The significance of Sámi rights in the Nordic countries-an introduction

Sapmi, the motherland of the Sami people, is situated in four states: Finland, Norway, Russia and Sweden. Lack of protection is particularly visible when it comes to interventions in pastures and nature areas caused by extractive industries and the establishment of wind power plants. Addressing thes...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Cambou, Dorothée, Ravna, Øyvind
Other Authors: Faculty of Law
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: 2024
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10138/571389
Description
Summary:Sapmi, the motherland of the Sami people, is situated in four states: Finland, Norway, Russia and Sweden. Lack of protection is particularly visible when it comes to interventions in pastures and nature areas caused by extractive industries and the establishment of wind power plants. Addressing these issues has for several years been under the focus of the Nordic Research Network for Sámi and Indigenous Law (NORSIL). In effect, governments are still lagging in terms of taking action for implementing the court decisions, and, as already mentioned and noted in several chapters, there remains discrepancies between the promises of national legislations and the realisation of the rights of the Sámi people in practice. The development of the protection of Sami culture over the last decades coupled with the novelty of the court rulings in the Nordic states, demonstrate that changes are taking place at the judicial levels. Peer reviewed