Norwegian Courts and Sámi Law

For decades, Norway has been viewed as a role model when it comes to safeguarding Sámi rights as an Indigenous people in the Nordic Countries. Among other reasons, this is because Norway is the only country with a Sámi population that has ratified ILO Convention No. 169. Also, Norway has adopted a p...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Arctic Review on Law and Politics
Main Author: Ravna, Øyvind
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: University of Tromsø - The Arctic University of Norway, Faculty of Law 2021
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arcticreview.no/index.php/arctic/article/view/3417
https://doi.org/10.23865/arctic.v12.3417
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Summary:For decades, Norway has been viewed as a role model when it comes to safeguarding Sámi rights as an Indigenous people in the Nordic Countries. Among other reasons, this is because Norway is the only country with a Sámi population that has ratified ILO Convention No. 169. Also, Norway has adopted a particular land law where one of the purposes is to survey Sámi rights to land and water. It is also said that Norway has worked actively to ensure adoption of the 2007 UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Norway has gained international recognition for this work, among others from former UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous People James Anaya, who in his report on the situation of the Sámi people in Norway, Sweden and Finland, stated that Norway, since passing the Finnmark Act 2005, has set an important example for the other Nordic countries (para 44).