on an Action Plan to strengthen Sami language. The Action Plan will include positive measures in order to strengthen all the Sami languages, still with a special focus on the small languages – the Lule Sami and the South Sami languages.

The White Paper also reflects the wish of the Government to draw greater attention to the practical expression of Sami policy objectives and established rights within the arrangements and provisions of the welfare state in such a way that Sami people can feel secure that their needs will be met.

I once again want to thank you for this opportunity to introduce Sami Policy. I hope you will have fruitful meetings and discussions here in Karasjok, and I wish you good luck with the session later this year!