What is happening in Sweden?

Extractive land and natural resource use is degrading Sámi lands, especially since mechanisms ensuring rights to participation and influence for the affected Indigenous communities are lacking or ineffective. This current trajectory raises the question: to what extent do the Nordics uphold the human rights of the Sámi and environmental protection in practice?

The issue is particularly urgent in Sweden, where the appropriation of Sámi lands is currently also accompanied by hardening political rhetoric. This includes explicit propositions, presented by national political leaders, not only to stall but to curb rights protection for reindeer herding – for instance via regulatory interventions to decrease the number of reindeer, or by removing mechanisms ensuring the livelihood’s protection in land-use planning.

While legitimating these claims as contributing to “development and democracy” and as “reclaiming (state) control over traditional reindeer herding areas”, they at the same time openly question and challenge the human rights of the Sámi, as recognized by the Swedish Supreme Court and by international laws and institutions. Positioning Sámi reindeer herders as “privileged” and “in the way” of the public good is a familiar trope gaining renewed attention. This ongoing discursive dismantling of Sámi rights needs to be understood in a political and public context characterized by the increased questioning of the validity and relevance of human rights and international law, with serious implications for groups historically exposed to discrimination.

Panellists

• Laura Junka-Aikio (University of Lapland, Rovaniemi) is a professor in Global Northern Communities and Societies, and a leading scholar in the field of Sámi studies. Her current research includes decolonization, militarization, the politics of knowledge and Northern populism.
• Øyvind Ravna (Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø) is a professor of law and a leading scholar in the field of Indigenous law and Sámi rights. His research specifically engages with the intersection between land, rights, governance and Indigeneity.
• Malin Brännström (Institute for Arctic Landscape Research (INSARC), Silvermuséet, Arjeplog) is a legal scholar, researcher and the director of Silvermuséet and INSARC. Her research on property law connects Sámi cultural heritage with historical legal and political developments, focusing specifically on the relationship between reindeer herding and forestry.

Expert commentator

Eirik Larsen (Saami Council) is a lawyer and leads the Human Rights Unit at the Saami Council. He has extensive experience of human and Indigenous rights and specific expertise on the relationships and interactions between states and Indigenous Peoples.

Moderator

Annette Löf (SEI HQ) is a senior research fellow in the Rights and Equity team. Her work focuses on Sámi land rights, social justice and land-use governance.

• Presentation and short thematic introduction (moderator)
• Invited panelists give 2-minute thought “provocation”
• Roundtable conversation guided by questions
• Reflections: by the Sámi council and the panelists
• Concluding remarks